11.12.2015

Everett Flin

We welcomed Everett Flin* Rittenhouse to our family on the morning of October 30th. Born 10:30am, weighing 7lb 6oz and 20 inches long.

We had Liam and now Everett at a birth center. It's been a wonderful experience, far greater and more relaxed than I ever thought childbirth could be. So on thursday morning I went for my 40 week + 2 day checkup. They asked all the standard questions, tried to see how big they thought he would be ( they guessed 7 1/2) and asked if I'd like to try to get things going. I kindly replied "My husband is finishing my floor tonight, laughs, so I'm going to hold off." I was already having some irregular contractions and I had driven down by myself so thought better of it. Plus I still had over a week to go, so I thought I'd see what happens.

So I drove home, had coffee with my sister, had this strong urge to use up my apples to make some apple hand pies, didn't really have to much concern with dinner, helped Liam collect some leaves for an art project and Jason worked on the floor. My contractions got closer together as the evening progressed. Liam and I did some errands, Jason nearly finished the floor and I called my Mom to tell her this might be the real deal. By 12pm they were time-able contractions. I got a few hours of sleep and by 4am I knew this was happening. We called my Mom, had some oatmeal as a family, scrambled to get our stuff together and get on the turnpike before rush hour started.

 We got to the birth center around 8am. I was around 5 cm when we got there, they checked the heartbeat, which they were a little concerned with at first. Early decelerations, I believe they called it. They kept monitoring it during contractions and after a few more, the issue was resolved enough that they felt confident I could stay, labor and give birth there. Things moved quickly in the next hour and a half I went from 5-10cm. My water broke, they quickly asked Jason to get the nurse in the other room, his head popped out by the time Jason was returning and he was fully birthed in around 10-15 minutes. His pink, crying, squishy body was a breath of relief, joy and exhaustion. He was beautiful. Lots of hair and so small. Not really that small, but Liam was 8lb 4 oz so it seemed that way. I held him for over two hours before they did his apgar. It was pure joy. We got time to just marvel at him.
He slept a lot. We got to all rest together for a bit, Everett ate a little bit and we on our way by 5pm that evening. We had dinner at home and then Liam came back from my parents house to meet his little brother. It was all a very quick, happy, amazing, whirlwind of a day. I, amazingly, didn't feel wiped out this time around and it's truly been a blessing with having two now. Everett will be two weeks old tomorrow and he couldn't be more loved and cherished by his Mama, Daddy and big brother. He loves to sleep ( way more that Liam did ) eats pretty well, has the best faces and is starting to have more alert time. He cycles with Liam's nap, giving me some moments to rest and relax and write down these memories.

* Liam helped us out with Everett's middle name. Jason and I were having a hard time coming up with one, so we just went with what Liam had been calling him all along "baby flynn". Only he was referencing his favorite fire truck on thomas. In time it grew on us and we decided to just go with it. I just decided to change up the spelling for fun.
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