Happy 2nd Birthday, "Baby" - Linton's Birth Story

If you read Kelvin’s birth story, you may remember that it took me over two months of pregnancy to find out I was expecting him. The second time around, however, I “knew” I was pregnant the moment the baby was conceived. Two days before the requisite “two week wait” ended was my mother-in-law’s birthday (September 23), so I bought a good home-pregnancy test and used it first thing in the morning before calling her up. Sure enough, a second faint pink line appeared and we told my MIL she had a special birthday present, but it would arrive only 9 months later.

Little did we know this “birthday present” baby would simply refuse to be born while his paternal grandparents were around, and was born on the same day they flew down to Texas for his uncle’s wedding. He also refused to be born on his paternal grandfather’s or his father’s birthdays (May 23 and 26) – he needed a day only for himself, May 30. Yep, that’s my youngest son, he knows what he wants and he has a mind and a will of his own!

The pregnancy itself was OK. I did feel some nausea in the first months, and because I decided to keep on breastfeeding my oldest son, who was only 18 months when I got pregnant, I had Braxton Hicks contractions during the whole pregnancy, very strong ones when I nursed (soon my oldest was only nursing once a day in the morning – thankfully). I gained a humongous amount of weight, around 58 pounds. Since I’m really skinny (I usually weight 100 lbs at most), it wasn’t that bad, but I became quite big, since my belly’s circumference was the same as my hips’!
The bad thing was that I got lots of really ugly red stretch marks (see picture above) and that almost none of my nice maternity clothes fit anymore! When I found out I was pregnant I got to buy many cute summer items for a dollar or less at the Old Navy’s out of season sale in September and October - most of them didn't fit anymore at the end, though :(

The last month (May) was infinitely long… Although the baby was only due on June 2nd, since Kelvin had come 17 days early, I was thinking Linton would be early to, but no, he had other plans. The in-laws came to the country (my MIL was with us for 3 weeks and my FIL 2 weeks), I thought I wasn’t going to my M.A. commencement but I went, I walked and walked, climbed many many stairs – when Kelvin was born, my mom thought that what triggered labor was that we went to the mall and I climbed 3 floors up to the parking lot, so I climbed those stairs several times trying to see if it would get labor going, but it didn’t work!

Finally, on May 30 I felt strong contractions in the morning. I started timing and realized this was finally it. As my dad and Kelvin drove out to the airport to bring my in-laws, my hubby, my mom, and I drove to the hospital. The saddest thing was that my in-laws’ flight was delayed and they were inside an airplane only 45 minutes away when their second grandson was born!

We arrived in the hospital and Dolores, the nurse-midwife who checked us in, was the very same one who helped deliver my oldest son – what a coincidence! She even remembered us and she attended Linton’s labor as well. My mom even told Dolores that she “sees” her often in the pictures of Kelvin’s labor. I was 3 cm dilated and after the monitoring I went straight to the hot tub – this was around 10:30-11 am. I was happy when my dad and Kelvin got there and Kelvin found it very interesting that his mama was taking a bath. He stayed for a few minutes with me while we took pictures and filmed him kissing my belly.

Around noon-1pm, I got out of the water and was checked again and I was 5 cm, but things progressed quickly from there because the doctor broke my bag of waters. My husband completely miscalculated the time it would take for me to finish dilating, since it took some 3 hours to go from 5-10 cm the first time around, and I’m sure I could have started pushing more than half an hour earlier. The contractions started getting extremely strong, almost unbearable and when the nurse came at 2:30 to check on me and asked whether I thought I should push and I said I thought so (I had been feeling lots of pressure for quite a while then) – she literally ran to get the doctor. When the doctor saw me, she almost despaired because she realized I was almost giving birth in that water – oh, and how I wish I were, it was very cruel to be forcefully pulled from the water to give birth on a bed!

When the doctor pulled me up so I could get out of the tub, I could feel the baby’s head down in my vagina, I think he was almost out! When I got on the bed – completely na*ked! – I just got on all fours and didn’t want to move because the contractions were just too strong (the contractions and the hurry prevented me from putting on a hospital gown). The doctor had to beg me to lie on my back -- I find it absolutely outrageous that doctors make us deliver babies on our backs merely for their own convenience, so they can see better and reach better to ease the baby out! I laid on my back and I think it must have been hilarious to see me then!! For my first baby I pushed for 1h30 and I watched it all through the mirror, so I wanted the mirror again. They wanted me to push and I kept saying: “Turn the mirror this way so I can see!” “No, it’s in the wrong position!” Then I told my mom, “Go to that side to take pictures, mom” – I was a pretty bossy laboring woman, but I had no idea that it would take only 3 pushes to get him out! No need for that mirror.

The only thing I regret is that the doctor didn’t ask me to pull him to my chest myself like I did with Kelvin, but soon after Linton was born he was put in my chest and thankfully he stayed there for quite a while. They covered us with a warm blanket (remember, I was completely nak*ed) and we just enjoyed our togetherness and meeting each other. I practically didn’t tear and I do have to credit the doctor with being very skillful in her perineal massages and easing the baby out – I was so “bossy” that when the baby’s head was coming out and it hurt a lot, I exclaimed “Are you cutting me?” but of course she wasn’t it was just his head… He was born 2:42 (roughly 10 minutes after I got out of the tub), weighing 6 lb. 3oz. (3.4 kg) and measuring 21 in.

Meeting him was beautiful, of course. He had such full lips and I thought he looked like a little monkey. After the nurse got him under the warming lights, checked him out, took his footprint, put eye ointment, a hat, and swaddled him, he was given back to me, and when I put him to my breast, he sucked powerfully (which helped contract the uterus, although it was painful). Kelvin was sleeping when Linton was born and my dad was with him, but my mom when to get them soon after. I was happy that Daddy was holding the baby when Kelvin came in (I had tears in my eyes when I read in this excellent book, that it’s best that the mother not to be holding the new baby when the older child first meets him/her). It was the cutest thing – the first thing Kelvin (then 2 years and 3 months) said was “Can he walk yet?” ("Ele ja sabe andar?") After Kelvin met his new brother and received a present “from” him, I got him on the bed with me, hugged him tight, and fed him Italian ice, which he loved. Then, daddy brought the new baby closer and we had several pictures of the family taken. We were a family of four now, which was great!

Linton is a really delightful child. His smile is beautiful and although he does have fits of rage once in a while, he is quick to laugh and loves to hug and cuddle with us. It’s not easy to manage the boys’ jealousy of each other and I think I would have waited a little longer to have the second baby, but the timing couldn’t have been better. I was able to deliver Linton on the same hospital that I had his brother (even with the same nurse!) which was extremely convenient, and we enjoyed the same pediatrician until he was 2 months old and we moved here to Philly.

Oh, and he was extremely "precocious" since he got to experience air travel when he was only six days old, but that’s another story! He also went over his birth-weight at 5 days old, but this is probably because I kept nursing Kelvin throughout the pregnancy.

Here’s the picture I took when Linton was 3 days old and chose for the birth announcement:

And this is him sleeping at 1 day old and 1 hour ago:

Happy Birthday baby, I can't believe you're two already!