Looking Back: Introducing Colin Gallagly

We are on a break from training now.  I trained two people (one on one) this morning and do not have to train anyone else until 1300...yes using the military time - never thought I would have the need to do that.  Now I am sitting in my hotel room; I did some work and should be working on homework, but would rather not. So, I thought I should write a blog for Master Colin, it has been a little while. 

While thinking of something to write about I realized that I have not written about Colin's birth and since that is his introduction into the world it would make sense to write about it in his blog.  My ultimate goal with this blog is to print out all of the entries and put them in a bound book, kind of like a journal for him. 

So...let's see. 

My pregnancy with Colin went pretty well.  I only vomited twice; once was due to the prenatal pills.  I ended up having to take Flintstones vitamins the rest of my pregnancy.  I was very fortunate, but to make up for that I had the feeling of nausea for 4 months rather than the traditional 3 (lucky me).  Poor Will too. The smell of beer, wine, meat and seafood made me feel sick.  I always felt bad telling him he had to brush his teeth every time he had a beer!  I also did not get an appetite until I was around 7 months along.  That is probably why I only gained about 20 lbs throughout the whole thing.  I was so excited when I started to feel really hungry.  I actually wanted to crave stuff.  I wanted that crazy appetite that most pregnant women get!

It took us three tries to find out Colin's sex.  He always had his legs crossed or was turned the wrong way.  He actually kept his legs crossed a lot when he was an infant as well.  I guess he was a bit shy, which I do not mind that!! 

We were never given an exact due date for Colin. It was always 11/30 or 12/1, but that did not matter because his mommy "cooks babies fast", or at least that is what my doctor told me as we were having Colin a week early.  Colin was always very active in my belly.  Constantly kicking, turning and punching my ribs!  He would take breaks every few hours, but our doctor warned us that most often kids are very similar to how they are in the womb and that she predicted that he was going to be very active, which turned out to be very accurate! It is tiring but good! Our doctor, who I LOVE and was so relaxed,  made us very comfortable from the start.  She said that she never saw such a stubborn baby (in the belly) and active one too.  The day before Colin's birth I noticed at work that he was not moving at all.  I called my doctor and she had us come in (I was very lucky that Will was able to come to all of my appointments).  She checked us out and even shocked my belly (without telling me) and made Colin move.  She told us to come in the next day to see if we needed to be induced.

We were a little nervous with the idea of him coming early.  My mom was supposed to fly in and be in the delivery room.  I liked the idea of having someone around who knew medical stuff (she's a nurse) and that had my families best interest at heart (not that I do not trust medical people! This hospital was actually really great).  So, we went in and were told we needed to be induced.  She was afraid that I would go into labor during the holiday (Thanksgiving) and she would not be there.  I was definitely happy to have her do it rather than someone on call.  We went in around 10 and they got us into our private room (had to pay extra for that but so worth it) and started the inducing process.  I will admit the contractions definitely hurt and the inducing process can make that a little more intense.  The doctor also had to break my water.  Then I got my epidural, well two of them.  The first only made my legs numb not the belly.  The second one worked wonders!

Once I started pushing it was only 20 minutes, I was very lucky and a great pusher according to my doctor!  During the labor there was only one scare, when mine and Colin's blood pressure dropped, but they put me on oxygen which seemed to help.  Once Colin was out, I guess there was a little trouble getting him to cry at first, but I was so out of it I really did not know what was going on.  Thankfully we were all healthy and ready to spend the next few days in the hospital.  We had to spend Thanksgiving there.  The food was actually pretty good, but that could be due to the fact that I was soooo hungry. 

Afterwards, my doctor told us that she was glad everything went so well.  She had been  worried about Colin since he was not moving the previous day,  his heart rate, and the fact that my placenta was getting really thin.  She said for some reason I had a placenta that looked like a smokers, which was weird since I did not smoke.  She was even nice enough to show me the placenta afterwards, definitely gross looking!  I am glad that she did not share her worries with us beforehand.  There was no need to cause extra stress.

So, we were blessed with our precious little boy on November 21, 2007.  I cannot believe that he will be three this year.  Crazy!