Updates from the McVicars family: Weston John Fox McVicars

Wes made his debut November 21, 2012 in the wee hours of the morning after a relatively short and interesting labor.

I guess you could say my labor started at 10 am on November 20th. This was my 41 week appointment where I knew the doctor and I would talk about induction options, but I had no idea it would be go-time as soon as I left the office. The doctor explained that she was on call that night and then wasn't working again until Tuesday the 27th (I would be 42 weeks). She suggested breaking my bag of waters that day and if necessary adding some pitocin but thought I would probably start laboring naturally without the pit. I was still only 1 1/2 cm and about 75% effaced. If I had made more progress in between the last appointment and this one I probably would have waited but because I was still about the same I agreed to the induction. She explained that the hospital didn't have any rooms available but that they would call me when a room opened up that afternoon. I quickly left and ran back to work to get things in order before I was gone for 2 months, and still had to go home to pack bags, get arrangements made for Kiley, make sure my mom was on her way, and mentally prepare myself for labor. I was a hot mess.

I got the call to come in at 3:30pm and the doctor would be in at 4:30 to break my waters. We got in and waited until 5:30 for the doctor (like I said it was a busy day at the hospital) and she made a small hole in the bag, and I immediately started feeling my contractions more. She surprised me by saying I had dialated and effaced more since my appointment that morning, so my body was definitely ready. I slowly leaked fluids until all of a sudden I was flooded. I called the nurse in who helped me get dry, and I am telling you-waddling to the bathroom with a diaper sized pad stuffed between my legs while my husband is watching is probably THE sexiest I have ever felt. That and gushing fluid on the floor and having my husband clean it up. Oooooh yeeeeaaaah. And amniotic fluid does not smell like roses, but Chad kept lying and saying he couldn't smell it.

I knew from my first labor that after the waters break contractions become more intense and was not shocked by how bad my contractions hurt very quickly. After suffering through for about as long as I could I asked to be checked and was 4 cm and 100% effaced. I waited a little longer, was checked again and only 4 1/2 cm. That just wasn't good enough and I asked for the epidural. Although I wanted to do it naturally, I never felt like I was as sure I could do it without an epidural as I should be. What felt like an hour later the anisthesiologist came in and got things started, they monitored me for what felt like another hour and as my legs became more and more numb I could still feel every horrible contraction in my lower back and hips. The anisthesiologist just looked at the nurse and told her, "I don't know what to do about hip pain." Period. Not "let me see what I can do about that", just "well I don't know what to do."Hi thanks for being so reassuring. So It never got better. The next time the nurse checked me, she could tell the baby was transverse, which means he was facing my hip as opposed to face down. This explains all the hip pain. The nurse tried alot of moving me around in bed to get him to turn. I spent a good while on my knees, butt in the air and shoulders as low as possible. Not an easy task when you can't feel your legs. I was still having bad hip contractions so my nurse would do this massage that I could only describe as the butt jiggle. Pushing really hard on my lower back and rubbing quickly making my butt jiggle like crazy. This is when the nausea started.

After being turned back over I puked a couple times, and I knew that meant I was in transition. We called the nurse in to check me and she said there was just a little bit of cervix left and that she wanted to call the doctor in and see if she could just push that little bit over the head and I could start pushing. Baby was still transverse, which made me nervous about pushing, that and the fact that I didn't have the urge to push, but sure enough the doctor came in and gave me the go ahead. I loved how she let me push in what ever position I was in and do it however I wanted to. After a couple pushes he turned on his own and pushing was so much easier. 5 pushes later at 2:42 am, Wes was here. It was that easy. I had minimal tearing, unlike delivering Kiley. He was immediately put on my chest and quickly latched on and nursed like a pro. About an hour later, the nurse came in to measure him, draw blood, get prints, and give him his first bath. It was so nice to have that full hour because I really did feel like every minute he was on my chest we got closer and closer. He weighed in at 8 lbs, 21 1/2" long, and a 14 in. head.

Recovery has been pretty easy. The hardest part was waiting for the epidural to wear off so I could walk. I tried putting just the slightest bit of weight on one foot while a nurse was holding me up and collapsed to the ground. Those epidurals are no joke. On a side note: if you ever want to know what it would feel like if you weighed 600 lbs. Try an epidural. your legs are too heavy to lift them yourself and multiple nurses have to help you roll over. It's a crazy feeling.

Wes hardly cries, he eats and sleeps and poops right on schedule without any drama, and has been sleeping all night every night in his crib since he was 4 days old only waking me up 1-3 times a night and going right back to sleep. I am lucky to have 2 sets of wonderful parents who helped so much. My mom came and stayed for the first 5 days followed by my dad's sister who came for 4 days and filled up our freezer-just like my dad would have done. Chad's parents took Kiley up to the cabin for a few days to give us time to adjust, which was nice but we sure missed our girl. It was just too quiet without her. I guess that means we like the chaos. Kiley has adjusted relatively well. I feel like we threw her world for a loop lately, not just with the new baby, but also moving her to her big girl room/bed, and making more of a push for potty training. We were pretty nervous just before delivery because Kiley was still being difficult at nap and bedtime, getting in and out of bed, but within a few days of getting back from the cabin something clicked and she hardly gets out of bed at all anymore. She loves her baby brother and asks to hold him about 20 times a day and loves to get him his blankies, help change his diaper, and talk to him but she still wants her own attention and will grab things she shouldn't and take off running to get us to chase her always when it is least convenient, like when I am nursing.

But here we are. A family of four. We are complete. It feels balanced and we are on our toes just enough to keep everyone safe and happy and then enjoy the quiet moments.

Here are some of my favorite pics from the first couple weeks.