Sunday, March 18, 2007

Our beautiful boy!


After a long on-line absence, I'm delighted to be able to introduce our son Toby Alexander, born Friday 9th March at 20.07 GMT, weighing 8lb 2oz /3.68kg. Head circumference 13 1/2 inches/34cm, body length 21inches/53cm. And he's utterly perfect in every way imaginable! He has very dark brown hair, slightly olive skin and rich brown eyes (they changed from a slatey navy blue within just a few days) - all characteristics that we were hoping he would inherit from the donor. He has my "fade-away" eyebrows, my lips, chin and associated clefts/dimples, but unlike me, he has the most elegant long-fingered hands with perfectly shaped fingernails. Plus long legs, feet and toes. His skin is perfectly soft and velvety, his hair is like duck's down and we're totally in love with him.
I haven't had the time or energy to come online until now; most of my time has been spent eating/sleeping/crying (both me and Toby!). The birth didn't exactly go according to plan (I laboured naturally for 30hrs, but my body just wouldn't establish a regular pattern of contractions, and ultimately after a total of 44hrs of contractions I needed a C-section for "failure to progress in labour" - it didn't help matters that his head had turned during labour and was presenting transverse, so he wouldn't have come out vaginally anyway. Karen was the most amazing support for me throughout the labour, as was my mother - having them both there made it all much easier to cope with. Karen was in theatre with me for the op, and got to hold Toby straightaway; he settled instantly in her arms, clearly knew exactly who she was, and she certainly has the magic touch in being able to settle him when he is fractious (she's much better at winding him than I am too!). Full birth story to follow, as well as numerous posts on breastfeeding, sleeping, emotional ups & downs etc.

Our gorgeous boy is doing really well already at just 9 days old, which makes life much easier than it could have been, although there are also low points, mostly associated with breastfeeding, and the state of my poor pain-wracked body. Sleeping is going pretty well since my milk came in on Tuesday, but I had to resort to nipple shields on Wednesday to combat the extreme pain of breastfeeding (and latching issues with the RHS), and now Toby won't feed without them which is frustrating. Karen's taking the brunt of the night-time waking - I just put in my earplugs so that I can't hear every little whimper, just the major crying which means that I need to get up & feed him. She does all the re-settling etc. so that I can try & get some decent sleep to aid the birth recovery process.

I'm inevitably taking some while to recover after the long labour culminating in a C-section (via artificial rupture of membranes, a Syntocin drip and an epidural!!) My body is decidedly battered, bruised and stiff/numb still, which is not the best way to start life with a new baby, but I'm feeling a little better each day. Our first outing was to the chiropractor on Wednesday - not the way things should have been really. But truly, every minute of the labour was worthwhile for the end result, even if the hopsital probably didn't need to drag things out for quite so long. We were perfectly well aware that I was almost undoubtedly going to end up with a C-section about 8 hrs before it happened, but we still had to go through the drip process etc. When I spoke to my midwife the other day about the implications of this labour (i.e. failure to contract regularly/to progress) on further births, as well as reassuring me that there was no connection between labours (and the good news was that I went into labour spontaneously, and did eventually fully dilate on the drip), she said that they "wouldn't flog me so hard next time" (as my uterus wouldn't take it having had a C-section already). That pretty much sums up the labour process once we were admitted to hospital 22hrs in!

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18 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm so glad to see you updating! I was getting worried that things were much worse than they are. He is adorable and perfect!

Congrats Mamas!

12:23 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i've been stalking you too! i am so, so glad that the outcome - a beautiful baby boy - was a good one. i'm sorry that the birth was rough & not what you were hoping it would be. how lovely that karen is being so supportive in trying to help you heal.

welcome to this big, blue marble, little toby!

1:28 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

WELCOME TO THE WORLD, TOBY!!!
Was so worried when you went radio silent...40+ hours of labor??? ahhh!! Then a c-section?? ahhhh!!!
You look stunning in the photo and Toby looks and sounds beautiful.
Congrats to you & Karen!!

1:40 pm  
Blogger Unknown said...

another stalker here....congrats mums, he's beautiful!!

megan, hope & quinn

2:41 pm  
Blogger Sarah and BB said...

CONGRATS Mums!!!

Welcome Toby! He's perfect!

Here's to a nice recovery from your 44 hour marathon!

3:02 pm  
Blogger Stacey said...

CONGRATULATIONS on your beautiful son! I can't wait to see more pictures. He was born one day after my birthday too. ;)

Sorry the birth didn't go as planned. Glad everything is well though. :)

3:29 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

SOOO happy for you both and for your little boy. What a hellish road to get him here - sorry you seem to have had the worst of both worlds. I think it's stories like this that scare me most and are going to find me in labor asking, "Are you sure we don't need to do a C?" every 20 minutes just so I don't have to labor any longer than necessary if it isn't going to work. Bleh. Sounds like you were an amazing trooper and I hope the healing keeps progressing even more quickly. Look forward to more details on all events.
All the best from me and TK.

4:16 pm  
Blogger Rachel said...

Congratulations!! I've too have been refreshing your blog several times a day, hoping that you and Pip were home. Best wishes for a speedy recovery. - Rachel from Rainbow Conceptions

4:30 pm  
Blogger party b said...

Congrats! And welcome to Toby.

Sorry things didn't go as planned and I wish you a speedy recovery from a challenging birth.

5:44 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow! He's gorgeous. You look so proud in that photo, and well you should be - congratulations to you and Karen.
So sorry to hear you had such a hard time in labour, and that you had to have a C section - wishing you well in your recovery and looking forward to hearing much more about little Toby.

6:17 pm  
Blogger Tamsin said...

Just want to reassure anyone that's pregnant/hoping to be pregnant soon: the 44hr labour sounds horrendous (and probably was about 8hrs longer than it needed to be, strictly speaking), but while it was a bit of a marathon, it truly wasn't the ordeal that the length implies. I actually enjoyed the first half where I was labouring naturally at home! It's just the length of time that I was contracting to no avail, followed by the epidural/C-section combo (resulting in me being immobile in one position for 2 whole days which knackered my back totally) that wiped me out until now. But it's still worth it.

Your body really does create the most amazing reserves of energy to draw on, and I truly did find the labour an empowering experience, without wishing to sound too new-agey about it. Of course I wish that my body had been able to birth naturally, but it wasn't to be this time around, so I have no regrets about the path the birth took - we made the decisions that we needed to in the circumstances in order to birth our boy.

7:00 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

He's beautiful and I can't believe how AMAZING you look in the photo! Just radiant mama!

10:46 pm  
Blogger Sacha said...

Welcome Toby! Congrats to the moms! I just LOVE that picture, one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. And he is so cute. Love to all of you.

10:55 pm  
Blogger Jen said...

Welcome Toby and congratulations to the happy family! We're so glad he's here and Tamsin, you are more than a trouper for enduring that long and complicated birth. We hope things soon improve on the body and BF front. Enjoy the darling boy!

Lots of love from Jen, Cait & Natalie

12:12 am  
Blogger hd said...

YAY! I've been thinking and wondering about you. Congratulations. He's beautiful. Hang in there and keep us updated. Hope you're feeling more like yoruself soon. And just so you know, you can NEVER post enough pictures. :o)

12:51 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh he's beautiful and you look so beautiful in that picture, as well!

Welcome to the outside, Toby!

2:44 pm  
Blogger Kathryn said...

He is absolutely beautiful.

You look a very proud mum - love to you and Karen

Kathryn & Donna :0) x

8:49 am  
Blogger Estelle said...

Wow, I'm late to the party.

Congrats on your little man!

4:50 pm  

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