Gavin’s Arrival and First Week

Saludos Familia y Amigos!

We cannot believe that it has been a week since this little guy came out to see us. It has been so special getting to know him and forming our own little family of three. So far Gavin is super mellow and has a really easy-going temperament. He’s been sleeping with us, and we both crack up because one of us will wake up and he’ll be laying there wide awake looking around the room and sucking on his fingers. When he wants to eat he just sucks like mad at his hand but doesn’t get fussy. He had his first drs visit AND trip into the big city on day 5. WOW. He was a complete champ and let the doctor check him all out.

We’re so grateful for a healthy baby, and for all the love that everyone has been showering us with. Thank you for adding to this incredible life-changing experience.

If you haven’t heard the whole labor story and are interested, keep on reading! Otherwise, here are some pics from Gavin’s first week in Costa Rica.

Gavin was due to arrive on April 10th, but as of March 12th-ish I started having some pre-labor signs- and we were in Nosara, which is 5 hours from San Jose, our midwives, and a hospital in case we needed one. On March 17th I looked at Spencer and said, “We need to leave….I need to be in San Jose TODAY.” Mainly for peace of mind and to sort things out. So, thankfully, our friends in Nosara showed up at 8 AM and helped us pack bags and get outta town ASAP! We drove to San Jose and had an ultrasound- The midwife and doctor said that all was well and we had nothing to worry about. Phew. So, there we were in San Jose and I was 37 weeks pregnant. We laughed and came to grips with the fact that we may be waiting for another 5 weeks here! Luckily there are movie theatres, lots of restaurants, BIG grocery stores, and it’s much cooler here. We began to get excited about the next couple of weeks we had to prep for baby. Plus, we weren’t moving into the house where we would give birth until March 28th (or so we thought) because the lady was still there.

Now what? We decided to check into a great little hotel and stay there for 5 days and then take it from there. I was sure that I wasn’t going to have this baby for a couple weeks so a hotel would suit us just fine!

March 19th: It’s Spencer’s birthday!…. We had a great day of exploring a park and then went and saw SLumdog Millionaire that night. We returned to our hotel to watch the NCAA games. We were laying in bed watching the UCLA game and I sneezed two huge sneezes. Then “Gavin” kicked me SUPER hard two times- the hardest I had ever felt, and I had a pretty big gush of water so I ran to the toilet. We waited a little bit, but I wasn’t having contractions or anything else. So I kinda shrugged it all off and decided to just wait and call the midwife, Marie, in the AM and we could go see her. I told Spencer to go to bed and that I was going to stay up and read. Sure enough at about midnight I began having contractions. So, there I am in this hotel room, pacing back and forth for the next 6 hours having contractions, in full blown labor. I was timing them and they were progressing and getting stronger, so I new this wasn’t just pre-labor. I told myself that I would let Spencer sleep until 5 AM and then it was time to freakin get rollin and find a place to go have a baby. I really went with the contractions and just kept laughing that I was in a hotel room! I watched part of The Bourne Supremacy and tried to doze for minutes in between each contraction. At 5 AM I woke Spencer up and we packed up the room, and then called Nicki (Whos house we were going to be moving into on March 28th. Poor thing got woken up to “Nicki, Hey it’s Spencer- Emily’s in labor, Can we come to your house to have our baby?” Thank Goodness she said yes….and we met the midwives there by 7 AM. At this point I was having really intense contractions but still laughing with everyone and not really believing that THIS WAS IT! Marie and Rebecca (our midwives) were slowly getting things set up, Spencer was bringing our bags into the house, and Nicki was getting ready for work- trying to get outta the house so we could feel at “home”…:)

9 AM: Marie and Spencer began inflating the birthing pool, filling it up with warm water, while Rebecca massaged my back during contractions. All of a sudden I said, “um, you guys, I feel like pushing!!! I feel a lot of pressure on my pelvis!” So Marie ran over and checked me and she exclaimed “NO way! you’re fully dilated and I can see the head!” Spencer continued filling up the pool to a level high enough for me to get into the water, while I began pushing. and pushing, and pushing.

10:30 AM: Spencer and I got in the pool and I sat in between his legs and leaned back on his chest. During contractions I would push and push, but wasn’t really making much progress.

Noon: Still pushing every few minutes in the water, trying different positions……but just making really slow progress.

12:15: I began getting really discouraged, as well as tired. Spencer, Marie and Rebecca kept encouraging me though, and every 20 minutes they would monitor Gavin’s heartbeat to make sure he wasn’t in distress. He was fine the whole time, thankfully.

12:30:Finally I could see his head!!! THat was the inspiration I needed. It was pretty incredible looking down into the water and seeing our baby’s head for the first time. At 12:48 I gave it my all and Gavin came out into the water with a fist up to his cheek and eye, and the cord wrapped around his neck once. Marie quickly unwrapped the cord, and after about 5 seconds underwater, she slid Gavin up onto my chest. He gave a little healthy cry and the new Klein family sat there in the warm water, in disbelief that this was our SON!

The rest of the day we sat around with Marie and Rebecca, laughing that I was in labor in a hotel room and that there were all these things that I had wanted for the birth but had thought I had a couple weeks to get ready!…Like a music playlist and candles. Hah! Gavin had a different idea at 37 weeks and two days. I think that his entry into this world is an omen- He’s bound to roll with our lifestyle!

We are eternally grateful for our midwives and the birthing experience we had at a home, and that Gavin came into this world via the water…definitely a Pisces like his dad!