Introducing: Lachlan

Our sweet baby boy was born May 15th, 2013 at 9:36am. He is now 5 weeks old and such a bundle of joy! We can't imagine our life without him. Even the sleepless nights and the long days of us figuring each other out are worth every minute we get to spend with him.

I wanted to write a quick version of my birth story in case your interested, here goes: On Sunday the 12th we went to a Rockingham castle and I decided that maybe to help kick start labor I would walk to the top of the tower, 74 stairs. It must have worked because on Monday the 13th, I started having labor pains during the night. They were anywhere from 5-15 minutes apart but manageable  I tried to sleep in between the contractions (with little success) and by 8 am the next morning they were gone. On tuesday I had some small contractions throughout the day but nothing regular. I had a midwife appointment and she said it could be any day now or that it could still be awhile so I went home thinking I wasn't going to see this baby anytime soon. Around 5pm that night my contractions came back and I breathed through them. By around 8pm or 9pm they were getting much closer together around every 3-4 minutes so I called the birthing center where I was planning on having birth. (I was planning on a water birth). She said to wait awhile since I could still talk through my contractions. Then around 10pm or 11pm, I wasn't feeling baby move so we went to the hospital to get monitored. While I was there my water's broke and I had meconium in them so I wasn't going to the birthing center, which was fine with me. I just wanted him to be safe! After about 4 or 5 hours of very painful contractions with the baby still being monitored, I was only dilated 4 cm and the doctor's and midwives were not happy with the baby's movements or heartbeat. So I was induced and opted for an epidural. Let me say this was not anywhere near my birth plan but I was so thankful I got the epidural! I hadn't really slept since Sunday night and I got to sleep a bit during this time with the pain finally gone. I'm not sure how long I was on the epidural for but around 7 am they were still not happy with baby's heartbeat and were preparing me for the chance of having a c-section. When they went to check my progress again I was now 8 1/2 centimeters dilated! Happy with my progress they gave me another hour to see how I progressed. After the hour I was 10 centimeters and could start pushing. Even with the epidural I could still feel pressure so I knew when to push. I pushed for around 30-45 minutes and then they brought in a doctor to help with the delivery. I ended up needing to have a forceps delivery. At 9:36am our sweet baby Lachlan was born and Kit and I cried and cried. He came into this world 6 pounds 3 oz and was perfect!

We are adjusting well to having a newborn around the house. My parents were here for three weeks and then Kit's parents were here for two weeks. It was amazing having so many people around to help us out with the cooking, cleaning and taking care of Lachlan. Having a newborn is very hard work but we are loving it. He has just started to smile at us, which is so rewarding. I will write another blog about his progress so far, which is amazing. Here are some pictures that are not on facebook of our sweet baby boy! (looking at these pictures reminds me of how tiny he was when he was born)

At the top of the tower of Rockingham Castle

Last pregnancy photo

Just born: Lachlan Keelen Elam

1 day old

2 days old

3 days old and at home

Yawn!

4 days old and first walk in the back yard

6 days old

tummy time- I'm doing it right!

1 week old

More pictures to come!