Meet Silas Lloyd Coffman!
On Wild Man's birthday, August 20th, I woke up with some early labor signs. Since I had so much to do, I figured my body would hold off on real labor until bedtime when I could relax. So I got busy with my To Do list for the party that we were gonna have at 6:30 that night. We had breakfast and our morning Bible devotional time. Then I cleaned both of the bathrooms and at some point during that cleaning I started my contraction app to time the weak, short contractions I was having. Then I started baking the Lego cake for the party. I had a friend that was planning on coming over around noon to help me prepare for the party so we ate lunch and then chatted with our friend Venessa. Jack had hurt his paw the day before and I knew it would require a vet visit so that morning I had made an appointment for 3:00 for him. That way Venessa could stay at home with the kids while I ran him to the vet. Before I did that I talked to her husband on Skype (he's in Iraq and is a very close friend to our family). While I was talking to him the contractions started getting quite a bit stronger but then still weren't predictable in frequency, so still not quite yet "real" labor. They were coming every 10-15 minutes. Next I took the dog to the vet. It seemed like as soon as I left the house the contractions lined up to every 8 minutes. On the way to the vet I ran by The Boy's speech therapy to get some paper work I needed and by the time I got to the vet I had taken two wrong turns and had to get out my map app in our tiny town on Junction City! At that point I realized I might be going into active labor. I still clung to hope that when I got home and busy with the kids it would slow down. At the vet they told me the procedure they would need to do and I assumed Jack would need to spend the night. They said it would only take an hour or so and I could run errands and come back. I said, "I'm gonna be frank with you, I'm in early labor right now and I don't think I'll be able to be back here in an hour. It would be awesome if he could spend the night!" My water always breaks before labor starts so I was so worried that it was going to break at the vet or in the van! I had a feeling that if it broke then the baby would be born soon there after! So I made up my mind that if my water broke before I got home I would pull over and call a single soldier friend of our's to come drive me home because I knew he would be the quickest to get to me from where I was. I called the midwife on my drive home from the vet and told her I still wasn't convinced that I needed her to come yet. But wanted to her to be aware. It was about 3:30 when I got home. Robert was on his way home too because he was planning on mowing before Wild Man's birthday. I started getting stuff out to ice the cakes and Venessa was helping me. As soon as I got home my contractions jumped to every 3-4 minutes and I knew this was it. I decided to delegate the icing to Venessa and could barely voice my instructions to her. I called the midwife and told her to head my way and then I lay down on our bed and tried to relax labor away. (in denial much?) Robert got home all messy from farm work (I had called him and told him I thought I might be in labor). When he saw me on the bed and my intense concentration he said, "So, I'm gross. Can I shower first or do I need to start setting up for the birth?" To which I replied, "I need water now." And he started airing up the pool and working hard. In between contractions I sent out the text that we were in labor, and cancelled the party. It was about 4:00 then. I turned on my labor playlist and sang in the bathroom while Robert worked hard and fast to get the pool ready for me. I tried to stay in the bathroom so that if my water broke we wouldn't have a mess. Robert needed help so I went to the living room and told the girls to go help Daddy. When they saw what he was busy doing the excitement exploded in the house and chaos kicked up a notch! Same for the boys, Wild Man was running around saying, "The baby is going to come out!!" It was a mad house! Robert got done with the pool and I climbed in there as soon as it was deep enough (maybe 4:30 or 4:45?). He and the girls worked on getting the bed ready and our midwife's apprentice showed up around then and checked heart tones on the baby and they were good. Finally Robert finished all the work and jumped in the shower. By the time he got out I was giving little pushes (around 5:15) and my midwife arrived. I never cope well with this stage of labor and this time was no different but it was by far my most intense birth and I fear I made quite the fool of myself. My water finally broke right before the baby was born and I caught him myself at 5:37pm. Of course we didn't know he was a he yet. We all oohed over the baby and then it was time for The Boy to announce the gender so I let him peak and announce that it was a boy. Much to Daddy's surprise because he had been convinced all through pregnancy that it was a girl, he wouldn't even talk about boy names. I had thought it was for sure a girl in the first part of the pregnancy but then I had dreams that it was a boy and after that I was clueless! About an hour and a half later we were all snuggled up on the bed checking him over. He had his newborn exam and Hurricane got to cut the cord this time. He had a 14 1/2 inch head (smaller than The Boy's had been) and 16 inch shoulders (smaller than The Boy's had been) and so I was guessing him to be a bit lighter than The Boy's birth weight of 9'10. The midwife, who hadn't held him yet was guessing 9 '8 until she picked him up to put him in the scale. Then she said, "Oh...he's heavier than he looks. My guess is wrong." Everyone else chimed in with their guesses all less than 9 pounds. We were all shocked when the midwife said 10'14, I thought she was doing some calculations out loud. After a few moments I said, "The baby is 10 POUNDS 14 ounces??" "Yes!" Two ounces shy of 11 pounds. And he was 22 inches long, which didn't surprise me because I knew how long he had felt inside me. To think, this is the baby that at the 37 week prenatal after palpating my belly the midwife announced that it wasn't a big baby. Since then we have been trying to settle into having five kiddos. Trying to establish a good breastfeeding relationship, which hasn't been 100% smooth but seems to be getting better everyday. I've decided to start out on a dairy free diet and then try a little in a couple weeks to see how Silas deals with it. Just playing it safe. The name Silas was my pick. Silas traveled with Paul and Peter after Jesus resurrected and was the man that likely penned most of their letters to churches which are now in our Bibles. We had a stinker of a time for a middle name though and were still debating it when the midwives were filling out the birth certificate on Saturday. Robert's spiritual hero is Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones and he wanted to give Silas a middle name after him. He really wanted to name him Silas Lloyd-Jones Coffman! Blessedly we settled it at just Lloyd. Well! That's it! Below are some pictures I took since the birth and before the birth too.
2 Comments
Terra Brantley
8/26/2014 12:18:54 am
I love the very first pic! His little face is priceless :D So, now I have 3 nephews with the same b-day! I'm so happy for y'all!
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Sue Coffman
8/26/2014 03:52:26 am
I think he's another Robert. So pretty. Love you guys. Hope to see you soon..
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