Triton Jaune's Birth Story: His First Moments (Part 4 of 5)

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Those were some sweet moments in the Birth Center. Mon Amour and my sister, Triton and myself. Just hanging out. Triton was very alert. He loved to nurse. It was pretty much perfect.

Eventually they weighed him (they don't rush these things at the Birth Center). We all took guesses - estimating maybe 8.5 lbs.  When they put him on the scale, they told Mon Amour he needed to be the one to officially make the big announcement.  9lbs, 10.5oz!  And he'd pooped already, so we decided it was fair to round up to 9lbs 11oz.   Officially huge, without breaking the 10lb mark (for some reason, I really really didn't want to have a 10+lb baby...so thanks for not being quite that huge, Triton!)

They tested all his baby reflexes and such and he checked out perfectly. They took his footprints and we discovered he's got his daddy's feet. They were just a smidgen too big for the ink pad! Despite lining his heel up with the bottom of the pad, his big toe is just a bit cut off on the foot print! 

I loved this part of the Birth Center experience. Triton literally never left my sight and rarely left my arms.  He didn't get a bath. He didn't get swaddled in a million blankets such that he would resemble a burrito with a head.  He was just a baby, and he was all mine.

Eventually my sister went home. And Triton fell asleep. And so Mon Amour and I tried to rest. However, even though we were very comfortable and the setting was very peaceful, we felt like we were ready to move onto the next thing. So after a brief rest, the nurses helped me shower. We gathered up our stuff and packed our big-little man into his carseat.

At about 2:30am, we walked out to our car. No need to wait for a wheel chair transport! (We had waited forever for one when we left the hospital with Papillon...hospital policy that you must leave in a wheelchair) I walked slowly, but truly, I felt great!

Some pooping sounds came from Triton as we pulled out, but they sounded mild (boy were we in for a surprise!) so we kept driving. As we drove home on the empty roads in the calm of the night, I felt amazing! I knew I had been uncomfortable during this pregnancy, but I didn't know how uncomfortable until I adjusted myself in my seat in the car on the way home with much more ease then I had for months. Truly I felt better in that moment then I had in a very very long time.

Once we got home, we discovered Triton had managed an epic blow out. Meconium everywhere! Yikes! We cleaned him up, wrapped him up, fed him, and laid him in the pack n' play next to our bed. Then I promptly fell asleep.

I woke up a couple hours later as the sun was just starting to rise. I looked around our bedroom and thought "I feel so great. And so oddly normal" and for half a second, I forgot that Triton had arrived. Being home just felt so normal. I loved it!

Then, I went to get out of bed…and suddenly i felt like I'd been hit by a truck. Every muscle in my body was sore, as if I'd run a marathon...or, more precisely, delivered a 9lb 11oz baby!  But it felt so good to be home that even that felt rather normal; as it might (I would imagine) after running a marathon.

 It was a good, old Ive-worked-hard, kind of ache.

Bringing Triton home was amazing. The transition to having him be part of our family has been so much smoother and joyous than I could have possibly imagined. He's an amazing baby, and I feel like I've known him for much longer than his (currently) 2-month life.  He just is a part of the family and he has already brought us much joy.