Complete

I'm complete, our family is complete.  Complete.  That's how I feel after the birth of our son, Mr. Cole Isaac Gerichs.  I think I'm still in awe that we actually have a baby BOY in this house, and that the end result of his crazy pregnancy is a perfect, healthy, beautiful and lovely little being.  He stuck around for 41 weeks and 2 days and then I suppose he decided to just give up and come out already!  Silly me for thinking this pregnancy would be any different duration wise.  Syd was 7 days late, Simone 14 days late so it wasn't all that much of a shock that 9 days past my "due date" he came.  I was just so darn anxious this time around.  I felt like I had more patience with Simone- she could have just kept cooking because of my intimidation to have two.  This time around I just wanted to meet him, get my lips and arms around him and welcome this little fellow into our family. 

Everyone has a story.  Cole, this is yours.

At 41 weeks I got ancy and per a recommendation from a friend and numerous handouts from the midwives, I purchased Primrose Oil capsules.  I will spare the details but the next morning I told Sydney (who was also VERY anxious to meet Cole at this point) that she would have a baby brother that day.  Silly, silly me.  My parents were on-call for our girls whenever we went into labor, but requested that we give them a heads up if things started moving instead of calling them with 30 minutes to get over here.  Sooo, Sydney called my Mom and said "Gramma!  We are going to have a baby brother today!  I think we are but I don't know.  Are we Mom?"  I told my parents to go about their day as nothing was going to progress anytime soon, but at least it was a start.  They took the girls overnight in hopes that a trip to the birthing center would be in our near future.  Again, silly me.  He was thinking about coming, but was clearly going to make me work for it.  And so I did. 

Robby and I got up the next morning (Sunday the 17th) and started out on a two hour greenbelt walk.  Contractions were coming, but not slowing me down any.  We had a delicious lunch on the patio at Bardenay downtown and then continued our efforts to start labor at Camel's Back Park. We walked up the sides of that mountain and down the backside and back up twice.  I was exhausted, but the cheers of other walkers and the continued contractions fueled me.  We then headed to Java in Hyde Park to take a break which was actually not at all relaxing as I was having contractions 6 minutes apart and sitting down a metal chair trying not to wince through a contraction while people watched me was slightly awkward and uncomfortable.  As much as I wanted to get back out there and walk myself straight  into the birthing center, I was tired and seriously needed a shower.  We called the kids on the way home, and Sydney was in tears.  She was ready to see us, couldn't understand why baby brother wasn't here yet and tired from a full day with Grandparents.  I promised her he would come soon, and that she would get to see him the next day.

After my shower I laid down only to have my 6 minute contractions space out to 11 minutes.  I'll spare the language, but that was NOT going to happen after 5+ hours of walking to try to get things to progress!!!  I got back up and we killed an hour watching movie trailers on the computer.  By now it was 6ish and I am around 4-5 minutes apart.  We called the midwife on call and she told us to call back when they were around 3-4 minutes.  Feeling determined we headed outside to go on yet another walk and were stopped in our driveway by our neighbors who were outside playing catch with the football.  They got Robby in on it and I just walked up and down the sidewalk enjoying the distraction.  The neighbors all came out and asked what was going on and we enjoyed some good conversations inbetween the moments I had to turn around to have a contraction.  This went on for another hour or so until my contractions were causing me to lean against our van in the garage and Robby checked his "contraction timer" and they were 2:30-3:30 minutes apart.  We decided we should call the midwife again, so we bid our neighbors farewell and headed inside.  Our midwife, Katy, lives in the neighborhood next to ours so asked if she could come over and check me before everyone headed downtown.  I was thrilled at this thought as I really didn't want to labor any longer than I needed to at the birthing center.  I broke down in an emotional fit of exhaustion and defeat at 8:00pm when she was on her way over.  Looking back now I know Robby was secretly smiling knowing that this was one of the signs that meeting Cole was getting closer.  Seems like you always need to have that emotional defeat in order to surrender to what's happening and accept that you can't change it, but that you'll just need to take each contraction one at a time and focus on the moment, not the amount of undeterminable time left.  That's hard.  That's probably harder than the pain of it all- just the not knowing how much longer you have to endure the pain.  I digress.  Katy arrived at 8:15 and confirmed that things were indeed progressing.  I was dilated to a 7 (hallelujah!) and she could feel Cole's head and the bag of waters bulging.  She didn't think I was going to have a baby in 10 minutes, but didn't want to wait around either.  She got a head start and we all headed downtown. 

We arrived at the Center at 9:00 and I was ready to get to business, so I sat on the same bars that I sat on during labor with Simone that progressed things so well and made the contractions hurt like a monster.  Something about spreading your pelvis and allowing things to move downward not only help, but intensify things.  I walked around the lobby for the next 40 minutes with my cheerleader by my side distracting me through the pain, holding me upright when I couldn't even hold on to him anylonger and all the while thanking me for the work I was doing to have our baby.  I know I married a wonderful man, but the hours that make up the births of our three children are filled with a love for him so great it makes my throat tighten. 

I was ready to push, and honestly I think part of me just knew that pushing resulted in a baby and the other part really was the urge.  Either way, I was on board so they checked me and confirmed that I could when I was ready.  After a few pushes on the bars and no breaking of the bag of waters I moved to the bed and pushed on my side twice more.  On the third time I could feel progress so I just kept on pushing as hard as I possibly could.  When I couldn't stand it one more second I heard three beautiful words; "There's his head!"  I could hardly believe it.  Robby had snapped a picture and showed me on the phone which was so awesome!  To see my little man right there, so close to being in my arms!  His head came out in the bag of waters and when he lifted his chin he broke it down to his nose.  On the next push he came out with some help from both midwives- one who had to pull him out because his arm was tucked under his chin and the other who held his arm to his chest so that he wouldn't flail and tear me.  The bag completely broke at this point and when they put him on my chest I was peeling pieces of amniotic sac off of him.  Weird, but so very cool.  9:55 pm he came out in all his messy brown hair glory.  And I was complete.

Those moments after birth when you finally meet the one whose kicked you, poked you, hiccupped in you, slowed you down, made you tired, reminded you of patience and filled you with excitement and love are the best.  He was perfect, naturally.

We  measured him at 22 inches and Robby weighed him- 8 pounds, 11 ounces which actually really surprised me, because when he came out he looked SO SMALL.  I suppose when you have a 5 year old and a 3 year old anything small will look tiny in comparison.  We took our time getting out of the center, and left four hours after arriving- at 1 am.  It was a surreal feeling leaving only hours before and then coming home with a baby shortly after, but that's one of the many things I loved about birthing at the Center- being able to go home right afterwards and sleep with your new baby in your own bed. 

The girls got to our house with bagels and coffee and flowers for me and a giraffe for Cole the next morning at ten.  I was holding him on the couch when they came running in, and then slowed down when they saw him.  Those sweet expressions from the girls seeing their brother the first time are etched in my memory and I hope I never lose them.  They each took a turn holding and swooning over him before Gramma and Grampa got their hands on their 5th (and last) g-babe.  Cole's new name quickly became "Baby Cole Isaac" as Simone never called him anything else.  It wasn't "Cole", or "Baby Cole" as I often referred to him, but the very formal "Baby Cole Isaac".  Robby got the entire birth on video, which means so much to me.  It's fun to relive the moment and see all the details instead of a blur that ended with a clear view of my baby. My favorite part of the video is Robby's reaction to Cole coming out.  Seriously, sweetest enthusiasm ever. We decided to show the girls (it was a side angle video at least) and Simone told me she didn't like it because I was crying.  I informed her that they were happy tears, to which she replied; "Well still.  I do not like that umbilical cord."  She now loves the video and always says "Can I see the video of Baby Cole Isaac coming out of your bum?"  I'm skipping the specifics, obviously.

It was hard for Sydney to want to go back home with my parents as they were going to keep the girls another night, but I knew it was best for her as our attention was definitely on Cole and honestly, I think everyone should have the opportunity to have those first few hours if not days just with the new baby to do nothing else but sit, hold and nurse.  I am so grateful that I got 11 days of that.  If Daddy wasn't home with the girls, my Mom had them.  And that's what I did- I slept with him on my chest, I sat on the couch, I swooned, kissed, hugged, nursed, and loved on my Son.  And then, when it was my first day on the job with all 3, I was excited, rested, ready and confident.  There are so many people who made us meals and did random chores around the house and yard so that this was possible.  You know who you are, and we're thankful to each of you.

You are so greatly loved, Baby Cole Isaac.  It was a beautiful birth, thank you for that. You are the most perfect addition to our now complete family. 

T-minus 49 minutes until birth.  Laboring at the Center.

This moment.  Complete.

First meeting.  My first picture with three kids.

I could blow this up and frame it. 

My two men.




Cousin MJ

Cousin Jayden

    

 
 



If I could, I'd have five more babies just for this woman.  If you saw the way her world lights up when she sees and holds Cole, you would too.