The contractions were coming fast & furious, so we headed over to the hospital at around 6 pm. And now we’re back home again. Sari was dilated about 1-2 cm, and Dr. Russell (yes, they finally reached her) advised us to continue laboring at home.
I know this happens a lot, but it was hard for me to believe we couldn’t progress just as well in a hospital room. I had to trust the doc and Gabriela on this one, though, that it was gonna be better for Sari to labor back home. Comparing this to where we were just a few short days ago is amazing.
And now that we are back, it does seem like the right decision. Sari’s been laboring in the shower, which helped her pain a lot, and now Gabriela has her doing light lunges to help open up the birth canal. Sari’s exhausted, and she’s had trouble keeping food down, so we’re gonna put her back in bed to see if she can get some Z’s in between contractions.
Once her water breaks, or she goes into real active labor, we’ll head back to the hospital. I’m thinking it’s gonna be not too long from now.
I’m in absolute amazement at what Sari is going through and how strong she is.
the women are macho
all men’s trivial pursuits – hunting, fighting, feats of strength and derring-do – are all a lame effort to be as macho as women during childbirth. its awe-inspiring.
sorry that on the baby fortune checklist, long labor came up…but it will be a worthy tradeoff if you end up with good sleeper (hopefully!)
around for anything you guys need…
Re: the women are macho
macho: should be renamed “macha” to honor feminine power
still hoping you’re right about the good sleeper part — is there a correlation between the length of labor and the kid’s sleeping powers?
wow.
this is beautiful, josh. i feel like i’m there. i had no idea “labor’ was a verb, and that you could do it in the shower. i am moved to tears. –joy
cookies
For once I’m actually into this blog thing. Go, Sari! Go, Josh! If you get this in time, I have some advice that was given to me and I’m so glad it was: Take lots of food to the hospital, because Sari could well be starving two minutes after she delivers this baby. I had a long labor, too, that sounds not dissimilar, and doing all that work without eating really worked up my appetite. I wish I could bring you some oatmeal cookies or banana muffins right now. And actually, what hosptial will you be at?
zoe
This reportage is amazing, thank you for allowing us into your world Josh.
Here’s hoping for a beautiful baby very soon!
Thanks for keeping us posted, Josh. It’s amazing to be able to get these updates! We’re thinking of all of you quite a lot, and reading your blog compresses the miles & hours in such a unique & generous way. (This is nothing like the days of sitting for hours upon hours in a hospital waiting room for news.) Sounds like you are a great team, completely ready. Can’t think of anything better than the news that’s soon to come . . . We’ll just keep tuning in. Glad to hear that you’re both feeling better now!
Our love to both of you,
A
s
i cant wait to hear the ending! i can barely get myself to read about the labor part.
yes bring snacks and juice that sari might want later on.
Re: s
You know, it’s funny. All the healthy snacks we had prepared for Sari’s labor (which we were gonna sneak into the hospital) never got eaten. She totally lost her appetite, and what she could eat just came right back up again. I don’t know if it was the remnant of the stomach flu she’d had earlier in the week, or just her particular labor, but Sari couldn’t imagine eating the nuts and dried fruit we’d stocked up on beforehand…
I do recommend, however, that you guys bring Recharge or another kind of energy drink, to help stave of dehydration. Despite our best efforts to keep Sari drinking, she was still dehydrated when we got to the hospital.