Caleb Adam arrived on February 11 at 2:14 am. Here is the quick version of our birth story.
My water broke around 10 am on Friday, February 10th. I was excited because I had thought the baby would come on the 10th since early in the pregnancy. I called dh and our doula to let them know, and SIL since she was watching Madeline. I called the ob office, they said to go to L&D to be admitted but we decided to wait. Dh came home from work and we cleaned up around the house, packed bags, etc. Generally puttered around waiting for contractions to start. SIL came over around 3 pm to watch dd and bring us food. Dh's parents called that they were on the way. I decided to lay down and was having 30-45 minute apart contractions. Dh's family arrived and were stressing me out, contractions basically stopped. We sent them to dinner and went for a walk. The contractions picked up and were about 10 minutes apart. We got home and dh called our doula to come over because he knew his family would stress me out when they got back from dinner. I put dd to bed, out doula arrived and we went to labor in our bedroom. This was really freaking out dh's family who didn't understand why we wouldn't go on to the hospital (they didn't realize we could hear them over the baby monitor when we had it on). I admit a perverse pleasure in freaking them out, it made labor a little more fun. Around 9:30 pm we decided to head to the hospital as the contractions were 5 minutes or less and the car ride was starting to sound really unpleasant. We got to the hospital at 10 pm and I was 7 cm. For some reason I was upset because I wanted to be at least 8 when we got to the hospital. We did fudge a little on the time my water broke, we figured almost 12 hours could cause problems. The ob came in and suggested trying the shower after some monitoring. Spent over an hour in the shower and was at 9 cm. Labored for a little over an hour to get to 10. The doula and nurse kept trying to get me to stand or get on the birth ball, but for some reason I wanted to sit on the bed. I think that last hour might have been shorter if I had gotten up, but I was so tired at that point I couldn't really think about it. Transition was way worse that I ever imagined (had an epidural at 8 with dd, do didn't feel it before). Our doula was amazing and there is no way I could have done this without her. At some point everyone realized I was pushing with the contractions and called in the ob. I don't know how long I pushed, I had lost all track of time. They did put an oxygen mask on me near the end, because apparently the baby's heartrate dropped. Dh said that he was a little blue when his head came out and the cord was wrapped around his neck. They unwrapped it and out he came. He was 8 lbs 15 oz and 19 3/4 inches long. I only had a small tear and have 2 stitches. Caleb did get jaundiced that first day and was under the bili lights in the hospital, but nursed well and is already gaining weight back. I'm getting around pretty well. DD is having more trouble that I thought she would. She's still pretty stand-offish with me and not much better with dh. She does love the baby though. That's a little stressful, but otherwise we are good!!
My water broke around 10 am on Friday, February 10th. I was excited because I had thought the baby would come on the 10th since early in the pregnancy. I called dh and our doula to let them know, and SIL since she was watching Madeline. I called the ob office, they said to go to L&D to be admitted but we decided to wait. Dh came home from work and we cleaned up around the house, packed bags, etc. Generally puttered around waiting for contractions to start. SIL came over around 3 pm to watch dd and bring us food. Dh's parents called that they were on the way. I decided to lay down and was having 30-45 minute apart contractions. Dh's family arrived and were stressing me out, contractions basically stopped. We sent them to dinner and went for a walk. The contractions picked up and were about 10 minutes apart. We got home and dh called our doula to come over because he knew his family would stress me out when they got back from dinner. I put dd to bed, out doula arrived and we went to labor in our bedroom. This was really freaking out dh's family who didn't understand why we wouldn't go on to the hospital (they didn't realize we could hear them over the baby monitor when we had it on). I admit a perverse pleasure in freaking them out, it made labor a little more fun. Around 9:30 pm we decided to head to the hospital as the contractions were 5 minutes or less and the car ride was starting to sound really unpleasant. We got to the hospital at 10 pm and I was 7 cm. For some reason I was upset because I wanted to be at least 8 when we got to the hospital. We did fudge a little on the time my water broke, we figured almost 12 hours could cause problems. The ob came in and suggested trying the shower after some monitoring. Spent over an hour in the shower and was at 9 cm. Labored for a little over an hour to get to 10. The doula and nurse kept trying to get me to stand or get on the birth ball, but for some reason I wanted to sit on the bed. I think that last hour might have been shorter if I had gotten up, but I was so tired at that point I couldn't really think about it. Transition was way worse that I ever imagined (had an epidural at 8 with dd, do didn't feel it before). Our doula was amazing and there is no way I could have done this without her. At some point everyone realized I was pushing with the contractions and called in the ob. I don't know how long I pushed, I had lost all track of time. They did put an oxygen mask on me near the end, because apparently the baby's heartrate dropped. Dh said that he was a little blue when his head came out and the cord was wrapped around his neck. They unwrapped it and out he came. He was 8 lbs 15 oz and 19 3/4 inches long. I only had a small tear and have 2 stitches. Caleb did get jaundiced that first day and was under the bili lights in the hospital, but nursed well and is already gaining weight back. I'm getting around pretty well. DD is having more trouble that I thought she would. She's still pretty stand-offish with me and not much better with dh. She does love the baby though. That's a little stressful, but otherwise we are good!!
