Debut of Mr. Silas

Because Zoe and Paul had both arrived a little before their respective due dates, I fully expected our most recent addition to also debut a bit before expected. As such, I gave Dan a bit of grief about scheduling an out of town interview on March 17, knowing I was due on March 20. The day came and went, with not so much as a contraction in sight, and I got a bit of grief for prolonging the job hunting process. Soon Dan was on vacation and seemingly a bit annoyed that we had moved his vacation to accommodate my due date and his time was being wasted. Our little bundle of joy continued to sit tight past his due date as we approached the long string of interviews scheduled for what was supposed to be my second week with the baby. On Wednesday, we decided to take steps - Castor Oil. A most unpleasant experience: there were contractions, I suppose, but it could have just been the serious gut-cleansing because they stopped as soon as the oil began to wear off. The midwife on call said she'd be happy to induce me after the day of awfulness, but we'd lost precious time and didn't want to risk a prolonged induced labor.

So Dan went off on another interview as we approached a week overdue. We went through our normal school routine, exhausting though it was at this point. Nanna came over to hang out with the kids and make things run a little more smoothly. We even went to Fun Friday at the library as we usually did, but with no big change in things. As Dan flew home Friday into Saturday, I got a few of my first contractions. By morning, I let Dan know I'd had a little hope and we decided to go forward with our plan to induce on Saturday morning. We got the kids up before dawn, got them into the car in their jammies, with the promise of a box of waffles when they got to Nanna's. Paul didn't let go of those waffles from the moment I attempted the bribe until Nanna cooked them.

After a quick breakfast, we headed to the hospital. We got into the triage area pretty fast at 10am, but waited until noon for a room to become available. Inductions, even past due date, are lower priority than folks in active labor. With no contractions to speak of, I was at the bottom of the list. Once we had a room, we got started on the antibiotic and pitocin. Ahh, contraction medicine...I did not miss it. I had gotten hearty doses of the stuff after Zoe was born in an attempt to stop the bleeding. This lovely bag of gut-wrenching evil would be my companion for the next 24 hours. I started this scene with 4cm dilation, so knew it could be a long haul to 10cm. Dan and I hung out in the room for a while, chatting. Another check- not really exciting progress, so let's break the water. Some more time with weak contractions, sitting on the exercise ball and chatting away. Eventually, contractions got uncomfy enough to ask Dan to hook up the TENS machine. Things were then pretty bearable and we continued to talk about travel plans, who was coming when to help out, etc.

Eventually the midwife and nurse returned - apparently her other patient had delivered successfully and she could turn her attention to me. We all sat around as talking as the contractions continued to strengthen. It was weird, though, because everyone kept looking over my shoulder at the machine measuring the strength of my contractions.
    "Did you even feel that one?"
    "Yeah, and it was a decent one."
    "You didn't even flinch."
    "I did feel it, though."
I felt like I was the star of my own episode of Nature as my audience watched the line on the monitor and then glanced at me to check my reaction. Eventually, I started to feel very shivery and the contractions became more distracting, so I lay down under the covers for a bit. The midwife checked - 6cm at about 6pm. Ugh! These contractions were painful. I couldn't do another six or eight hours of this. Then, inexplicably, the midwife asked the nurse to get the delivery kit opened up. A few minutes later, she asked if she could check what was taking so long, with a hint of urgency in her voice. Someone came and opened the kit. After that, I was pretty much in the zone, so don't recall too many specifics. I had made what is likely an unusual request to take things very slowly during the delivery process. I had powered out Penny and Zoe in a hands and knees position, giving myself some nasty injuries each time. Paul I delivered on my side very slowly and his delivery was pretty problem-free. This time, I delivered on my back, I think I responded appropriately to requests to pause or push a little, and thankfully avoided any serious injury to myself.

I soon (6:44pm) had a little boy plopped onto my chest - his hands slightly blue, but otherwise pretty active and awake. Dan said he had a heart-stopper on his end of things (he often watches the emergence since I'm pretty ok during the pushing part of the program) because Silas emerged totally blue, with the cord wrapped around his neck twice. The midwife adeptly released the cord upon exit and soon had the little guy breathing fine. However, Dan emphasized again that he did not wish to return to the delivery room for fear of losing someone.

Recovery went well, but the late hour of delivery meant a two night stay at the hospital. A nice respite for a newly minted mother of four. I was beginning to fear that they wouldn't let us go at all, though, because Silas absolutely refused to pee. He was a little jaundiced the second morning and the nurse thought perhaps a bit dehydrated. So we went on a serious breast feeding campaign and by lunch time had a nice wet diaper to show for it. Yay! We were cleared for take off.

Because Dan had already taken off for his next interview, we had actually left our three little dears with Aunt Rose, Aunt Helen and FCOR John. She'd had a crash course with Dan on their schedule. We simplified things by keeping Paul out of school for the day. Dan gave a driving tour of schools and other important landmarks. But they were all on their own for that first day and I can only imagine how much fun that was. After Girl Scouts, Aunt Rose ventured into Brooklyn to pick up me and Silas. So that's Silas' heading home outfit - perhaps convict stripes shouldn't have been my first choice.

We had an uneventful journey back to Staten Island, where I just caught Penny as she was drifting off to sleep. Everyone else had somehow managed to get to bed already. Kudos to Aunt Helen, who was our holding down the fort person, while Aunt Rose explored the neighborhood via trips to schools, etc. Nanna came over to visit the next day (seen here shadowed by photographer Penny's finger). The rest of the week was nice and quiet, without visitors, which is honestly how I like it. We then ventured out to Easter dinner at Dan's uncle's house for Silas' second big field trip since going home. There, he received a warm welcome, with lots of comfy shoulders to sleep on. Thus did Master Silas Prodeep debut to his New York family!

Spring Break

Penny had a whopping seven days off school for Spring Break and we were all packed to head off to visit a friend upstate when we got a call from John. His flight itinerary had changed and he'd now get to spend a whole week with us, starting later that evening (Yay for Dayton hosting March Madness and killing his standby chances!). So...we re-wrote our plans a bit. Uncle John got to tour each of our favorite grocery stores in turn as we prepared for a lovely week of feasting and generally lazing about. He got to read stories most nights and woke up early to two darling kids curiously trying to smother him with his sleeping cap. 

The weather was actually quite cooperative for most of his visit, so we enjoyed some quality time outside. We relished our first backyard picnic for the season. John kindly lugged the kids around in the wagon, sometimes one at a time, though often together. Penny seemed to be especially fond of getting in and out while the wagon was in motion. Paul was slightly frustrated by how difficult it is to climb into our little play structure. He can't quite crawl up the arched ladder in the back. He's used to latching his fingers between floor boards and pulling himself up at the public playground and this is all one solid piece. Maybe with a little more height he'll have it. 

We didn't get out for too many fantastic field trips, but we did manage several hours at the SI Zoo on Wednesday. I finally remembered to bring a good fistful of quarters so we could procure plenty of duck and other animal food. It seemed the keepers were feeding many of the animals while we were there. Good for getting to see all the animals, not so good for getting them to come to us for food. There were some pheasants who weren't caged that provided a bit of fun - who knew a trail of duck food could be so enticing! Uncle John was also able to join Penny and I on her very first trip to see a movie in the theater. She'll be reciting lines from "The Croods" (just like Uncle John does) for some time, I imagine. It's a funny movie and Penny managed to not get too scared by it.

Then, as quickly as he had arrived, John had to leave. He had arrived late at night and disappeared early on Easter morning. There probably would have been greater grief had his warm spot on the couch not been filled with hidden eggs and chocolate bunnies. The downstairs was torn apart as the kids both searched for secret plunder. Paul was remarkably good at finding eggs on his own, almost as skilled as Penny was at convincing him to hand them over to her. So he probably found more than the four eggs in his basket, but Penny was beside herself for jelly beans. Penny continued the search throughout the day, hoping she'd forgotten some corner and even greater bounty lay concealed just beyond sight. 

 We rounded out our last couple of days of break enjoying some play date action. I've been sampling a local Mothers of Pre-Schoolers group recently and they seem pretty nice. We all met at a local indoor playground (a mere $10 per kid for two hours of entertainment). The kids had a blast and were psyched for their next trip there - might be a bit at that steep price. We then picnicked outside again and enjoyed some 60-degree weather for the next three hours in the backyard. We're going to have a nice time back there, I can tell. It could only be improved if we had a door directly onto the yard so I didn't have to prep quite so much before we go out. I don't like leaving them there when they can easily walk out into the street through the gate. I had hoped for some solid napping after such a full day, but no dice. They really are much better at wearing me out than I am at wearing them out.

It was an awesome break and it was still nice getting back to the routine of school today. Just a few more weeks of sanity and routine, then who knows what we'll be in for when our new little bundle arrives!