Bowen David: A Birth Story

So many of you have kindly and persistently reminded me that since we live in this vacuum of the southeast, separated from your lovely selves, and I don't facebook... I'm seriously slacking on the updating on the arrival of our little boy. Sorry. Leave it to Callum wiping the pictures off of Joel's phone (the afternoon after the birth-- soooo sad!) and my phone memory being filled, so I couldn't even send a picture with my text.

For those who just want the summation, here it is...

Name: Bowen David Virkler

Birth Date/Time: April 25th, 2015 at 4:57pm

Weight: 7lbs, 3oz

Height: 20in

Head Circ: 13.5in

APGAR: 8/9, 9/9

And for those that want the nitty, gritty details...

The past three boys were all delivered in the hospital, through insurance plans. We didn't really have a choice. This time around, since the main hospital Joel operates out of is orthopedic-specific, the insurance let us choose from a few different places, including a birthing center. I am usually intimidated in the hospital, and delivering at one where I wasn't familiar with anybody made me nervous. But I wasn't liking the fact that the birthing center had a 6hr minimum stay and 12hr maximum stay, post-birth... I kind of enjoy a brief respite from my children ;)  But I decided to opt with the Women's Birth and Wellness Center, because I figured we'd be paying a lot more than a 5-star hotel cost for my hospital "vacation" anyways. If there were any complications, the WBWC is associated with UNC, and they would take me to their women's hospital.

I know every pregnancy/labor/delivery is different, but I tend to get into this mindset that if they have all had previous similarities (ie, my time from first contraction to birth has never been longer then 6 hrs), that it would be the case all the time.

Not true.

Thursday evening, I started feeling unwell. I ended up having chills, bowel movements and random back contractions all night long, until early morning. Then they stopped. So I didn't get any sleep. At my OB visit Friday, I was told I was 1cm dilated (which I can be for a month), only about halfway effaced. Friday night, around 9:30pm, they started up again, short (only about 30 seconds), but painful and every 10 to 15 minutes. I called the midwife in the morning, and she said to eat a piece of fruit (I was not hungry and my bowels were empty by this point) just in case and go to bed and try to rest. I wanted to go and walk, but it was in the 50s and rainy that morning. Laying down didn't help, though it was more peaceful, as I had a sheet of verses that I kept reading through and applying to heart. This time they lasted until 3pm Saturday, so with those 18 hours, I went longer then all three of my previous labors/ROMs combined, and the only result was frustration, exhaustion (I wasn't able to sleep now for two straight nights) and uncertainty. So I started texting my friends, asking for prayer. Again, all of these contractions were back labor, because I've learned that I'm one of those rare breeds with the specific waist and pelvic type to have the pleasure of experiencing posterior labors and at times deliveries.

Shortly after 3pm (3:07pm to be exact) they started coming every 2 minutes. We called the birthing center again, after Joel started getting nervous because my last two labors had only lasted about a couple hours once contractions got started. They told us to come on in, and they would have a room waiting for us. We left shortly before 4pm, after Joel had packed up some clothes, and a neighbor friend from our church came over to watch the boys. Thankfully, I only had 4 contractions during that 30 minute drive, because they were not fun to experience in a car (and I would've probably delivered early!). We arrived at the birthing center at 4:20pm. After arriving, I had a couple of contractions, while we unpacked our stuff and got acquainted with our room and turned on my instrumental hymn music. They measured me and I was 8cm dilated. A couple of contractions later, I felt the need to push. They said I was only at 9cm, but with my uterus, one more contraction could probably bring me to a 10. With the next contraction, my water broke, and the contraction after that he fell out. I was on my hands and knees on the bed, trying to get undressed and bracing myself to not push until after they filled the tub, so I could experience the water birth so many people rave about. But we didn't make it. All of a sudden, he was just in between my legs-- thankfully, I was on the bed so he had a soft landing! :)

They gave the Bowen to me, still with all the vernix and stuff on him, and once the cord was done pulsing, gave me a shot of pit and had me deliver the placenta. Then they wiped him off, clamped it, cut it and changed the bloody sheets on the bed while I was still on it, so that I could just relax with my baby- such talent! Then the midwife and nurse left the room for an hour or two. We were wondering if they were even going to do the measurements, and if they had done an APGAR, but after those couple of hours, thhey came back in, and performed his measurements. Besides the first hour of pushing on my uterus, and a 3 hr checkup, they didn't return until we were discharged at 6hrs. It was still tempting to stay and relax for 12 hours there, but I figured it would be easier for us (and our sweet sitter Donna) for us to leave at 11pm, vs 5am!

 People are saying he looks like Callum and Joel. Thoughts?

 Nana and her newest grandson! I've been so blessed to have my mom out here this month. And this time, instead of staying for a month, but only getting to be with her grandbaby for 3 days, he arrived 3 days after she got here!

Our midwife, Allison

The boys absolutely adore him... so thankful and blessed!

(Daddy, you cant kiss him, your beard might scratch his face!)

What do I do with this kid?!

I walked down the stairs.

Immediately, I caught a whiff of vanilla.

God is trying to teach me to look for the positive in these moments, so I thought to myself, "lovely scent..."

...Except I didn't have a candle burning, nor one of those scent diffusers running.


Today, it was a bottle of vanilla extract and a package of rice noodles scattered across 3 rooms of the house. Yesterday, it was the consumption of either sidewalk chalk and/or a bulk food store container of sprinkles (they were both blue and did a fair job of staining, so it's hard to know which it was).

Each day brings new adventures for him, and new messes, scares and grey hairs for me.


You see, a few days before Paul and Miranda came into town, Callum learned how to work round door knobs. And since then a flip has been switched on my child and he has become out. of. control. Well, I can control him when I'm around him... but it's when I'm not around him that disaster starts. Being in the last month of pregnancy doesn't help, but his curiosity has left me exhausted (and usually in need of cleaning, or too tired to blog at night after I finally get them all in bed)!

Here are some of his latest antics...

First, he learned how to master the trash can "step stool" in his Daddy's office to go after the way-cheap Costco alternative to samoas...

I was cleaning the bathroom... he decided to climb the Ikea bookcase to get to the bag balm at the top shelf (put there for precisely avoidance purposes)

Hi Mommy!

Oh, you mean this greasy mess?!

Do I even need to say why the water/ice dispenser has been Callum-proofed? 

Let's just say he would climb on the counter or raid the dishwasher for every cup he could encounter, fill it up, and pour it out (in his defense, he usually tries to clean it up, with either tongue, rug or kitchen dish towel-- which in itself is nerve-wracking, because it might be nicely hung up, but I never know where it's been!)... since I'm not always in the kitchen to combat him, I have officially made life miserable for the rest of the family, as the older two are no longer independent to get themselves water... :)

Thankfully, he hasn't learned how to turn on the razor, though he has it all plugged in and ready to give himself a good shave down...

Yes, when I came down the stairs and saw the screen door open, panicking, and rushing over, I caught him straddling the fence. Not wanting to seem freaked out that he would pitch over the other side, I stood "calmly" at the doorway and called for him to come back this way. Thankfully, I had a camera nearby to catalog the event, because I knew some of you wouldn't believe it unless you saw it.

The poor guy refuses to take naps in his crib, but is usually locked in the room until he falls asleep, or else no amount of punishment will keep him inside.

I couldn't help but laugh when I saw Liam's "reading" material at breakfast one morning.

Thankfully, when he went after the peanut butter, at least he had the decency to climb into his booster seat... yes, I had forgotten to take his bib off at lunch time that day... and yes, he can Houdini himself in and out without the tray being removed.

So the front face of the silverware drawer came off the other day. Joel took out the entire drawer to fix. So my pots/pans cupboard has now replaced the tupperware container cupboard as the place to hang out, put our dirty feet in, hide in and have fun! And it's an added bonus if you can get a brother to play with you in there as well!

Another shot of him trying to climb over the fence... to say hi to the neighbors a few doors down. He will run outdoors and says "hi" to anyone he sees (which when you live at the top of a slope, is quite a few people). And yes, he can open up the locked sliding door.

One morning last week I had the sudden (nesting) urge to get down on my hands and knees and scrub my kitchen floor. That afternoon, Callum had the sudden urge to ingest both monounsaturated and saturated fats... so why not go after the EVOO and grass-fed butter and have a meal of them both... not sure how much oil he consumed (and how much ended on my counter, the plate and the floor), but a good 1/4c butter was missing. ;)

... and this doesn't even include him trying to suck lotion out of a tube, throwing spilled rice all over the kitchen floor, trying to flush rolls of toilet paper down the toilet (or taking a cup/rag to scatter it's water across the bathroom floor), tossing whatever meets his fancy into the washing machine, emptying his dresser drawers or all the toy bins, ransacking his brothers' lego creations, coloring on desks, floors and paper alike, or throwing things down the stairs...

which is why I laughed the other night when this is what I came downstairs to find...

No, I don't have perfect kids. And I might not be able to even survive the ones I have (let alone the one that is due any time now)... but I'm still blessed. And trying to find the positive "scent" in each of these chaotic moments that they bring me!

And lest I scare anyone from coming and visiting us, he does have his down moments... he loves his Daddy and will literally wait on the stairs by the window for Joel to come home some evenings. A woman at Kroger gave him a helium mylar balloon the other morning- he literally played with it for hours, allowing me to be productive! He also loves being outdoors, playing ball, watching airplanes and birds fly by, neighbor-spying, pestering ants (his arms and hands are covered with welts from his days of exploring ant hills) and eat (he loves to take his food outside and just enjoy the air... rain or shine.  :)

(Yes, he split a hole in his jeans the first day he wore them, and yes, he has taken to Aiden's frozen plain waffle tendency...)