Tavis' Story

In reverse order so they will end up the right way.

Tavis’ birth

Tavis’ pregnancy was a complete surprise as we were using condoms. We were also completely unsure when he was conceived because of a late and odd period in April. We knew that I’d had a period in March but didn’t know if my April period was a real period or break through bleeding. So we went through his pregnancy not knowing if he was due in Jan. or Feb.

I had a completely unassisted pregnancy with Tavis, the only time I saw a Dr. was when I went for my allergies in Sept. At that visit they made it all about my pregnancy which made me very angry since I was having an asthma attack that had been going on for about 18 hours at that point. The Dr. told me that day that my dates had to be off and instead of being 20 or 25 weeks that I was only 16 weeks based on fundal height. Tavis was lying transverse that day and I had measured 20 weeks a few days before so I ignored the Dr. ( I should maybe point out now that the Dr. I ended up seeing that day is the Dr. I call Dr. A-hole). I don’t ignore all Drs.

So we went on through the pregnancy and I dropped in Nov. so we were sure that I was due at the beginning of Jan. Tavis kept getting lower and lower but, he was in no hurry so we kept patiently waiting (well I was waiting patiently, Tony was getting crazier and more paranoid with every day that passed). It was well past the middle of Jan before I admitted that I was probably not due until Feb.

I had several nights where I had timeable contractions that petered out when I went to bed and I was starting to have that “I’m going to be pregnant forever,” feeling. My sister was planning to come live with us starting on Feb. 4 and until Tavis arrived, so I told him to wait until after she arrived. My sister, Jolene, was only living an hour away but planning to move 6 hours away after Tavis was born. So I really wanted her to stay with us for a while because we are so close and I knew that I would only see her rarely after the move.

Lots of contractions continued and Feb. 4 I got up and we had no water, it was frozen. I panicked a bit because we were planning a water birth at home and with no water that would be impossible not to mention the fact that even if I had a land birth I wouldn’t even be able to shower after. Ick. Tony and our land lord got the water going and a couple hours later it froze again so poor Tony had to go out in the freezing cold (it was 20 below with the wind chill) and thaw it out again. We decided then to leave the water running until after the birth.

Tues. Feb 6 at 3:22 AM I was awakened by a real, labor contraction. Then two minutes later another one, Tony asked if I was ok, and I told him, “This is it.” He didn’t believe me, but, then he never does. LOL. My labors always start that way, contractions two minutes apart and HARD.

Dria had been having a sleepover with Nahli in our bedroom that night so we moved both girls to the couches in the living room so they would not be awakened too early. I sent him to wake up Jolene, with the warning that he had two minutes. I find that I must have Tony with me when I have a contraction, even if he is not touching me, I can only ground myself with him nearby.

I started to hook up the hose to fill the birth tub a.k.a. horse tank but, instead only managed to unscrew the adapter from the sink, Ooops. Tony came back and fixed the adapter and got the tub filling. And Jolene started making my labor tea, which was a very strong Red Raspberry Leaf tea. It is supposed to make your labor and birth shorter and easier. I wonder what would have happened if I had actually drank the tea, LOL.

As soon as there was enough water in the tub I jumped in and entered a time warp. What felt like 5 or maybe 10 minutes to me was really about an hour and at around 5 AM I told Tony that he needed to go wake up the kids. He told me that it was too early and we should wait. Why oh why does he never believe that I know what is going on??? I had to insist and he went to wake them up. He only got Dria before I was yelling for him to come back. So Jolene had to wake up Kaia and Tristan. I told them to let Nahli sleep because if she is awakened she really needs me and I was quite busy at that time.

Minutes after the kids all came in and made themselves comfy on our bed where they had a good view of the tub, I felt my water bulging just inside me. And with a gush he was crowning and I felt the ring of fire, “Slow down baby, slowly, slowly.” His head was born facing towards my left thigh, and then I was done so I pushed and his shoulders were born and I pulled him out and up to my chest. It was 5:16 AM.

Kaia was to announce the sex so Dria, Tristan, and Kaia came running over to check him out and Kaia announced, “Boy, it’s a boy!” Tony tells me that Tristan’s face lit up and he was all but coming out of his skin he was so happy, I couldn’t see him because they were all standing behind my shoulder so they could see Tavis. I know he was excited though because he started jumping on the bed and really just bouncing off the wall.

Tavis started nursing a few minutes after he was born and continued to nurse for about an hour. When he stopped nursing I started to work on getting the placenta out. His placenta took a bit longer to come than the others’ did and, it was weird because it came about half out and then seemed to be stuck. It turns out that my bladder was really full and after I peed it plopped out into the water and I scooped it up and put it in the bowl. Tony started to get antsy about getting Tavis and me out of the tub and the cord cut so I got out of the tub and into bed. But, I was in no hurry to cut the cord so I sent him to sterilize the scissors while Jolene braided some embroidery floss to use as a cord tie.

We finally cut the cord at about 6:30 and then Tony herded the kids out so that Tavis and I could take a nap, I told him though that he had to let Nahli come in when she woke up so that she could meet her new brother.

Nahli woke up at about 9:30 and came in to wake me up and she instantly fell in love with Tavis. She has to kiss him, on the mouth, about 800 times a day and she says to him over an over, “I love you too much, baby Tavis.” All of the children adore him and Dria tells me that I am hogging him, “when are you going to let me hold him, mom?” Tristan glows when we refer to Tavis as his baby brother. And Kaia loves to hug and kiss him as well. Kaia is the only one who has shown any jealousy at all she asked me yesterday why I only hold Tavis all of the time and never play with her anymore. Which is a bit weird because I still sit and read to her and color with her and I‘ve never really been one to sit on the floor and play with toys. A little extra attention and telling Tavis that he has to wait so I can help his sister has helped her feel better all ready.

I finally figured out his due date on Wed the 7th and found that Tavis was due on Feb. 7 going by when I probably ovulated, so he was 1 day early. We didn’t have a scale to weigh Tavis at birth but Jolene and I weighed ourselves with and without him and both came up with less than 8 pounds.

So, Tavis Aslan Urwin was born at 5:16 AM on Tues Feb. 6 weighing <8 lbs and 20 ish inches long and his head was about 14inches.

On Thurs the 8th we took him to the pediatrician and he was 8lbs 1oz, 20inches long, with a 13.9 inch head.