The Story of Rhys--The Wrap-Up

We tried to nurse a little and he latched on and sucked like a champ, but quickly lost interest. At some point they did the apgar tests, but he was soon back with me. At some point, probably 30-60 minutes later, the cord was clamped and cut and the placenta discarded. I put on a warmer nightgown. I finally got to lay in bed and rest. We both slept. And no more contractions.

It was a few hours later that I woke up and went to the bathroom, with help. At every point where over the last day I had had to stop to wait through a contraction—on the way to the bathroom, while sitting on the toilet, while washing my hands, and on the way back to the bedroom—I found myself grinning uncontrollably and thinking, or more often saying out loud, “I’m not having a contraction.” Every time I grabbed 2 Rolos from the bowl and unwrapped one I would grin and proclaim as I unwrapped and popped in the other, “I’m not having a contraction!” That single thought dominated much of my mind over the entire day.

Most of the rest of my mind was taken up by this new little man in my life. Introducing him to his older sister was a joy. My parents brought her by that morning. She stayed with us for the rest of the time that we were there. My husband was wonderful in everything. I was instructed to lay in bed (except for going to the bathroom) for the entire next 2 days, preferably 3. It was really hard, but I did my best. I ate a lot and slept a lot and unashamedly took tons of ibuprofen for the afterpains. While I waited, much of the time alone with my son, for people to come visit me the lovely basement room I was so grateful for started to feel a little bit like a dungeon. I was beginning to crave daylight and a bit of bustle (just to observe, of course, not to manage). We did have some visitors, and I was very grateful. And I was so well tended by my hostess I thought about coming back to Utah for future births just so she could take care of me. When we finally left a few days later our son had a name—Rhys Morgan