Porter Jackson Karch

Our little guy made his entrance to the world on January 5, 2013 at 11:48am.

It all started the evening before when I decided to drink the "magic drink" that I have heard about.  Its an old midwives' drink that doesn't make you sick or give you the runs and pretty much always puts people into labor right away.

So I drank it at 3pm, threw it up at 3:30, and then drank it again at 4:00.  This time, much slower and it didn't come up.  And low and behold, had my first contraction at 5pm.  By 10:00pm my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart so we decided to head to the hospital.  My mom came over to sleep at our house cause Hads was in bed.

When I was checked we were informed that I was only 2 cm (grrrrrr) so they allowed us to walk the halls for 2 hours to try and get to 3 cm.  My contractions were pretty intense so I was positive that by the end of that 2 hours I would be at LEAST 3 cm.  I mean, this was my second child and all.  But, nope, no such luck.  I was still 2cm.  So, they sent. us. home. Yeah, I was NOT impressed.

I labored at home from 12am-4am and OH MY I was in pain.  Seriously.  I watched Dragon's Den in between contractions as Dman napped on the couch. Haha

When we headed back to the Hospital at 4am, we were admitted cause I was 3 cm. 3cm???  Really?  Did I mention this was my second time doing this?  Why was my body being so slow?  I was frustrated.  But at least we were being admitted, right? Except for the fact that as soon as we were admitted, my contractions stopped.  Just stopped, with the odd one every 15 minutes or so.  We tried walking to get them started again.  But nothing.  For 2 hours.  I was baffled.  My nurse suggested that I was just so exhausted that if I napped my contractions would probably start again.  So I napped, and sure enough the started back up!  By that point I was now 4cm so my doctor decided to brake my water to get things speeding up.

I have never had my water broken before.  With Hadley it broke as I was pushing.  Well, let me tell you.....I thought an oxytocin labor was intense.....HA!  Within 5 minutes of breaking my water, the most intense contractions I have ever experienced started up. So I demanded the epidural right away, and I got it but the darn thing took an hour and a half to work!!!!  Apparently I have a shallow spine and they had to take it out and re-insert it at a shallower depth.  Meanwhile I was dying.  But nevertheless, it finally worked and I decided to take another nap. I was exhausted.  I fell asleep at 9:30ish and when I woke up a couple hours later I felt pressure and asked my doctor to check me.  And when she did, voila, I was 10 cm and the baby was crowning!!

They quickly set up for delivery, I pushed for 10 minutes, and Porter literally just popped out.  My very first thought was holy cow, he is tiny.  My second was hello Hadley number 2!!  They could have been twins.  Porter has Dylan's nose and Hadley has mine but that is the only difference.  It is seriously weird.

I fell in love with him instantaneously. He is just the cutest, most easy going little guy.  He took to nursing right away, he loves to cuddle, and other than a few tummy issues he is content as could be.  I thought having a boy would be weird but so far, its not at all.  I just adore him.  Hadley fell in LOVE with him right away too.  She was mad at me for about a week.  I think she was hurt by having to share me.  But she didn't take any of her hurt out on Porter, just me. Haha better that way I guess.  That was the hardest adjustment for me - having to take time away from Hadley.  Having to split myself between the two.  I just felt really guilty initially.  But we have all settled into our new roles now I think.  It has taken a little bit longer to get back to normal this time (hence the month late post).  Probably because two requires way more time than one, and P-dog likes to be held all the time.  Which means I have been having trouble getting things done!!  But we are surviving. We implemented babywise sleep training right away again like we did with Hadley and at 3 weeks old Porter started doing 7 and 8 hour stretches through the night.  So even though it sucks having to get up once at night when I have been used to sleeping through the night for the last 2 years, I am grateful that I am getting rest!

Here are some pictures of our little man:

On the way to the hospital.

Freshly out.  Spitting image of Hadley.

I know I look like a wreck, but I was SOOOO happy to see my little girl.

First time meeting her brother.

Loving her brother.

Just chillin on the couch.

Love this guy!