Our newest little man made his appearance into the world March 30th at 2158 (9:58 pm).
Ezekiel Arthur Clemens
We just liked the name Ezekiel, with the idea of calling him Zeke. Arthur is Mike's middle name and was his paternal grandpa's first name. All of the boys have family names as middle names, so we wanted to keep with that.
My pregnancy with Zeke was the longest I have ever been pregnant. I delivered Max two days earlier than Zeke. But I think Thomas was the pregnancy that I wanted to get over with the most. I really felt huge and yucky at the end. This time, I was feeling pretty good. However, as I moved past when I had been pregnant with the other guys, I got a little nervous about what size baby might be in there!
I was looking forward to ANY signs of labor. So, when I woke at 0130 on the 30th to a fairly strong contraction, I was thinking, "Yes! Let's get this show on the road." I was up until 0430 with only one or two contractions and then I was able to go back to sleep. Bummer. I was thinking I might get to have Mike stay home from work so we could head to the hospital to have a baby!
The boys and I skipped school that day because I was just not able to focus on what they needed to do. I was still not contracting regularly, if I could even have counted any contractions as strong enough to "count." We putzed around. Jackson had a piano lesson at 1330. Then, they had football practice at 1700. I decided to take Thomas along and walk the track that goes around the football field. During that hour I probably had 8 or 10 contractions, but I was able to walk through them without stopping. We went home from practice at 1800 and I decided to cook dinner, which was BLTs. I had a few contractions, which I did stop to breathe through during that time. I ate a sandwich, after a gentle reminder from Mike that last time I was in labor I threw up what I had eaten. Didn't matter. I was hungry and a BLT sounded good.
I decided to let Mike clean up the kitchen while I took a shower. During that shower I had a few more contractions, probably 4 or 5. When I was done at about 1930, Mike came upstairs and I told him I thought we should head to the hospital. My contractions were definitely less than 10 minutes apart. The pamphlet the midwives give out says that if you are not a first time mom and your contractions are 10 minutes apart you should come in, as your labor can progress more quickly than the first time. I told Mike to get dressed and pack up the last minute things on our list. I texted a friend to come stay with the boys.
My friend Elisha arrived at about 2000 and Mike and I headed out. We made a stop at Subway because I knew I would be super hungry after the birth and Tripler is a bit slow at getting food in the evening time. I am sure the man behind me in line was thinking I should be getting to the hospital, as I breathed through contractions while I was ordering my sub, lol.
We arrived at the hospital and I checked in with the nurse at the front desk. After they got my paperwork started, I went to the waiting room to the bathroom because I thought I might be sick. I didn't throw up, thankfully. When I came out Mike was texting his boss that we were at the hospital and he would not be in to work tomorrow. That was at 2113. We got into a triage room and waited through a few contractions for the midwife to come check me. She got in there and said I was 7 cm dilated and 100% effaced. I think I said, "Oh no!" out loud. This had her a little confused because apparently she thought I was doing really well with laboring.
I had thought, before this stage of labor set in, that I wanted an epidural... and I let the midwife, Susanna know of my wishes. Bless her heart, she said maybe we could make that happen. She had to check the baby was head down with an ultrasound before they could move me, so she hurried to do that, only to find a sunny side up baby. Now I wanted the epidural even more! I have heard pushing out a baby that way can be pretty uncomfortable.
So, baby was head down. And we move to the labor room. There is a nurse there to do my admission paperwork and one to draw my blood and start an IV. Susanna came in to say that the doc was looking at my chart so that I could get the epidural and then she left again. Not long later, she returned to say that my contractions were pretty intense (not that I had noticed; please note my sarcasm) and they wanted me to turn on my side and get some oxygen because the contractions were affecting the baby's heart rate. I was also hyperventilating with the intensity of the contractions and my hands were super tingly/numb. It was a super weird sensation.
I turned on my side and with the next contraction my water broke to which I very eloquently shouted something like, "Holy Shit!!!!" At that moment I knew there was no epidural going to happen. My water never broke with my first three pregnancies, so I knew the baby had to be pretty low and exerting lots of pressure. Sure enough, on the next contraction, I said, "I think I need to push!" The nurse looked and said, "I see the head!" Susanna was still getting dressed, but I know she was pulling her gloves on at that moment. With the next contraction I could not help myself and I just pushed. My eyes had mostly been closed up to that point and I just remember thinking, "I sure hope someone is down there to catch this baby because I am not sure I can stop this whole process from happening!"
I felt the baby's head come out and then the rest of him in the next second. What a relief! Not to mention relief that the midwife was ready in time, lol He came out so fast that Mike got some sort of fluid on his shoes. He would later say that we should have listened to the literature that says to bring an extra change of clothes/shoes for dad, ha! My eyes were closed for the push and Susanna told me to open my eyes and look at him... HIM. Yes, our fourth son. It was 2158, probably less than 30 minutes since we had arrived in the room.
I finished up the delivery process without much trouble. Of course, the nurses came in to dig around my belly a few times, make sure I wasn't bleeding too much. That's always pleasant. The baby nursed pretty quickly and easily too, so we were off to a good start. After two hours they transferred us to the postpartum unit and I ate that Subway I insisted on stopping for. The whole footlong. I have always been ravenous after childbirth. Mike went home not long after we got settled in the room. He brought the boys to visit the next morning. The big boys fell instantly in love, but Thomas was simply curious.
Welcome to the world Baby Zeke! You are in for quite a ride with all these big brothers!
