Meet Baby MATTHIS JERRY COLEMAN! A.K.A. "Mr. Wonderful".
He got here Friday, September 19 at 6:55 pm.
He weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and measured 20 1/2 inches long.
Labor went well but was challenging. I was induced because he was getting so big and we were trying to prevent too much damage to my body. That was successful. Thank you God. A nurse and nurse in training were dealing with me throughout the day and so everything took longer than it probably normally would have. Every check, poke, etc. took twice as long because the nurse in training had to do the same to me to practice. It was OK though and Matt and I were both surprised that I was so willing to let the girl in training poke me three times trying to get the I.V. in my arm, among other things she did!!!! I guess when you are having your second child, anything seems minor compared to the end of labor and delivery. But, things went slow due to them not increasing my pitocin frequently enough. That was fine with me though, I like things to go as naturally as possible.
I am about to include some details for my girlfriends who like details....not to be unlady like! I will try and use tact! Towards the end of labor I got an epidural because I was too uncomfortable. It wasn't as bad as the back labor last time. I think that's because I went to that chiropractor and she helped get my hips in alignment. But, I did have lower back pain and pain in my lower abdomen. When I got the epidural it didn't hurt, it went well, and the anesthesiologist said it went in perfectly. However, it only worked from my rib cage to above my pelvic bone. I could feel everything else. I told the nurses and they said to give it a few minutes. Well, I could still feel everything....including when they put the catheter in!!!! So, we called the anesthesiologist back in and he turned it up a bit. Well, then I couldn't feel my boobs and I also couldn't feel my entire left arm. It was so weird feeling. He said we could reinsert it or just leave it and let it help a little. I decided to just leave it but was very uncomfortable. I figured at least it was helping a little.
After I got the epidural I heard my sweet baby's heart rate slow down dramatically and I called the nurses in. They came in and turned off the pitocin and soon after, his heart rate returned to normal. They said it wasn't irregular long enough to cause any damage or concern. I had peace when it happened knowing that God was in control but I also had uncertainty about what God's plan would be. I'm thankful the baby was OK. We later found out that the reason it went down was because the cord was wrapped around his neck one time.
They turned up the pitocin again after the baby was doing well and labor continued. I was almost fully dilated but my cervix was not completely thinned. I had the shakes from the epidural and was very uncomfortable with my arm and boobs numbing. I was also having trouble breathing because the epidural caused me to lose feeling in my chest. That was frustrating and hard. I was thinking, "How am I going to be able to push if it's hard to breath while I'm pushing?"
About that time my doctor came in and said we were going to try to do two practice pushes. I was not ready for this because I was so uncomfortable. Not to mention, as my doctor was checking me as I practice pushed, it was VERY uncomfortable. He then came over to me and said, "I know you trust me pretty much" and smiled, "so what I am thinking is that you can get this baby out in 10 minutes if you push hard and if I help you a little using the hand held vacuum". I said, "I trust you". He has been delivering babies for about 30 years. He had to help Merrae out with the vacuum and it went fine so I knew it would go fine with this one. My pelvis is tilted slightly which makes it harder for me to get my babies out according to my doctor.
I did not have it in me to push or go through the pain/ uncomfortableness. I told God he was going to have to do this through me because I couldn't. I had Bible verses out on the table next to me to refer to for strength and encouragement but it was funny how scripture that I had memorized a long time ago came to my mind. One of them being something like, "When I am weak, then you are strong Lord." That was an encouraging one to come to mind because that is exactly how I felt. I knew I would have to have total dependence on Him to get me through this.
Everything happened so fast, thank God!!! When I delivered Merrae, a nurse and Matt were on either side of me helping hold my legs as I pushed. This go around, a nurse told me, "Grab your legs and PUSH!" I didn't know I'd have to do that on my own. I tried to hurry and grab my legs but then was quickly reminded that my left arm was numb! I said, "I can't feel my arm to grab my leg!" So she helped and another nurse was on the other side of me helping and coaching (God send). She was very descriptive about what I needed to do saying, "Push like you have to go poo poo". HA! Since my epidural was not working fully I actually felt that urge to push like they say you get in natural child birth. When I told them I needed to push they said to push. I pushed two times with my doctors help holding open my cervix (uncomfortable I might add) and the baby's head came out, then during the last push or two, the nurse was pushing on my belly to help the baby out (which was fine with me). : ) It only took 10 minutes or less and he was here!!! Thank you God. I don't think I could have gone longer than that. He didn't cry at first because the cord was wrapped around his neck but they quickly got it off and he was just fine. He got an apgar score of 9 which is really good. I ended up with a 2 degree episiotomy instead of a 3 and my tailbone is not sprained/bruised this go around thank God!
When I looked over at him all I could think was how pretty he was even though he is a boy. He's so handsome and beautiful.
We are still getting used to him and are amazed he is with us. He is such a low key little fellow and hardly ever cries. We gave him his first sponge bath at home yesterday and he didn't even cry! He is a good little eater and sleeper which is an answer to prayer. Merrae giggles when she sees him every morning and is doing so well being gentle with him and loving him. She wants to be held a little more these days which is to be expected.
As some of you know, his name was going to be either Matthew or Maverick for the longest time! When he was born we just didn't feel like either of those was his name and started from scratch. We also reconsidered names we had ruled out before. We prayed and talked about it the 2 days we were in the hospital. I tried thinking of names that had Matt in them so that we could have part of Matt's name in his name. I suggested Matthis or Matthias (which are two names we had thrown around before) and Matthis ended up sticking. We chose to spell it with 2 t's because that's how you spell Matthew. Jerry is Matt's dad's name and brother's name. Matt wanted to have that as the middle name because he looks up to both of them in many ways.
Mom went home today. She was a big help and we will miss her a lot. We'll get to see her and other family in a few weeks when they come up for Merrae's birthday party. That will be nice.
Well, I'm off to try and get a nap in!!!!
