the eternal student

Phineas Arrives!

First, I have to share some images of Isaac from a recent 'let's get this labor going' walk.

Alright, now the news you want. Phineas Cobb Perkins arrived at 7:43am this Thursday morning, Feb. 23. He was 8.0 lbs and 19.75 inches, the heaviest of his brothers. Like his brothers, he has a full head of dark hair. Thanks to our awesome midwives and chiropractor, Lynn was able to give a natural birth despite her slipped disk and Phineas being in a face presentation for a while. Total labor and delivery time was about 9 hours. Those who care about the details can read below.

Good contractions started the Sunday before Valentine's day and continued off and on until about 10pm Wednesday night when they became more regular and intense, a day after Phineas' due date. On Tuesday I took the boys to stay with Lynn's parents in Chattanooga to let Lynn's body relax without having the kids around and see if we couldn't get labor going. It seemed to work. We headed into the hospital at about 1am Thursday morning anticipating this to be a quick birth like Isaac's 5 hour rush when we barely made it to the hospital. Fortunately Lynn did not go through transition in the car this time. I don't think I could have gone through that again without Karen to help us. We were already bummed Karen couldn't be a part of this birth.

We checked into the hospital and contractions continued at about 3 minutes apart until 6am. There was little sleep for either of us. And what makes labor on the bathroom floor appealing to Lynn is a mystery to me, but there we were working through contractions a lot of the time. At 6am we got into the birthing tub and our incredible midwife, Margaret, checked Lynn who was at 7cm, cervix all thinned out and ready to go. The birthing tub did wonders for helping relieve pain on Lynn's back. Transition occured at about 7:15 and that's when Margaret discovered Phineas was turned in a facial presentation. She hadn't delivered a face presentation in 15 years. Apparently if the babies chin is in one position it's possible to deliver vaginally, but if the chin is in another it's not. Margaret couldn't figure out which way he was even with an ultrasound, so she had Lynn get out of the tub to attempt and turn Phineas.

God had other plans, though, and turned Phineas the correct way on the short path from the tub to the bed. Margaret ruptured the membranes because Lynn's back pain was getting pretty bad. Assumably because of the disc Lynn had been losing control of her arms and having trouble with her legs, so pushing was difficult. After about 20 minutes and six or seven pushes Phineas came out with very little tearing. He was very blue and took a great deal of suctioning and rubbing down, but he was soon gaining better color and eating like a pro. It's a strange affair and a miracle every time.

I have a thing for taking pictures of the placenta and bag of waters. I think it goes back to when I was a kid and watching our Siamese cat, Sassy, give birth to her kittens and then eat the placenta. Lynn does not eat her placentas, but I think the last picture is a good visualization of Phineas' environment inside the bag of waters.