Seamus Christopher, a birth story

Today is Seamus's half birthday, so its seems like a good time to tell his birth story.

To be completely honest, although I do love to read birth stories, I am actually a little bit uncomfortable with them. There is something sacred and very private about a birth, and too many details can ruin that. My mom never really talked about our births in front of us growing up. I love that she kept the whole thing enough familiar and open that I was never too scared of child birth, but enough mysterious that going through that myself made me feel like I had gone through a special rite of passage and that I had accomplished something very beautiful, difficult, and in a way holy. Now she will talk about it more openly with me, but I still don't know many details from mine or from any of my siblings birth. I certainly don't plan on discussing my kids' births with them in major detail, especially not my sons.

That being said, I do love to hear other people's birth stories and talk about my own with woman who have shared the experience. There is something about talking about those moments that reminds us of their importance, that gives us a sense of accomplishment, that helps us to feel as though we are a part of a community of woman striving hard to be good mothers.

But this is the internet so I will share with you only slightly more than I plan to share with my kids in case they get a hold of this someday :).

It was about 9:30pm on Wednesday September 25th. Ryan and I were watching a movie and I started to have contractions. We wondered if it was the real thing, and kept watching. The contractions quickly got more painful, I paced the room and we kept watching the movie. I let my Mom know that there was some action. After a while we decided to go outside. We walked around our backyard for 30- 45 minutes timing the contractions, and at some point Ryan let the midwife know that things had started. We discussed what we should do and decided that we would stay and have this baby at home since Caleb was sleeping soundly. We went back inside to see if we could get some rest. The contractions got harder, but never really got more than 3 or 4 or 5 minutes apart even at the end. Sometimes they were so far apart that I thought labor had stopped ,and was able to nap for 8 to 10 minutes in between. At some point I took a shower, put on makeup and painted my nails just to pass the time. We made bets about what time the baby would come. For some reason a part of me just didn't believe that this labor was the real thing, it was so much easier than my Pitocin induced labor with Caleb. The strangest part was that I could slow the labor down if I was tired and needed a break. I think I transitioned around 3:30am right before the midwife arrived. Seamus was born at 6:20am on September 26, 2013.

Seamus was 8 pounds, 21 inches, beautiful and perfectly healthy. They immediately laid him on my chest, and the first thing I did was check to see if he was a boy or a girl. Just like Caleb, when I saw he was a boy it did not surprise me in the least, it just seemed to make perfect sense. I said "Hello Seamus Christopher" and he looked right at me. He nursed right away with no problems. When they laid him on my chest he was so tiny I thought for sure he would only be about 6 lbs, when they told me he was 8 I was amazed and relieved that he arrived 4 days early. Caleb, who had woken up right at the end, obligingly either fell back asleep or stayed quiet in his crib until we were ready for him to see Seamus. Caleb (who suddenly looked like a giant compared to Seamus) was thoroughly confused, but very interested and immediately tried to poke Seamus in the eye.

The most wonderful part about having a baby at home is getting to be in your own bed right after! As soon as I had eaten something and the midwife thought I was ready, I got up, changed my clothes, freshened up a bit, and went and got in my own comfortable bed. Ryan's mom took Caleb for the day and Ryan, Seamus and I curled up in our bed for a long exhausted sleep.

We can't imagine life without our sweet little guy. He is such a character, and has a very strong personality. For the most part he is laid back and easy going, but he can be very particular about things and likes things to be his own way. He loves baths that seem too hot for him, loves to wear what seems like way too many layers to bed, loves to sleep on his tummy, shrieks when toys are taken away or when no one is paying attention to him, wants to be in on all the family goings on, thinks Ryan is hilarious and slightly frightening at the same time, is completely obsessed with Caleb and stares adoringly at everything Caleb does (unless its taking Seamus's toys away) and is about as much of a mama's boy as they come.

And here are few pictures from the big day!

A few minutes after he was born

He had such chubby little cheeks!

The whole family