Hunter Bryan Balmforth

Time to record the birth story for those who are interested. As I said in my last post, I was induced with Hunter on March 2nd. The night before we went into the hospital I started to have major anxiety. Not about labor or delivery but about the fact that my little Lincon was no longer going to be my only child and no longer going to be my "baby." I was worried about not being able to spend enough time with him and that he would be neglected. Up until this point I had never stayed a night away from him so of course I was worried about being away from him for too long.  My sweet husband calmed me down and told me everything was going be okay - and of course he was right :)

I didn't sleep much that night between getting up to go to the bathroom and thinking about the next day. We woke up at 4:30 and got dressed. I grabbed a granola bar and some chocolate milk and we hopped in the truck. It is really hard to eat that early in the morning but I forced myself because I didn't know how long it would be until I could eat again. We got to the hospital around 5:15 and went straight to our room.

After getting hooked up to monitors and getting my IV the nurse checked me. I was about 4.5 centimeters dilated. They started me on pit and then the waiting began. With Lincon my labor was 12 hours and  I pushed for 1 1/2 hrs. I was just hoping that this baby was going to be out by 5:00 pm. I switched nurses at 7 am. She kept telling me that I was going to have the baby by noon but I didn't believe her. Neither did Adam - ha ha. She told me that I should get my epdidural soon (even though I hadn't really started feeling contractions) because she thought that when my doctor came to break my water I would go really fast. So I said sure. I got my epidural around 7:30 and it was awesome. The anesthesiologist was really good and super fast. Adam kept saying that it was like he was roping cattle it was so fast. And it was a good epidural. (Of the 2 I have had - this one was amazing. I could feel everything with Linc so I'm pretty sure it was wearing off when I pushed with him). My legs were all warm and tingly. I watched some TV and also tried to take a nap but that didn't work too well.

By 9:30 my doctor still hadn't come to break my water and Adam was bored so he went to Walmart to get a few things and to get my favorite Easter candy for afterwards. My nurse came in to check me after he left. She stared at the monitor for a second and said that she thought I was leaking water. So she checked me and sure enough I had started leaking water. Even though she told me that in my mind my doctor still needed to finish breaking it all the way. Turns out that wasn't the case and my body had broken my water by itself.

My friend Becca was going to come up and take pictures during the birth. I debated about calling her after she said I was a 6 but I knew it could still be awhile so I didn't. 15 minutes after the nurse checking me and telling me I was a 6, my doctor came in and checked me again and told me I was almost a 10 and that I was going to start pushing in 15 minutes. WHAT!?? I hurried and called Adam (he was almost there) and I hurried and called Becca. She immediately got in her car and sped her way up. This was going by so fast! Those 10-15 minutes went by and Becca still wasn't there and I started to push. First push and you could already see his head. I started to panic (I really wanted pictures and video and I hadn't gotten my camera out or had it set for video). So my sister brought me over my camera so I could set the settings in between pushes. Ha ha. I think my doctor was a little annoyed that I did that but my nurse backed me up :) Well a few more pushes and he was out. Becca literally walked in right as he was coming out (she already had her camera out) and got there just in time.

So he was born at 10:47 am and it all happened so fast. Also - I didn't feel anything so it seemed so unreal. He literally came right out. I didn't really even have time to be emotional because I still couldn't believe that is was already over. But he was perfect and weighed 7 lbs 5 ounces. Just 1 ounce bigger than his brother. He was 21 inches long (which I learned later was a generous 21 inches and it a little shorter than that).

We named him Hunter (because my maiden name is Huntsman and we thought it was a nice variation of it) Bryan (my dad's name). He came out with a little peach fuzz brown hair (different from Linc who came out with blonde hair) and his dad's nose.

We spent the next little while just hanging out with family, breastfeeding, and enjoying our new son. After a little while they wanted to move me to the recovery room so I had to get up and move. Well I thought my epidural had worn off enough to get up to I started to get out. Turns out my left leg hadn't come back all the way and I dang near fell on the floor. I completely buckled and it was a good thing my nurse was there to catch me. I started laughing but I'm not sure she thought it was that funny because it could have been bad.

Recovery was too easy. I seriously had little to no pain. I honestly think because he didn't spend a lot of time in the birth canal that that was the reason. I did have an episiotomy so I did have a few stitches but it wasn't bad. I never iced and didn't take all of my pain meds. I feel so grateful that it was so easy because I can't imagine trying to take care of another kid and be in a lot of pain. I would say that the one thing that still hurts on me is my tailbone and I can't sit one way for too long or I look like an old man trying to stand up.

He was born with an ear tag which we call his little elf ear. He has to see an audiologist to make sure it didn't affect his hearing but we haven't done that yet. He has been a pretty good baby. He had a pretty high bar to reach considering Lincon NEVER cried but Hunter will just cry at normal things. Like hunger, dirty bum, or being cold. But his crying doesn't last long and he is easily comforted.

I have been trying to breastfeed and pump. I like the convience of a bottle but I do like the bonding of breastfeeding. However I think he likes the bottle more so I'm not sure how much longer the breastfeeding will last. Also - I am a milk producing machine. Adam has considered selling me to the local dairy because our freezer is chuck full of milk. I think I have around 425 ounces frozen and my kid is only 3 weeks old. Yeah - - - a lot. It is nice though because with Linc I didn't produce a lot so I'm grateful to have enough.

We are still working on getting a schedule going but so far everything is going pretty well. Hunter has only woken linc up twice in the night so I think we are doing pretty good. I enjoy my time with my 2 boys at home and feel pretty good if I'm able to do the dishes or a load of laundry. Adam has been super paitient with dinner and doesn't expect anything from me :)

I realize nobody probably made it through reading this long post but I wanted to remember so it is mostly for me anyway. Now here are some pictures. The first are from my friend Becca (check out her facebook page). Some people might think it is strange to have a photographer in while you are having a baby but I love having these pictures! Having a baby is such a special time and I personally think it should be documented!  It was a party in my delivery room :)

We did a newborn session with my friend Katelyn (check her out here) when Hunter was a week old. And the the snap shots of Linc meeting him were taken by my sister. Linc loves his brother and is always giving him kisses.