The BIG arrival

WARNING- If you (or your wife) have had particularly difficult labor stories and are prone to jealousy, this post is not for you.

I really wanted to write out some of the details about C's arrival just to remember the day/night. I am still a little in shock that he is REALLY already here (3 weeks early).

On Wednesday afternoon (the 2nd) RRL and I went to my ob/gyn for our weekly office visit. As she has for the last several weeks, Dr. E warned us not to wait around to prepare for our little boy. We all laughed that he could arrive still unnamed, without his room prepared and earlier than his Mommy was ready for. But we've had these same conversations SEVERAL times so I really did not give it much thought- I guess I was in denial. When she said "I doubt I will see you next week," that caught my attention, but still did not bring any real sense of urgency. I did think that maybe I needed to pack so I went to Target, ran other errands and made a list of things to do the next day (Thursday). Before I went to bed I packed and made several other lists for RRL (things to put in the car, people to call when BL2 arrived, instructions for contacting my work, etc). I felt pretty prepared, especially thinking "Now I'll have less to do this weekend to get ready for BL2"...haha!

After all of that it was pretty late before I went to bed- about 12. I was asleep maybe one hour before my water broke (1 am- remember this time). I remember laying there thinking "Oh, this is not happening. Maybe it is something else. If I just lay really still maybe he will wait" (as if it could be anything else). I finally convinced myself to get up and get R (who was still up playing Wii with my brother and my bro's girfriend), but still wasn't moving really quickly. I was just being my planner-self: passing out jobs, making sure KJ was taken care of, getting things packed, making sure someone took my picture (see below), etc. It was RRL who encouraged me toward the car and on toward the hospital. I called a few people (in each 3-4 minute break between contractions), he called a few people and somewhere on the ride we thought "maybe we should call the dr/hospital" (again, maybe we were still in denial).

Once contractions really started (in the car) they were already about 3-4 minutes apart and INTENSE. At the hospital there was a flurry of activity getting us into a room. The nurse started asking registration type questions and I answered as best I could while another nurse started putting in an IV. As the nurse was still registering me and asking what kind of pain medication I wanted, I felt a serious need to push. I asked her (between screams) if it was possible that I already needed to push. It didn't seem possible to me since I was not even fully dilated when we first got there (about 15 minutes before). But she checked and sure enough, our baby boy was on his way. We were in the room about 30 minutes before he was laying on the scale. CCL was born at 2:16am (only 1 hour and 16 minutes start to finish).

No time to get a doctor, no time to get drugs, there wasn't even enough time to finish connecting my I.V. CRAZY! I would have been totally freaked out except that we had an amazing nurse named Tommie. She was completely laid back, totally in control, gave amazing instructions, was perfectly patient with me and just made the whole experience better. When my doctor came in (a little late), she told us that Tommie has probably delivered more babies than all of the other nurses at the hospital put together. It was obvious. The thought never crossed my mind that I should be concerned that there wasn't a doctor present. What an amazing blessing that Tommie was there that night!

Quick shout-out to my nursing friends/readers: You guys are WAY under appreciated. I've had great nurses and pretty terrible ones and really believe that a great nurse really is key to the healing process.

We are home now and adjusting to life as a family of 4 (with LOTS of help from my parents). KJ is the sweetest big brother ever, C is eating and sleeping like a pro (although, just like his delivery, not necessarily at "convenient times").

This post was mostly just so I could have these details documented. In the next one, I'll be sure to give you more of what you really want- pictures of my adorable munchkins. Here are a couple of pics of us right before we left for the hospital (gorgeous, I know).

Thanks again for your prayers!

ABL