Teensy Little Bird

When the hospital called on August 17th to schedule a C-section for September 3rd, I got off my computer, and walked and walked and walked. Every day, for days. My best shot at avoiding surgery was to go into labor naturally. (My oldest was born by C-section, so the doctor didn’t want me to go full-term at the risk of uterine rupture.) It was over 110º each of those days, so I would head out at 8pm after the sun went down and make laps around the neighborhood in my fluorescent-orange shirt -- the Great Pumpkin.

I did it! With four blisters on my left foot and three on my right, our new little bub was born at 1:59pm on Thursday, August 25th. No C-section required -- phew. My feet only stopped aching this week.

I had never gone into labor before on my own, so I stayed in bed that morning longer than some might have, timing my contractions on my iPhone (standard clock app, lap function – awesome). Once I could no longer sleep, I started posting my progress on Twitter; it was a fantastic distraction. We got the kids ready for school and called in my mom to make the rounds, then headed out to the hospital. Of course, we had to make a stop at the store for an SD card for our camera. (I wanted photos!) At that point, my contractions were a minute long and three minutes apart, from start to start.

At the hospital, when I walked from triage to the delivery room, my doctor announced that I was at a 7 or 8 and everyone at the nursing station stood and clapped, saying “Wow, you’re still walking!?” I wonder if that’s such a big deal or if they stand and clap for everyone. “You’re dilated to a 1? And you’re still walking!?” “You’re dilated to a 3? And you’re still walking!?” Might be a good protocol.

I had a big, goofy smile on my face -- between contractions. The staff was baffled by me. Sure, it hurt. Of course! I was just ecstatic that I beat the scheduled surgery and that I’d get to meet my new kiddo. Good thing I was in an excited stupor too, because my doctor had to attend to three emergency situations in the course of my labor. She held off on me a little bit so she could help the other mothers get through their ordeals. After she broke my water, everything went very quickly and the baby was born within the hour.

And here he is! The inventory is complete. He’s all here, with all his teensy parts. And everything appears to work as it should: cooing, gooing, squeaking, squawking, spitting, squirting, grinning, grunting. He’s so new and tiny that all of these functions still have us mesmerized.

I'm saving his name for another post -- as that's it's own story. When it comes to names, I'm a waffler. Why can't we all go by three for four different names -- that would be so much easier! (Well, maybe not.)

Two days after the baby was born, Isaac and our talented friend, Jared Platt, met up to take pictures. These lovely shots were snapped by Jared. Jared is a professional photographer who travels the U.S. teaching photography workflow and file management to other professionals.

Isaac has typed up his thoughts on little bub's birthday as well -- more revealing perhaps than my polite assessment. Here's his take...

The night before the baby's birthday, I was going to join Heather for another of her long walks and try to get the ball rolling. She had been having contractions every night for months, but they were getting stronger and more frequent each night. One thing after another came up and by seven or eight in the evening Heather turned to me and said, “I’m not sure if I want to go into labor tonight. I think I might prefer a good-night's sleep first.” So we put off the walk. Her hammered feet needed rest anyhow.

As Heather, at this point, was a very restless sleeper, I told her before we went to bed that I was going to ignore any tossing and turning unless she grabbed my arm and gave it a good squeeze. Around 4:30am, however, I noticed that Heather was fiddling with her phone a lot. I woke up and asked her what was up. She said that she was timing her contractions.

“Well, how far apart are they?” I asked. “About four minutes” she answered. Any thought of going back to sleep fled as the likely-impending event dawned on me. Heather reassured me that the contractions had only been four minutes apart for half an hour and that if she stood up they might very well stop; "Don’t get too excited about it yet.” She wanted me to wait till they had been consistent and mighty for a full hour.

I turned to Google to reassure myself that this wasn’t a total emergency. The all-knowing repository of cyber-knowledge informed me that I had a good thirty-more minutes before I could panic. After telling Heather she was right (of course), I went back downstairs, cleaned the dishes, and made lunches for our two children who would need to head to school in another two hours.

Checking on Heather periodically, she convinced me that she was OK and it wasn’t yet time to go. I think she still had aspirations of dropping the kids off at school ourselves before heading to the hospital. At 6:00am or so, as I was putting lunch bags into school bags and wiping down the counters, Heather came to the top of the stairs and told me she was going to take a shower. Then, soon after that, we should think about calling her mom who was on deck to see to the kids in the event of incontrovertible contracting.

I was in favor of calling Granny right away, but Heather wanted me to wait another twenty-five minutes, just in case these pesky, fake contractions went away now that she was standing; the kids needed to be picked up by 6:50am or so. I agreed to do what she wanted ("You are totally in charge") and started gathering up a few things for Heather (cooler bag of contraband chocolate and Italian soda, camera, makeup bag… you know, the essentials). Five minutes later, after only managing to undress through the contractions, Heather came to the top of the stairs again, wrapped in a towel, and said “Isaac? It’s time to call my mom.” (Her subsequent shower was performed to the following rhythm: contraction, shuffle to the shower and turn it on, contraction, take towel off and get in shower, contraction, soap up, contraction…) They were three minutes apart, lasting a minute each.

Granny arrived a few minutes early and we had time to grab a few shots of mom and kids before we each headed off to our respective destinations. We took family portraits for two minutes between contractions and then waited for Heather to stand up straight and get the very serious look off her face. Once she was smiling again, we took a few more.

By 7:00am, the ex-utero children were squared away with Granny and all of the hospital gear was packed in the car. Heather, with perfectly-maintained good-humor, was ensconced in the passenger seat. House locked and dogs fed, we pulled out of the driveway and headed to a Wal-Mart near the hospital to get an SD card for the Leica point-and-shoot. Though I had all of the big cameras packed, Heather was hoping for some video too. Around 7:30am, we finally made our way to the emergency room where I had called ahead to let them know we were coming.

When the orderly came through the doors pushing Heather’s wheelchair, he only had to wait a moment for me to finish capping and stowing my 200mm lens. The light in the hall was so beautiful it was the perfect opportunity for a pre-delivery photo-op -- nevermind Heather had been in serious labor for a few hours at this point.

Heather was perfectly cheerful as we headed upstairs to the labor-triage room. The only exception being that she didn’t like it when I tried to make her, or anyone else laugh in the middle of a contraction. “No joking! Actually just shut up when I’m having a contraction; make jokes in between.” One minute out of four she could get testy if I didn’t zip it -- but hey, the other three she was throwing out zingy one-liners.

All of the nurses and the doctor were sweet and pleasant. They were so excited to perform a delivery, it was as if they only got to do that once in a long while, not every day. Some of the highlights included the following:

• The anesthesiologist using hospital vernacular to describe an emergency procedure and then blushing and apologizing, as if mentioning such things as “ruptures” would shock our delicate sensibilities (Heather's always asking for the gory details. She loves to watch surgeries on t.v. too.);
• The doctor and the nurse counting the twenty-some-odd metallic and medieval-looking implements in an official fashion after the delivery (You wouldn’t want to lose one of those suckers -- somewhere);
• The super-friendly, motherly nurse who was quite a good photographer, picking up my great big camera and zooming around the room snapping shots of the big moment, while assiduously avoiding the “zone”;
• Heather asking to get a good look at the placenta ("Fascinating!");
• And last, but not least, the witty banter between contractions. After all, a Heather Bailey delivery is always a party.

Once the pushing started, things progressed rapidly and before we knew it Heather held Noogie (that was his nickname) in her arms. I cut the cord -- an honor I hadn’t done much to deserve. Mother and child were separated, yet they were truly together for the first time. Heather held the baby against her as one tiny hand groped for the other. His miniscule fingers interlaced as if they had spent the last few months in an attitude of watery supplication. (Heather imagines he twiddled his fingers while formulating a plan to take over the world. Mwah-ha-ha-ha.)

His baby face, though somewhat puffy and blotchy, was angelically-formed, his every diminutive feature perfect and his beet-colored, vernix-be-smeared complexion pronounced just-right. 6 pounds, 3.4 ounces of achingly-beautiful, ferociously-hungry-when-not-sleeping, implacably-bi-hourly-insistent, narcolepticly-inclined and charmingly-appealing baby boy. When I hold him in the crook of my arm with his cheek cupped in the palm of my hand, even on 3-5 hours of sleep a night, I know that this is what makes life worth living.

Comments

[Kathy]

Congratulations! What a beautiful little boy, and beautiful mom too! After I had my girls my hair looked like it had been ratted in a wind tunnel and the rest of me looked like I had been dragged behind a truck! lol. Heather, you look so pretty in all these shots, and so happy:>)

[krista]

What an incredibly beautiful little guy! Your post and photos are so wonderful too. Big congratulations to your family!

[Laura]

Congratulations! What a beautiful baby boy. You look so wonderful in all of the pictures, too! They really are what makes life worth living.

[Candy from Candied Fabrics]

Oh happy day for everyone! Blessings on you all!

[Nurseli]

Congratulations! He's beautiful!

[Cindy Mindy Pindy]

Good job, you guys! He's a beautiful little boy. I'm very proud of you.

[Julie]

Congratulations Heather,to you and your family! What a blessed day, and what a lucky baby ...what a creative and love filled life to look forward to!

[Brandy]

Congratulations! What a beautiful post-thank you so much for sharing.

[worldknit & handspun]

wow, you look so put together after giving birth. Congrats on your new gift :)

[Leah]

Congratulations! Amazingly told and beautifully shot. Enjoy your babymoon!

[moxiemandie]

What a beautiful narration. SO, so sweet. Lovely photos, too...Congrats on your newest boy.

[andi]

Congratulations. Little Rumplestiltskin is gorgeous!

[Addie]

OH finally...I've been checking daily for weeks, just hoping for an update. You're killing us by withholding the name. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE...don't wait months to fill us in! Congratulations!!!!

[Tiffany]

Love this. No one would know you were in labor through these shots, you look amazing! Gorgeous pics!

[Kerry - Kid Giddy]

Oh - how wonderful and magical and heavenly are these babies brought in on angels wings! Congrats to Baby Bailey! Can't wait to find out his name (and the story behind it!) - Kerry

[DF]

Congratulations,
beautiful couple of mom and newborn, a lovely family!
Veronica

[Stacy]

Congratulations to you and your family!! He is an adorable addition!

[Chris]

What a lovely story, amazing pics (especially in labor!), and a darling little bird. Congratulations Bailey Family!

[Anna]

Congratulations! Lovely pictures and thanks so much for sharing it all with us. A warm welcome to the little dude!

[Claire]

Oh my goodness, he's so cute! Congratulations!!!!

[Stacy]

You look WAY too fabulous to have just delivered a baby! Congratulations!

[heather from arizona]

Congrats! Loved Issac's version! What a wonderful, wonderful addition to your family. Hope between snuggling and kissing the little one you are able to get some sleep!

[Patti]

Congratulations to you and your family!

[Jemellia]

Congratulations to you all!

[Emily]

Congratulations! What an adorable little guy!!

[Alice S]

Oh my! What a beautiful baby! I love the look of contentment on your face, Heather. Congratulations!!!

[ellen patton]

I've been wondering about your new baby. He's beautiful! Can't wait to hear what his name is.

[Allison Baker]

ohh, congratulations!! What a sweet little boy. So glad he came safely. Best wishes!

[Katy]

Congratulations! So happy to hear such a wonderful birth story of a much-prayed-for-hoped-for-anticipated little baby!

[elinor peace bailey]

Thanks to you Heather for this gorgeous gift. Never has a family been so beautifully photographed. Thanks Jared and Isaac. I hope to hold this little squeek soon. A for those two who have preceeded him, what a joy they are. See you at Quilt Market. Love Crazy Grandma.

[Kim]

Hearty congrats to you and your family!

[susie]

He's beautiful. Bravo to both of you!

[Candie]

Happy baby days...

[Veerle Witdouck]

Congratulations, he is an absolute treasure!

[Vicki]

Congratulations! I'm so glad you were able to avoid the repeat c-section. (With my 3 kids I had c-section, VBAC, and then preemie drama + labor and c-section.)

Your photos are gorgeous, can't wait to hear his name!

[Cindy Farmer]

So happy for you all! God bless you all!

[Barbara G]

COngratulations! He's beautiful!

[Muff]

Well done, Heather. You sure to great work.
Glad all is well and welcome to the little guy.
Love,
Aunt Muff

[Helen]

This is an awesome post, I don't think I could Have smiled between contractions like you did. Well done baby bird is beautiful.

[Becky P.]

Beautiful! Congratulations to your family. :)

[Sarah - Crafts From The Cwtch]

Congratulations! I also managed a VBAC although I don't recall any smiling between contractions!

You all look so happy and your little guy is beautiful. :)

[Han in the UK]

So many congratulations -he's a beautiful addition to your family -wishing you much enjoyment and looking forward to the name saga....

[Artsy Life by Tracey Brooks]

Yay!! You made it happen just like you wanted it to.

CONGRATULATIONS! He is a doll.

[mathea]

Congratulations! He is beautiful and I'm amazed by your taking time to take photos between contractions. They will be treasured memories, I'm sure!

[Cheryl Arkison]

This is one of the most funny labour stories ever! Beautiful too. Only from photographers, artists, and obviously very happy people. Congratulations.

[karen]

What an absolutely beautiful baby, soooooooo sweet. Congratulations to you & your family :)
Karen

[Lynn]

Congratulations!!! You have a beautiful family. Thank you for sharing pics and story with us.

[margie]

Beautiful. Congratulations he is so precious.

[Tina in Boston]

Congratulations, Heather!!

[Daniela]

Congratulations Heather!!! he is a wonderful baby!!!!