Sheldon Christopher Mork

Coranelle's new bike from Sheldon! She's a rock star with it!




Proudly announcing the arrival of Sheldon Christopher Mork- born April 7th, 2011 at 10:34pm. He weighed 6 lbs 15 ounces, 19 3/4 inches long. He came out with a head of long, sandy blond hair. Healthy and strong! We are so happy and blessed.
So, life with two kiddos (even with the hubby home) is hectic. I will give a very brief synopsis of the labor and birth and add a few pictures, and add more details when time allows.

I was scheduled to be induced on Friday. But, Thursday morning I woke up with some bloody show (sorry if that's gross), but it was the first change in my 9 days of contractions. I went to burritos with Ryan anyhow and the contractions felt harder. I was hesitant to call in, because I didn't want to go to all the effort to go to the hospital and then be sent home. But, I called and they wanted me to come in to get a labor check. Ryan came home and we headed in and dropped Coranelle off with Heido. We arrived around 11:30 and I was 2-3 cm dilated but pumping out contractions every 2 minutes. So, my doctor came and checked me and they decided to admit because the contractions were so often. We did a lot of walking and the contractions got stronger and stronger. I labored on the ball and walking. At 5pm, I was still at 4cm, so my Dr. broke my water just before going out to her anniversary dinner. The water breaking was crazy intense and painful and I swear an entire swimming pool came out of me! We continued to walk and my mom had arrived. The contractions got really close and REALLY bad. I had about a 20 second break between and my back was so tight and painful that I couldn't breathe in between or relax. I tried to push through without the epidural, but I was still only 4 cm dilated and 50% effaced. So, after crying through contractions for a few hours with no progress, I got the epidural. They thought with the amount of contractions and the intensity, I should be at 8 cm. But, no, I was at 5. I broke down then and was so frustrated and tired. But, my mom and Ryan were a great support and calmed me down and I got to enjoy relaxing a bit as the meds kicked in. Some of the contractions were lasting up to 3 min and really affecting Sheldon's heartbeat. It kept dropping way low and that was scary. But, things calmed down after the epidural kicked in. They thought that they might need to put a device in utero to measure the strength of the contractions, since they didn't seem to be bringing Sheldon down. They thought they would have to do pitosin too. BUT, my dr. came back after her dinner at 10pm. We all expected her to say 6 cm. But, She checked me and just looked up and said, "You're complete- I have to go change into my scrubs! Please notify the nursery". What!? We were all shocked and so thankful. The little bit of rest must have been what Sheldon needed. So, Mom and Ryan braced themselves and I started to push. My epidural had worn off so I could feel the contractions and Sheldon coming, which I really liked. I pushed through about 4 contractions and there he was. In about 10 minutes! What a miracle! We just felt so blessed! Very little tearing or blood loss on my part, which was wonderful. He had swallowed some meconium, so they swept him away and cleaned it out and got him weighed. Then, I got to cuddle him and nurse him. He nursed for almost 2 hours and was doing awesome latching! By midnight, it was time to give him his bath. My epidural had worn off, so I got to get up and go see his first bath!
We were very well taken care of in the hospital and things just went smoother than I could have prayed for. Ryan was amazing! He was so strong during my contractions, so calming and comforting and helpful. He was my little servant grabbing me water, jello, and Popsicles. He took out my contacts, rubbed my back, and even ripped my bra off when I got uncomfortable and was frustrated that I couldn't remove it with all the tubes in my arm. My mom was very calm and kept everyone updated and took care of Ryan and myself. Meanwhile, Coranelle was happy and doing wonderfully with Grams and PopPops. We were so well taken care of.
We came home Saturday. We spent part of the afternoon sitting outside at Bruce and Heidi's working on lowering Sheldon's risk for jaundice. It was nice to be out of the hospital quickly and back with Coranelle. She was not a fan of seeing us in the hospital, thus we were ready to be back with her at home.
We arrived back to our house to see the most amazing homecoming imaginable. Josh and Claire had chalked welcome notes and pictures all over our driveway, front steps and garage floor. There were blue balloons announcing the arrival of a baby boy strung up in our yard. We came in to find a huge basket of goodies, snacks, drinks and treats. Sheldon got new hats and Coranelle a new movie. They also took inventory in our fridge and went grocery shopping for us. So, I just couldn't contain my tears of joyfulness and Coranelle was utterly confused as to why mommy was crying. Wow! We are so loved.
Since then, we have had so many wonderful visitors and so much great help!
But, I had to go back to the dr. on Sunday to get Sheldon weighed and his Billy Rubin number checked. That was quite the ordeal- but in short, his jaundice was fine, but he had lost 5 ounces in the day we were home. That meant he lost more than 10% of his birth weight. So, I nursed and weighed him in front of the lactation consultant. She discovered that Sheldon's latch wasn't super effective, even though my milk had really come in. So, I was put on a plan of pumping and supplementing. This was stressful and hard to hear, as I had my whole family waiting for me at home and had never even opened my breast pump. I had a good cry- as I was exhausted and so worried about my little guy losing weight. But, my family helped me open and clean and use my pump for the first time and calmed me down.
Now, the goal is to just get Sheldon to start gaining weight. Which means a lot of pumping for me and nursing round the clock. Yesterday, he was still at 6 pounds 2 ounces. So, he didn't lose anymore, but we have to keep having him weighed until he starts gaining. So, I'll be back at the lactation consultant's today. We've got to get him taking in more calories and wanting it! So, be praying for that- as it's hard to get much time in with Coranelle with all the dr. appointments and feedings.
She, on a quick side note, is doing awesome and loving hanging out with daddy and has done really well adjusting!
More later. I have to finish feeding my boy!