Zachary Glen

I found out I was pregnant while I was in CA to help my sister when she had one of her babies. She had actually gone to the hospital in labor and I took the test. So we knew for a day that we were pregnant at the same time! I had severe exhaustion with this pregnancy. And by the time I got back home I was hardly able to stay awake. It lasted quite awhile this time. I also kept getting sick. I had several bladder infections and sinus infections while pregnant.

Because of insurance related issues I had to have a hospital birth. I was NOT happy about this. I did end up seeing a group of 4 midwives and actually liked all of them. The one I liked the most ended up being the one on call when I went to the hospital.

2 days after my due date I had an appt. My blood pressure was really high. So an hour later they checked it again and it was still high. They also did a non-stress test and the baby was fine. I also had a blood draw. So they told me I could go home and do a 24 hr urine test and come back in 24 hrs for another blood draw. Or I could just go to the hospital for an induction. Neither option was desirable. I went to the car and talked it over with James. We decided that since we lived an hour away and there was an ice storm coming in it would probably be a good idea to just be induced so we wouldn't have to rush to the hospital, in labor, during an ice storm.

We went home and took the kids to the people who were watching them for us. Got our stuff and headed up to the hospital. We got there and they started with the prostaglandin around 11:30 pm. In the morning they moved my to a labor and delivery room and James went to pick my mom up from the airport. Sometime around 9 am they hooked me up to the pitocin. They started really low and upped it very slowly. Still, hurts way more than natural contractions.

Twice we thought I was in transition but the first time I was only at 5 and the second at 7. It was not easy at all! Sometime after that the midwife went to check my and my water broke. I did not want that to happen because of the cord issues with Kathleen and Michelle. I was very paranoid at that point. The midwife was very apologetic, but it wasn't like she did it on purpose. Thankfully my water was clear and no bleeding occurred.

After that the contractions were so hard and coming so close together that I couldn't deal with it any longer. I felt like I was losing it during contractions so I asked for something to take the edge off. (Up to that point the nurses were all very good about respecting my initial desire of no meds in labor, none of them even mentioned it) I got 1 shot of stadol. It didn't take away much of the pain, but it made me "loopy" enough that I could get through the rest of the contractions.

Zachary was born at 11:43 pm, on January 7th, after 24 hrs of labor. He weighed 7 lbs 15 oz. He had a TON of dark hair, with several swirls in it. We named him Zachary Glen. The Glen being from my great grandpa.

While I wasn't happy about being in the hospital, it did end up being a good thing. After I had him he latched on really well. But then after they moved me to a recovery room we spent all night latching on and then him letting go and crying. Until about 8 am when he finally fell asleep. I was so sore, I was bleeding. I asked for a lactation consultant. I knew something was wrong but didn't know what. She came in right after they took him out to do his circumcision (Not going to debate that, it's our decision, if you don't circumcise that's fine, we do). I told her what was going on and she asked some questions. The only thing I had "noticed" was at one point when he was crying it looked like the tip of his tongue was heart shaped. She immediately said she's go check him and be right back. She came back and said her and the Dr had checked him and sure enough he had an issue called "tongue tied". The line of skin under his tongue had literally tied the end of his tongue to his gums. He couldn't move it up, forward or backwards, so he couldn't latch on properly. They ended up getting an ENT and he was able to cut it right there in my room. We were able to leave the hospital a few hours later.

He was able to eat after that, but we still had a very difficult first week. He had a very sore tongue and had to learn to use it properly and I was already sore from the first night. But we got the hang of it and he nursed for 18 mos.

He still has pretty thick hair, but it is now blond as can be. He's a very ornery, energetic little guy. He is such a ham and adores his older brothers. Always wants to play football or frisbee with them. He has just recently started talking up a storm. He went from just random words here and there, but mostly gibberish, to talking in sentences pretty much over-night.

Blessings, ♥T