Jasper Magnus

Our little Jasper was born at 8:06 am on Thursday, October second exactly two weeks ahead of schedule.  He was pretty little at 2.55 kg (5.6 lbs) but healthy and strong and as expected, we fell in love with him immediately.

As a first timer, we're told regularly to expect to go into labour late and expect it to be long.  We're also told to write a birth plan but be prepared to throw that plan out the window.  I felt like I knew what to expect yet at the same time, had absolutely no idea.  I suppose that's why despite a few signs earlier in the week, I was rather hesitant to acknowledge that I was in fact in labour Wednesday evening.

According to my birth plan, I hoped to labour as long as possible at home.  I would check in to the birthing loft on the seventh floor of the hospital where I would ask for minimal medical intervention and my healthy baby boy would be delivered by a wonderful midwife.

In actuality, my contractions began around dinnertime Wednesday evening and they went mostly ignored until I tried to go to bed when they became more uncomfortable and more regular.  I told Joe I was going to stay up and time them to see if there was any sort of pattern.  By midnight, I was pretty convinced 'this was it.'  We phoned the hospital sometime afterwards in which I told them I was still feeling good about being home but to expect us later.  The midwife advised us to come in when contractions were three minutes apart.

At four in the morning after a long shower, the contractions were coming much closer together (although still just over three minutes apart) and they were much stronger.  I knew it was time to go to the hospital so we somewhat frantically pulled our things together, trying to line up our movements in between contractions.  Upon arrival to the birthing loft, the midwife examined me and somewhat surprisingly exclaimed that I was already 8-9 centimetres dilated.

Three hours later, little Jasper joined us on the outside, not long after the sun rose over Stavanger.

Despite being told to plan for the unplanned, everything went exactly how I'd envisioned it.  I don't have any tales of woe that are so often recounted after birth.  While it wasn't easy, Jasper's delivery was manageable without drama or drugs.  His existence has continued down the same path and we now find ourselves two and a half weeks later, peacefully coexisting like he's been here all along.

Our first days together

Thank you for all of the well wishes over on Instagram.