a walk in the park

truman alder eggert
born august 15, 2008
6 lb 14oz
19.5 in


there is something to be said about the power of prayer. i had no idea so many people- you people, and family, and friends who don't read this- were lifting me and jon and conrad and truman up in prayer on friday. no idea. and i am SO GLAD you all did because the Lord was SO GOOD to me and He answered your and mine prayers: it was such an easy delivery! like, i can't believe-couldn't believe at the time-it could be so manageable. especially after conrad's. and believe it or not, but if labor could ever be thought of as enjoyable, this one was.


i went in at 7:30 that morning. conrad had-had a rough night so both jon and i were already exhausted from a broken 6 hours of sleep. around 8:30ish my doctor got there and gave me some "side attack", but hours later the contractions were too irregular to be considered active labor, and the baby i discovered with the contractions in my back, was sunny side up. our nurse was in bold capital letters, awesome. she couched me through various moves i could do to get him to turn and within a hour it had worked. once truman was in the right spot things started progressing. still, my contractions were a little too irregular so the hooked me up to an IV and gave me petocin.


earlier that morning i debated with myself and the nurse if i should do an epidural or not. i know i said i wasn't going to this time around, but my labia has been uber swollen for months now and i've been a tad nervous how that would play out with pushing. around the time i got to 5cm, which was about 3pm, i turned to jon and said, "i think i'm going to do the epidural after all". which was funny because he and i both knew i was going to cave it was just a matter of time for when i would. 5cm was my time.


the anesthesiologist made it there sooner than later and i credit all the smoothness such as that to the nurse God gave to us for that day. she was on it, every second, always thinking of ahead of what i might need or what might be going on, and so every time we might have run into a delay or a problem, she had already problem solved it.


shortly after the epidural i went to 7cm, and within a hour of that, i was at 10cm. unlike with conrad i was alert of everything going on around me, i was part of the labor. my labor with conrad was so different: you know, conrad was in the red because of the deciles, which meant the stress in our room was of the charts-there was a flurry of whispers and random medical professionals coming in and out, loud beeping, a hundred different things connected to me and being told to me, i pushed with him for 3.5 hours at 8cm, of which, i know now there was no epidural present, and by the time he was born perfect and healthy- i was semi-conscience from exhaustion and pain.


with truman. oh man. sure it was painfully, i mean it was still labor and all, but i never felt that hellacious burning from crowning and the contractions were, like i mentioned above, totally manageable. i had adrenaline pumping through me making me quiver and within three contractions of pushing, he was out. we're talking 5 minuets of pushing...maybe. the doctor unwrapped the cord, which was around his neck three times, and cleared his mouth and nose and gave him to me all slimy and beautiful. jon was behind me, i was crying and laughing, and truman was snorting. he's a snorter. it's weird but we love him.


that was at 7:15pm on friday.


since then there hasn't been much sleep but holy moly how different and easier number two is. i didn't realize how effortless taking care of a newborn can be when you compare it to the energy exerted with a two year old. it's a perspective having more than one only can bring. truman is a good baby too. he has that snorting thing going on, which is part of the fatigue today because he was up last night quite a bit trying to breath out of his nose but having a hard time because it was semi-clogged and not being able to breath adequately enough out of his mouth because he hasn't yet quite grasped how to do it without snorting. so up i was bewildered and concerned with a crying, rapidly breathing baby...until we gave him some saline and all was good and slightly snorty again.


the after birth pain is really bad this time. something i guess most people know happens after the first one but i was unaware of. the cramps are comparable to the contractions at 5cm, those very contractions that made me turn to the reality and need of an epidural. while at the hospital i was given some heavy duty muscle relaxers every four hours, but when we left we were only given ibuprofen and a prescription for the real drugs, and with this being medford and pharmacies closing at 6pm, last night was also long as i was in quite a bit of pain.


still, compared to conrad's grand entrance, this time around is like a walk in the park. a bumpy park.



not having a contraction

having a contraction

waiting

not waiting

conrad was beaming and overly excited!

jon was beaming and entralled.

truman, well, he's just chill.

"Crowning", doesn't that word send fear deep into your soul?!?

by this time tomorrow, knock on wood, i should have a baby truman here in the world beyond my fabulous uterus.

conrad wasn't so. he took all day and half the night, including but not limited to, practically three hours of pushing before making his grand and beautiful entrance. but i'm an optimist. an eternal and often painfully disappointed optimist.

this might be my last time to blog for awhile. i wish i could labor blog but i have no lap top so the blogs where one might read, "HELPPPPP!!!!" and, "SEX ISN"T WORTH THIS!!!!!" will not occur.

well, here i go.

what could be the longest week, EVER:

i don't believe it myself, but yes, still no baby. there were nights, not too many nights ago, i would sit on the couch and watch truman do tumbles and backflips, making my stomach look like an alien was about to tear my flesh open and come raging out, hungry for human flesh and world domination. as i would watch this spectacle in half fear and half maternal awe, i was almost positive, he would, sooner than i was ready, break my water with all those jabs and half inch protrusions.

as it appears right now, as i've sadly accepted, friday, august 15th at 7:30am, i'm scheduled for my inducement. the distance from here, this tuesday to there, this friday, seems like a lifetime away-an eternity elapsed within and around eternities.

i will say, i'm getting WAY more done around the new place than i antcipated. which is nice, but not as nice as being able to bend down again and having little truman here would be.

Zing

i laid in bed last night, 3:30 am, debating whether or not to get up and blog about, what at the time appeared to be, the beginning of labor.

sometime around 11am my consistent 10min. contractions abruptly ended, and haven't been back since.

"false labor" is what they call it, though i like to refer to it as, "big effin tease". at this point i am a flurry of emotions: anticipation mixed with disappointment. for hours there we thought IT WAS HAPPENING, and as so, mentally, i began to amp myself. now, here i am about to end another day pregnant, a day i thought last night was going to be The Day. baby in arms. tummy deflated. tired. sore. thrilled.

tomorrow is my actual due date and while i'm quite aware only 5% of babies are born on their due date i'm hoping whole heartily, truman is one of them.

hope with me.

it's midnight, past midnight, and i'm awake. tired. wishing to be asleep, but instead, awake.

those sore legs of mine are REALLY sore and hurting tonight; hurting and aching so much that even laying there in bed while rubbing burts bee muscle healer on them is still too uncomfortable. i want to shake jon out of sleep, before sleep out of his "i'm tired" blah blah guess whose not having a baby in a few days mode, and make him rub my legs. not carelessly stroke them like he did while we sat on the couch right before he fell asleep, but rub them damnit; put some actual exertion into it, because otherwise, the effortlessness only fuels my moodiness and tempts me to tickle his nose with a feather after just having put shaving cream in his hand.

since it's after midnight, guess what? i'm due in two days. i shouldn't be counting down but i am. every time i get annoyed that i'm still pregnant i have to remind myself, refresh my perspective levels, that it's because God has a special timing for this, for special God-knowing reasons. oh me! those God-knowing reasons.

on the flip side, i really am grateful that i'm being able to spend some quality time with conrad before truman gets here. today, after a morning spent tickling one another and playing with his toys, we went to the spray park in jacksonville. it was as perfect as perfect gets, and by "it" i mean, conrad. i've said it here before but i'll say it again, i love being with my child. i love who he is and who he is becoming. he makes me laugh and smile constantly, and i can't think of too many other people i would rather spend time with over. scratch that, i can think of no one i would rather spend time with over. conrad is the tops.

another sunday at the river...

perhaps one of my favorite things about living in the northwest is spending an afternoon by the river. and i write "think" because i'm pretty sure as soon as i'm not pregnant or attached by the boob to a baby or too financially strapped because of a year and a half of making it off one income, my favorite thing about living in the northwest will be learning to kayak white river rapids.
early this morning as jon waited by the oven for his signature coffee cake to finish baking, i sat on the back porch reading my bible while conrad played in his cozy coupe car. as i read out loud a psalm conrad beget my attention-he was doing his fishing sign and once he knew i was watching him it was followed by his fishing noises. i asked him if he wanted to go fishing and instantly he replied with an enthusiastic YEAH.

and so it was our day had just been planned.

i packed an insulated back pack full of snacks and sandwiches, jon loaded the car, and we were off for another sunday at the river.

Should Be Sleeping, dear diary.

apart from the monster looking thing that use to be my vagina, the worst part of this pregnancy has been the past month of having a hard time falling asleep at night because of the aching in my legs. it's so bizarre, and i'm at a lost at how to cope with it. typically i just toss and toss and toss till i pass out. which often takes till 1am.

come october i'm scheduled to have my tubes tied. this pregnancy has been affirmation to my desire to only have two children. not that it's been terribly hard, not by any means, it's more or less the facing reality i don't think my lower torso can physically take the weight of another baby.

i'm a week away from my due date and terribly anxious for truman to get here already. coming this far and still no baby i'm beginning to wonder if truman, like conrad, is going to take his time and have to be induced. that would be two weeks from now, and that is too far away. not to mention, from what i've gathered in my chatting with other moms, induced labors are way harder than going into labor naturally. which totally makes sense, it's much harder to shake an apple out of a tree when it's not ready to fall than when it is. great allegory, i know. so needless to put, i'm really really hoping i can try the loose apple technique this time around.

the great thing about this pregnancy is that i'm very confident in it, being truman, is going to be the perfect addition to this family. there is part of me that laments in knowing my time is going to be divided and i won't be able to relish conrad every second he wants me to, but it is swiftly outweighed knowing conrad is going to get more out of having a brother than having a mother who wants nothing more than to dot over him every second of every day. and knowing i'm not only going to have another life to love and cherish past the moon, but that in doing so i'm doing the most loving thing for my first born, is really the icing on the cake.