Adam's Birth

Adam was a big boy. He's still a big boy, but at birth he was really a big boy. We knew that he wasn't likely to be a small fry. His daddy is 6'1", his maternal grandfather is 6'2", and his paternal grandmother is about 5'8". Oh, and did I mention that Brandon (my husband) was 11 lbs., 1 oz. at birth? The odds were not in my favor.

I was never hugely pregnant, at least until the very end when I was going on 41 weeks and begging Adam to vacate my tired body. I attempted to serve him an eviction notice, but he was a stubborn kid even in utero. I was concerned about Adam's size, though, knowing how large his daddy had been. At 37 weeks, we had an ultrasound to determine his size. At the time he was approximately 7 lbs. 11 oz. The doctor assured me that this could be a pound off in either direction. The "assurance" that he could actually be 8 lbs. 11 oz. did nothing for me. I just knew that he would come a little early because of his size. Adam, however, had other plans.

Finally, after despairing that I would be pregnant forever, Adam agreed that space was limited and it was time to upgrade to new digs. On February 20, around 4:00 a.m., I got up and began timing my contractions. At 7:30, we began our hour long drive to the hospital, stopping at Dunkin Donuts on the way (Munchkins are still one of my favorite foods!). The nurses assured me that yes, I was in labor, and I battled my way into a hospital gown. We settled in for the long haul. And oh, what a long haul it was!

After walking the halls all day, at 6:00 p.m. I finally told the nursing staff to give me my epidural and pitocin to speed things along. If things sped up, I would hate to know how long we would have waited without the meds! The epidural, however, was a beautiful thing...while it worked. For about three hours, we contracted in painless bliss, wondering if the child would ever arrive. Then the epidural wore off, and the bliss went too. I belatedly realized that I should have paid attention to the breathing techniques discussed in my childbirth class. I won't need those! I had thought. I'm having an epidural! Yeah. Right. Though the dosage was increased, my labor had outstripped the magical elixir.

Finally, at 3:04 a.m., after 23 hours of unplanned natural labor, Adam Lane arrived. My instincts had been correct - he was a chunk! "He feels like a three-month-old!" the nurses exclaimed as he was carried away to be cleaned up. He weighed in at 9 lbs and 13 oz and was 22" long. They did manage to squeeze him into a newborn size diaper and sleeper for that night, but that was the only time. Our diapers were quickly replaced with size 1.

Seven months later, Adam is still a big boy, currently able to wear 12 month sleepers quite comfortably in length, though his little waist is still perfect for 6-9 month pants. The past seven months have also given me a series of very short stories that Facebook refers to as my Tales from the Crib.