Old Game

I had rescued this old slingshot game from my Grandmother's when we cleaned her house out in 2010. I have some fond memories of playing it with her and my cousins at her house. Being home on paternity leave, I busted it out to play with the girls and Owen. The rubber bands were long dried and busted, so it was a bit of a challenge, but we made it work. It was fun for about a half hour. Need to get some better rubber bands.

One Day Old

The poor little guy ended up with a long tongue tie under his tongue that prevented him from getting his whole mouth on the nipple and made nursing really hard for his mom. We went to a different midwife to get it clipped, which helped for a week or so. It still was difficult for Bobbins, though, so she took him to a pediatrician that specializes in that stuff and had it lasered out, below the tongue and the upper lip. Poor guy was less than a month old and he was already in for 'procedures.' (Which were not cheap nor covered by insurance, btw.)

Come Meet Your Brother

I think for me the second best part of the homebirth, after catching him, was seeing the other 3 kids get to wake up and meet their new brother. It was like Christmas times 10. The girls woke up just after 530am, less than half hour after the birth. JoJo went right in to see and cuddle him. MM gave me a giant hug first, then went on the other side of her mom.

Owen didn't awake until closer to 6. I grabbed him from his crib and came in the room. The look on his face was priceless. You could see him trying to process the scene: who are these strangers in my mom and dad's room? What are my sisters doing? What is that with my mom? Is my mom okay? I could really see the gears turning in his head. We had a huge hug, then he climbed in next to his mom to start being the big brother.

The midwife, assistant, and doula were gone by about 8am. Bobbins' friend EveElise was supposed to come over to take pic's of the birth, but I didn't have a chance to call until it was too late. She came anyway, about 530, and made us a delicious, hearty breakfast. Katie made it over about 630. I think I woke her up with a text about him already being born. She was expecting to come take the 3 kids out of the house during the birth. As it was, she occupied them for a couple hours so Bobbins, Thomas, and I could snooze a little. It was a Sunday, so I popped over to St. Joseph for the Syriac noon Mass. A lot of thanksgiving to God!

The 'team' at left, then the 3 of us about to crash at right:

 

We ended up having our usual Sunday BBQ dinner with Jacopone, Katie, and Zach. After all, it was a birthday celebration!

Welcome Thomas Fisher

For this baby we opted for a home birth. Bobbins, of course, had been moving in that direction for a couple of years and really wanted to try the experience. She left it up to me. We knew the risks, sure, esp. as a VBAC, but we had Owen naturally without any complications, and our midwife was really experienced. So we went for it. What a ride!

S woke me up about midnight and said this is it. I didn't exactly spring into action but my adrenaline started up pretty quick, and I started the preparations. I got all the towels and supplies and texted the doula. We expected it to take a while so we didn't have anyone come over just yet. It took about a half hour to set up the tub in my office. Bobbins stood in the hot shower in the meantime.

After 4 hours on our own, talking, reading the bible, doing various movements, Bobbins said it's time to call the midwife. She only lives about five minutes away. She and the doula arrived just after 4. From here things moved very quickly. They got set up and put Bobbins in the bed. Once everything was in place, the midwife convinced Bobbins to check the cervix. I thought she was going to be far along but not 'complete.' Well, sure enough, she was already pretty much 10cm, and it was time to start pushing. That only took about fifteen minutes and bam, he was born!

It all happened so fast. After his head was about halfway through, the midwife's assistant told me to come over. I had been behind Bobbins letting her grip my hands for the pushing. I got to catch him as he came out! What an experience. At this point we still truly didn't know if it was a boy or a girl, and we were so rushed to get him on Bobbins' chest. I thought I saw a penis but wasn't sure if it was the cord. He got a little red and needed some oxygen, so it was tense for about ten minutes as they rubbed his body and put a mask to his mouth, then sucked the fluid out of his nose so he could breathe. But he came around and started to get some air, and we checked the goods, and he was all boy.

He latched on to Bobbins pretty well for the colostrum. At this point I was still in a state of semi-shock. I hadn't had time to process what had happened. It only took 5 hours, and the last half hour was a blur. Heck, I still haven't fully processed it. Bobbins was a trooper. She was tired but the pain wasn't as bad, or didn't hurt her as much. With Owen she was totally exhausted at the end, but with this one she seemed to just power through it. She had some more life to enjoy the birth more, if that's possible. Everything went perfect, for the most part. We are truly blessed. Thanks be to God!

(I'm in my swimsuit in the photo at left.)


If you're wondering, the midwife and her assistant do all the clean up and even start a load of laundry. Yes, I got to cut the umbilical cord, although catching him was way better. We are pretty sure he was born in the bed in which he was conceived.

His name: We had a hard time deciding on one, and didn't have a boys name finalized until afterward, but Bobbins was kind enough to give me Thomas. Two of my favorite saints are the 16thC Englishmen Thomas More and John Fisher, which is where his full name comes from. Bobbins is fond of calling him Fisher, and I've been calling him T Fish.

Baby's Last Day in the Womb

Owen Video

This is one of his last weeks before getting the boot from that room...

V I D E O 

[https://youtu.be/DA2c_-oAUeo]

Puppet Show with Nana K