Sawyer Mortensen

Sawyer Destroyer Mortensen (ok he still doesn't have a middle name) arrived on Friday night December 5th, at 7:22 p.m. He weighed in at 7 lbs. and 10.5 oz. and was 19.5 inches long, and he has huge hands and feet. He is so sweet and such a good baby. He had to spend a couple of hours in the nursery after he was born because he had a little trouble breathing, but everything is fine and he is doing so well. We are loving every minute and feel so blessed to have such a healthy little guy.
Now, regarding labor, it did not go exactly as planned. Let's just say that all the hypnosis in the world would not have saved me. A good idea in theory, but not quite in practice. I guess I was just not man enough for that pain!!! They started me on Thursday night at about 10:00 p.m. with Cervadil. I had pretty mild to moderate contractions through the night and into the morning. They started Pitocin at 8:00 a.m., broke my water at 10:00 a.m., and that is when the fun began. I fought through the pain for a few good hours, but they kept increasing the Pitocin which would bring the contractions on even stronger. By 3:00 p.m. I was dilated to a 6 and completely effaced, but I was barely holding on. The pain was seriously insane! The nurse told me she had to up the Pitocin again and I was sure I did not have it in me. She informed me that I probably had about four more hours of labor as generally you dilate one cm per hour. I finally conceded and got the epidural, which took another hour before the doc showed up and the pain wore off. The sweet anesthesiologist was so great and explaining the entire process to teach Nate as he prepared for the epidural, and I was holding my breath and ready to cry and scream, "just stick the damn needle in" but I bit my tongue. By the time they checked me an hour later I was dilated to a 9. It's amazing to watch a contraction on a monitor and feel nothing after feeling like I was on the brink of death just moments earlier. Okay, I'm being a little melodramatic, but seriously I underestimated this. I pushed for an hour and a half, and out popped baby. Wow!
It's been more emotional than I anticipated. I am crying all of the time because I just feel so lucky. Nate has been unbelievable. He's all about changing poopy diapers and getting peed on. We're laughing all the time. It's awesome!

Tonight's the night!

So, December 2nd came and went with no baby. My first problem is that I jinxed it by telling myself and everyone around me that I would not be going late. I kept thinking that I was so uncomfortable (can't sleep...or walk...and my stomach feels like it is being ripped apart from the inside out) and I could feel him sitting on my pelvic bone just a waitin' to come out, so there was no way that he would come after my due date. My ob seemed to think the same thing like two weeks ago, which did not help. My whole fam was here for Thanksgiving last weekend, and I was sure we would have a baby by the time they all left. They tried to give us some "alone time", and make me walk, and rub my ankles, and eat spicy food...anything to induce labor. Well, alas, here we are and still no baby. So, I've decided to give in and get induced....tonight!

I really did not want to get induced. I am going to try to have a natural birth, and induction does not help. But, my doc will only let me go a week over and it's better if Nate does not have to miss much school, so we committed. Nate and I took a hippiebirthing... no j/k... a hypnobirthing class to prepare, and they are all about avoiding introducing synthetic chemicals into our bodies during labor because our bodies are built to naturally go into labor when the baby is fully developed and ready (I thought hippies were all about drugs, but I guess the times have changed). Hypnobirthing is all about getting into a calm and relaxed state (self-hypnosis) and through breathing and visualization techniques, you are supposed to be able to minimize or diminish the pain of childbirth. Induction meds heighten the contractions and make them come closer together, and so yeah, we'll see if I make it. I hope getting induced does not sabotage my hopes of having a natural birth, but if in the end we have a healthy baby then I guess it does not much matter.

So, onto a more interesting topic.... eating the placenta. Yeah, I know it sounds disgusting. My little bro said if this is something I am seriously thinking about then I should not share it with anyone. Since when have I been a private person? Never. So here goes... in our birthing class a woman came and taught us about a process called placenta encapsulation. The premise is that during pregnancy, the placenta starts regulating hormones instead of the hypothalamus, and a woman's body has 3-4 times the normal level of hormones just before childbirth. Within four days after childbirth the hormone levels crash and it takes a few weeks for the hypothalamus to kick in and start producing hormones again. This is why 90% of women experience some level of the baby blues. So, someone came up with the idea of eating the placenta. Apparently, we are the only species of mammals that do not eat our own placentas. This woman will come to your house after you give birth and steam the placenta, put it in a dehydrator, and then comes back the next day and grinds it into a powder and puts it into capsules. You are then supposed to take three capsules per day for the first few weeks or months after birth. This is a way to use your own hormones to supplement while your body adjusts. It is supposed to help give you energy, help to produce milk, and help to avoid getting the baby blues or postpartum depression. Nate thinks that it makes complete sense from a physiologic standpoint, and he is all about it. Anything to keep me with a sound mind. So, I'm still a little undecided but I'm thinking we may try it. I'll keep you all posted. Now I just need to get over the idea of a placenta cooking in my kitchen...umm yummy!