Christian Dirk

It has taken me a while to get to this post, obviously. I have everything recorded in my journal, but I feel the need to have it at least in part here with the pictures for our family history. And I am deciding to not take a long time with it. That decision is contributing to getting it done now. 

In the couple of weeks before Chris was born I had a couple of semi-false alarms. Nothing that took us to the hospital, thank goodness, but two nights that I thought wewere going to have to go in. Regular contractions for a few hours and then nothing.  

One thing that made this time around difficult was that spencer was on call some of the Fridays and Saturdays this was going on. I do not remember the original call schedule now, but there was a trade or two made in order for Spencer to be home while I was in labor. 

A funny thing about this baby is that it was semi-predicted by Benny. I was pregnant with Anne, in Tulsa, and it was close to Halloween. I was talking to the kids about their cousin Grace who was born on Halloween. Benny, in what I believe was a moment of clarity (moments I believe cance to children at times), chimes in with: “We are going to have this baby (speaking of Anne not born yet), then another baby, and then another baby on Halloween!”

It was funny, for sure! And we just kind-of wrote it off as just something he said without much meaning. And if we were going to have that many kids, our spacing wasn't really working out that we would have a Halloween baby then. 

And then I miscarried. Well, not right away. We felt it time for another and got pregnant before Anne was one. This is a story for another time (?). Suffice it to say that because of that forced delay in pregnancy, our timing shifted. We had Jane and then came number six. 

The due date: 6 November. We were going to have a Halloween baby. 

Now, I don't really know the significance of all this. I do not believe that Benny is a fortune teller. We have not planned any or our children based on what the other kids say we should have (now-a-days they all say they want 99 or 100 kids in our family. Ain't gonna happen). I do believe, however, that this is a sign of a higher power. We have someone watching over us and children are sometimes very receptive about that. 

I was so hoping that Grace would share her birthday and that we would have an official Halloween baby, but no such luck. Just false contractions for a while that night. 

Two weeks before that, I had been told by my doctor that I would not make it to 40 weeks. How I was hoping she was right while really knowing I would go to the end. I always do. 

Another funny thing about this pregnancy was in not knowing the gender. Benny and Andy were both born on dad with 7 (17 and 7 or their month). Our girls, multiples of 5 (15, 5, 10). With Jane we hadn't found out the gender. Her due date: 16 March. We didn't find out with Chris and his due date was the 6th. With each of them it could have gone either way. Pretty bizarre. 

I had my last appointment with my OB on my due date. Things were ready to go and we were sure a baby would come soon. I don't know if it was the power of suggestion or not, but it seemed that contractions shifted a bit starting on the drive home. 

I got things ready at home the best I could (cleaning up the kitchen and straightening things up) and called my friend who was going to come stay with the kids. We ended up having her come over that night to sleep so that her daughter (who was coming with her) would get as close to a full night of sleep in the event that we needed to leave in the middle of the night. I was so unsure about all the timing, but it felt like the right thing to do. 

I was woken up at 2a with contractions that were not so strong we needed to go in, but strong enough that I couldn't sleep. Spencer woke at 4a and joined me. We decided that at 6a we would go in to the hospital. Right before getting up I had a stronger contraction that sealed the deal for me. I felt it was an answer to prayer. 

We got to the hospital at about 7a. I had two contractions in the car and one more quickly when walking to labor and delivery. We got all checked in and found I was at about 5.5cm (up from 4 the day before. We would definitely be having a baby that day!

From 7a to noon I got up to 7cm. We also walked two miles around the halls (thanks to my Nike app for the distance tracking). I had my water broken at noon, tried walking a bit more and didn't feel comfortable, so we stayed in our room. 

This was such a crazy time for me. So different from all other birth experiences. I guess this baby just needed to enter on his own terms. 

Here we are waiting. While that was not pleasant, it was so nice to have the time with Spencer. We were able to talk and even order some Christmas gifts!

 

From noon to 2:30p (when the first doctor had to leave for clinic just before the next one got in) I did not progress at all. 

Here's another interesting thing this time around. I had chosen my doctor in large part do to the fact that she delivers all of her patients' babies regardless of being on call or not. Short of being out of town, she is there. She lives right by the hospital, even. Such a great set-up. I found out the 6th that she was leaving town the 7th. She had been sure I would go early. Oh, well. What can you do?

Here I am at 2:30. Not having progressed in the last 2 1/2 hours one bit! I had a much harder contraction and told Spencer I might need to get an epidural. I couldn't take much longer of all that. I was tired and hungry. Not to mention starting to be in pain. I wasn't comfortable getting back in bed and sat on the edge with my head leaning against Spencer's front. He started rubbing my neck and shoulders and helping me breath long and deep through contractions.  

Just before 3p the doctor, who had been told I was no longer smiling, came in to check on us. I did not want to lie down and she had me just stand up to be checked. Baby's head was right there. I was able to turn and get my left foot up, hoist my right foot up and then a beautiful baby boy was born! It is always such a miracle. 

Christian Dirk Cotterell

7 lbs 8 oz (he would have been a bit heavier if he hadn't relieved himself on me right after birth)

21 inches

He has been such a joy ever since!

Now, pictures. 

Proud Dad. 

These make my heart so happy:

This one is the obligatory next-oldest-sibling-climbing-around-the-hospital-room photo. We have one from when Lilia, Anne, Jane, and now Chris were born. 

My favorite people in the world.