Surprise!

When I went to bed on Saturday night I didn’t expect to go into labor. I had told Adam it would be neat if both of our kids were born in May and wouldn’t the 25th be a perfect day? We really didn’t think it was possible at 36 weeks. Even though I was exhausted I agreed to watch “The Brave” with Adam. It was a Netflix rental we’d been holding on to for far too long. I feel asleep around 10 p.m.

Just before 2, I got up to go to the bathroom. When I came back to lie down in bed, I was having a hard time getting comfortable. When I rolled over my water broke. Slightly puzzled (my water broke with Ryan, but it was a trickle) at the large amount of fluid, I woke up Adam and told him that I’d either wet the bed or my water had broken. He asked about contractions and I said I hadn’t had any and planned on going back to sleep.

Well, it’s hard to sleep with fluid trickling so I got up and did a few things instead. By 3:30 contractions had started and I’d about finished scrapbooking all of my 2008 photos. At 4 I tried going back to bed, but only ended getting up to take care of Ryan who had a wet diaper. At five I was having contractions about 10 minutes apart and figured I should wake Adam and have him get ready.

We arrived at the hospital at 6, the main entrance was closed, so we entered through emergency and were greeted by a security guard. Before he could ask why we were there, Adam announced, “She’s stubbed her toe.” We all laughed and then got a wheel chair ride to the maternity ward.

The nurse later confessed she didn’t think I was in labor because I was so calm. When she checked me I was already six centimeters dilated and 80 percent effaced. She warned that if I wanted any sort of pain medication that I needed to decide now because my window of opportunity was rather small. While my contractions weren’t anything like when I had Ryan, I knew there was no way I’d risk that same amount of pain again so I asked for my intrathecal.

While we waited, Adam searched the baby name book for a boy’s name. The lab tech who took my blood must have thought we were out of our minds. Adam was throwing out names like Kirby and Gandalf. We pretty much laughed the entire time we were waiting for my antibiotics.

Time went by really quickly because by eight thirty I had my iv and all my antibiotics for GBS and the doctor had checked me again and said I was about eight and almost ready to deliver. He figured I would deliver between 9 and 11. Adam made a few phone calls and when he came back into the room he was shocked to see things in motion for delivery. In 10 minutes I went from and 8 to 10 and fully effaced.

I pushed four times (incredible compared to my hour of pushing last time) and baby boy was born. We were glad we spent so much time working on the boy name. Right before delivery we had it narrowed down to three choices and we decided about an hour after he arrived that he looked like Timothy James.

So, Timothy James was born May 25, 2008 (at 36 weeks and 3 days) at 8:51 a.m. He weighted 7 lbs 13 oz and was 21 inches long. They are pretty sure if I had gone full term he would have been a 10-pound baby.

Ryan came to meet his brother on Sunday with his grandparents. He ignored him for the first half of the visit and then wanted to see everything. When he left he said “bye-bye” to him. Today he’s made sure no toys are anywhere near his baby brother in case he might steal them, but he’s been helpful in getting diapers and such.

Aside from being exhausted, Adam and I are doing well and so is baby Timothy. We’re working on breastfeeding again and just looking forward to some family time while Adam is off work.