1/6/9 11:30pm
Time has become a blur. We came in at 12:30am this morning when one of the membranes broke. The water was broken by the midwife at about noon.
They’re slowly decreasing the epidural. She had stayed off of it until about 8pm (about 15 hours!), when the pain became too much to bear. I’m so proud of her.
We both slept for a while after they gave her the epidural, and now I’m wide awake.
Arion is certainly taking his time, but we’re content not to rush him. His heart rate has been steady, a pulsing whoomp whoomp whoomp through the speakers of the monitoring machine.
Outside, a huge storm has raged for almost 24 hours… Rain pelting the window in whooshing gusts.
We’re all praying for you, little man.
1/7/9 6:45pm
Tamika and Arion are asleep, finally.
Shortly after I got done writing, Margaret, the midwife, called me over to help hold Tamika.
I have been extremely impressed with their practice. They have included me in every way possible during the pregnancy. There’s nothing worse than feeling completely helpless while the person whom you love the most in the world goes through the worst pain of her life.
Margaret purposefully used me in every way she could, moving Tamika around, calming her down, and helping keep things organized & plugged in.
I help hold Tamika and counted as she pushed. It was pretty rough. Arion wasn’t turning correctly. But finally, after a whole hour, his head appeared. The cord was wrapped around his neck!
Thankfully, Margaret had warned Tamika that she might tell her to stop pushing at certain points, and she did so now.
With a quick move, Margaret deftly unwrapped the cord, and in the same motion, easily slipped him out.
All this with him upside down, and without any tearing (which means no painful recovery for Tamika, which we had to go through with Nya).
And, all this after 24 hours of very very patient care.
Margaret never left us. She stayed the whole time, and never pushed Tamika in a direction that wasn’t helpful.
At 12:30am, January 7th, at 7lbs. 6oz., 20 inches long, Arion Joseph Iyutin Jancewicz was born.
He is bright eyed, like his sister, and incredibly calm and composed. He fusses only when he’s hungry, and is just relaxed the rest of the time.
I am so proud of Tamika. I am so happy with my family.
About his name.
Arion (pronounced like Orion, but with an A) is named both after the constellation and a Greek poet and musician who was captured by pirates and rescued by dolphins.
I’ve always liked Orion, Tamika loves dolphins, and we wanted his name to begin with the letter A after Tamika’s mom Angel. Nya shares my mom’s initial, Norma Jean.
Joseph comes from the Bible story. Almost all the men in my family (me, my father, my great grandfather) have the middle name Joseph, which stems from my great-great grandfather (Jozef Jancewicz).
Iyutin is a Naskapi name, which means Wind. It’s pronounced “E-you-tin”.
I’m off to bed. 🙂
Thanks for all your prayers…
