I have so few pictures of myself pregnant, especially with the last few babies. I've spent 78 months (6.5 years) of my life pregnant, so it's too bad there are so few photos to document those momentous times.
And how many hours have I spent in labour overall? About 90. Each labour and delivery has been quite different. The last two were medicated, and while I enjoyed the relative lack of pain (the epidural kicked out for the last couple of hours of Simon's labour), I also cherish and prefer my spontaneous, medication-free labours. Simon was born on his due date. I went into labour the night before at about 10pm after having a stretch and sweep at 4pm. Never before has that procedure worked on me, but it was quite successful with this little guy.
He was a lot bigger than the midwives anticipated, although I just knew that he was a big baby: 8 lb 11.5 oz - biggest yet!
Pretty quickly after I pushed him out, it became apparent that I might have pushed a little too hard. This is nothing new for me as once I know that labour has a chance of ending, I try to make it end real fast. The result this time was a baby who sustained a lot of facial bruising as he made his way past my pubic bone. I'm sorry, little guy! Even the whites of his eyes were red with burst capillaries.
And then the first meetings began. We were greeted about 200 m from home by kids on bikes watching for the car driving down our country road. Once we were spotted, the whoops and hollers began as we were ushered in like returning heroes.
I don't know why there isn't a first photo of Joe and Simon, but Simon has spent a good part of his first year in the care of his brother Joseph, so not much is lost.
"This baby is making me so sad." (Matthew's sentiments for the first few days.)
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