The Birth

I figure I should write down the story of how Brian came before I forget it all. On Wednesday, I started having contractions. Of course it was the one day that I didn't want to have him. My friends were throwing me a baby shower that night and Jason had a job interview that afternoon (more on that later). So once I got the laundry and the dishes done, I spent the rest of the day sitting and drinking water. Fortunately that helped slow things down but they didn't totally go away. In fact, as I was driving Jason to the interview, I got a little bit closer to the car in front of us than we were comfortable with because I was having a contraction and we decided that's why they say a woman in labor shouldn't drive herself to the hospital. Then I had contractions all through the shower and as I was taking gifts out to the car, my water broke.

Jason had just put Anna to bed so my friend who hosted the shower came home with me to stay with Anna while we went to the hospital. Once we got there, we had to wait in the lobby a while for a room to be open. Once we got in and got things set up, it had been two hours since my water broke. The contractions for this labor were different than the ones for Anna, there was a lot more in my back. After a while, I was ready for my epidural. At this point, I was dilated to a 4. They checked me again after two hours to check my progress and I was fully dilated! We were all surprised. The resident who checked me said to not laugh while we waited for the doctor to get there. I was very glad that I was numb for that because going 6 cm in 2 hours would not have felt very good.

Once the doctor came, it was pushing time. With Anna I pushed for two and a half hours (don't even get me started) but I had high hopes that this time it would be faster. This time it only took about 40 minutes. After a bit, they brought in a mirror so I could see what was going on. When they first suggested the mirror, I said no because it just seemed strange but after a while decided to go with it. It was a bit strange but pretty cool too and it helped my pushing be more productive because I could see what was going on (especially since I couldn't feel anything). He was born at about 3:15 am, about 7 hours after my water broke, weighing in at 8 lbs 1 oz and 22 inches and cute as can be.