Friday the week before Joseph Benedict was born, my doctor told me at my appointment that I was already at four centimeters so I should expect to go into labor soon, maybe as soon as that weekend. That put us all on high alert, since everything I read says you should pretty much be in active labor by that point. But ... just as with my other boys, apparently this baby was content to stay where he was. So the whole next week was full of waiting and watching for signs other than the Braxton-Hicks contractions I'd been having for at least a month -- although we did make the most of the extra time we were given. As late as Saturday night, we enjoyed an evening out with some family friends. I figured I would make it to my Monday morning appointment and we'd just see what happened from there.
But Joseph decided St. Patrick's Day, two days before his due date, would be perfect timing. I woke up at 4:15 with some indications we should head to the hospital. Contractions started around 4:45, Mike and I got to the hospital at around 5:15, they took a half an hour asking inane questions that you'd think would be unnecessary since we already did the preregistration, and finally the nurse checked and said I was at five centimeters. I told her at least three times I would not like to have the baby naturally (although Mike thought I might not have a choice if Joseph came as quickly as we thought he might!), so she assured me the anesthesiologist would be in "soon," which apparently meant sometime in the next 40 minutes. However, things ratcheted up in intensity and by the time the anesthesiologist was ready to give the epidural, it was too late. Everything happened so quickly that my doctor didn't even make it in time, and they had to yell for the on-call resident to rush in from down the hall to catch the baby at 6:43. That means from start of contractions to Joseph's arrival, it took just under two hours. Boom!
The whole experience was a little crazy for me (and I'm sure for Mike, since we haven't been through the process quite like this before! - but he was great :). I had felt a little ridiculous working from home the past Wednesday through Friday, but given how fast the baby came, in hindsight it was smart not to have been at the office lest I have caused some drama there. I certainly did not intend to have the baby without the epidural since I was pretty content with how that worked with the first two deliveries, and it was overwhelming because I hadn't experienced labor like this before. In the end I'm just glad I made it through! And our baby is just a perfect little guy :) We are so, so blessed and thankful God has entrusted us with another little boy to raise.
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| Happy parents with our Irish baby |
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| Happy, sleepy, silly, skeptical, snoozing - our new family of five |
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| Everyone coming up to say hello! |
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| Cousins making a special connection already :) |
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| Uncle Chris and Aunt Stef |
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| First night home |
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