Day Zero

As you by now probably know, Attison James Raufer was born on Thursday November 1, 2012 at 6:26pm. He was 8pounds 13 ounces, and 22 1/4".

Since we have too many great families to name him after, we chose a new name. It's an old name meaning son of adam (aren't we all). As a nickname, we may call him Athey, after a character in one of our favorite books: Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. Athey is an old man, whose strength, wisdom, calm, and patience are revered by everyone he meets.

Steph began having contractions around 8pm on Tuesday the 30th. They continued steadily through the night and all day Wednesday, never coming closer than 5 minutes apart. We thought things might accelerate, and that we would have a Halloween baby, but he had other plans.

The contractions continued through the night Wednesday, subsiding somewhat in frequency. They resumed full force around 5am. Steph spoke to the midwifes (Emily and Aoife (pronounced similar to Eva)) by phone several times throughout the night. (Note to self: elaborate in a future post on how wonderful the Midwife Center of Pittsburgh is.) 

At 9am we left home for the Midwife Center, 10 minutes away. This was the most intense labor Steph had seen. Aoife greeted us there and introduced us to Diana, our delivery nurse. They immediately set to work to relax Steph, physically, mentally and emotionally. We settled in to the birth suite, with a full bed, rocking chair, private bathroom (with jetted tub) and a fully stocked nurses station. Dimmable lights and ceiling fans added to the comfort.

After settling in and relaxing somewhat, they told Steph that she needed rest to be able to come down the home stretch full force. They suggested Nubain, a mild narcotic that would take the edge off the pain and help induce sleep. It worked exactly as they predicted, and Steph was able to rest peacefully for about two hours.

At 3pm, after several exams, Aoife explained that the labor was steady, but did not seem to be accelerating. She said we could keep going and wait for things to accelerate naturally, or she could break Steph's bag of waters... which "will really kick things into high gear."

Well, if you've ever met Steph, you can guess what she said... "let's do this!" 

That was at 3:30. The next three hours were a blur. A busy, chaotic, loud, exciting, laughing, crying, biting, deep breathing blur. But at 6:26, Attison James came sliding and wriggling into the world! 

Within seconds he was placed on Steph's chest, skin on skin. He remained there for the next hour and a half. He remained on her chest while they checked his vitals (every 5 minutes), while they cleaned him, and while they cut the cord. 

He nursed his fill, smiled and slept. We were ecstatic. 

Eventually, they took him [all the way across the room] to weigh and measure him, to more thoroughly clean him, and take his prints (in case he robs a bank). The nurses made Steph an omelette. 

Steph's mom and sister, Linda and Sarah had arrived Wednesday night. They both helped intermittently with Steph's contractions, until 3, when Steph cleared them from the room, and Sarah had to return home for bio lab... which if you ask me, could not possibly have been more realistic than what was occurring, but grades is grades. 

Steph was grateful for their help ... until Linda misinterpreted the controls for the jetted tub and, in a moment of irreproducible comedic timing, sprayed bathwater all over the room. 

Linda returned at about 8pm, and turned the room into a photo shoot. 

And the photo shoot... 

I guess that's why you all came here in the first place. So let's get to it...