Introducing Our Newest Love, William James Klopp

He's here, he's here! I'm so over the moon in love with our son, William ("Will"). Pregnancy, labor and delivery, and our son are all I could ever dreamed for. The quad pregnancy was very unique and it produced my first loves, but I am so happy that I could experience the normal singleton pregnancy, too. If you have some time, here's my birth story. Sorry if it's too long! If you want to skip the story and just see some pics, there's a link at the end of the post!

The Birth Story- UNABRIDGED!

Honestly, I was getting quite impatient for our son to make his appearance. I wasn't that uncomfortable, really, but was ready to see him and not have a big belly in the way! The 39 week OB check-up showed some progress that my body was starting to get ready, but of course the nurse practitioner couldn't give me a good guess when he'd come. I was planning on trying for a VBAC (vaginal birth after Cesarean) so there was no scheduled C-section and I also was hoping to avoid being induced. Soooo....I started going on some good walks! I had a good walk the day after Christmas trudging through snow, a good walk on Friday, and then another with just Odin on Saturday morning. Anyways, earlier that same Saturday I woke up at 3:30am with contractions that felt much different than the Braxton-Hicks that I had been experiencing lately. I couldn't sleep once they started because I was so excited and nervous that labor could actually be starting!

    Saturday morning, the contractions were irregular but still felt different. I decided to take Odin for a nice walk for some peace and to see if it could start labor. When we put the girls down for a nap, I started paying attention to contractions and they seemed to get more regular at 10 min apart or so. By the time the girls woke up, they were getting painful so I put a movie in so I could lay down and continue timing them. (Meanwhile, Dan went ice fishing - which I condoned - before the nap because I thought labor had stalled and was a false alarm). Throughout the movie I realized these contractions were coming every 4 to 5 minutes and I had to concentrate and try to relax my breathing. When Dan came home, he said he was going to cook us crappies, but I said, NO....we're going to the hospital. He was shocked and started freaking out! It was kind of funny to watch! He hadn't packed anything beforehand for himself and he was just scrambling trying to get ready. I called Dan's aunt Mary and uncle Dave to come watch the girls and they got to our house very quickly. 

    The ride to the hospital was kind of like you see in the movies. I was yelling at Dan to "ease into those stops!!!!" because I was getting really uncomfortable, plus Dan was probably driving faster than he should have. When we checked into Labor and Delivery, they said they would monitor the contractions and see if my cervix progressed. (The first cervix check was 3 cm..the last appointment it was 1 1/2 cm) The nurses told me if my cervix didn't progress they would send me home even though I was getting contractions every 3-4 min at the time. I was so scared they were going to send me home like that! I couldn't wrap my head around the fact I might *not* be in labor. Well, after less than an hour of monitoring, the nurses told me the doctor reviewed my charts and said I should stay since I'm relatively high risk (VBAC and positive group B). That was a relief! Soon after, the nurses checked me and I was at 4 cm, so I would have stayed anyways.

   Originally, I was hoping I could cope through contractions, but I didn't have my mind set on going drug-free. I hadn't taken any birthing classes- it was too hard to find the time and spend hours on Saturdays. Anyways, I quickly realized I was not prepared and basically begged for an epidural. I just could not relax my body. Once the epidural kicked in, I was the happiest girl ever! After an hour on the epidural, my water naturally broke, and things really picked up the pace. I was at 8 cm before I knew it, and half an hour later I was fully dilated and ready to push. It really struck a chord when the nurses brought in the baby warmer. That was probably the most surreal part before the actual delivery.

   I pushed through 5 contractions- which ended up being 20 minutes because the contractions spaced out a little more. He was out and my world changed! Dan and I were in complete and utter awe and what just happened. I can just picture seeing William on my belly and Dan's reaction. It was such a great experience. I want to cry just thinking of it again! We arrived at the hospital 7:30pm (?) and he was here at 1:15 am. Pretty quick!

   William weighed in at 8 pounds, 5 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. His head circumference was 14 inches. His Apgar scores were both 9. During labor, Dan and I quickly made our guesses on weight. Dan guessed 7 lbs 10 and I guessed 8 lbs 1. He's a good-sized boy! It is sad to think about, but he weighed more than all four quadruplets combined. 

   Overall, I had a great birth experience.

Coming home felt great and the girls have been interested in him. They also seem like they need adjustment time too which is to be expected. When I'm not nursing him, I try to give them a lot of attention, but there is so much to do!
    Speaking of nursing, that has been going well- of course it's still painful but he is vigorous and hungry. I'm glad he's a "Madeline" eater and not a "Sofia" eater! (Sofia as a baby was quite lazy and often didn't want to eat.) He's still too new to have much of a schedule and he's been unpredictable. Usually he'll want to eat every 2 hours. At night he has given me 3 whole hours! Woohoo! Yup, I'm pretty tired....
    I'm putting all the pictures on Flickr again because it's much faster, and frankly it has taken a couple different attempts to finally get this blog up! Hope you all had a fabulous New Years (I barely knew there was a holiday)!!!
     Lastly, Dan and I want to thank ALL of our help these last couple of days. You know who you are and we greatly appreciate it all. What would we do without family?