Introducing...

Elliot Martin.

It's funny, I had almost resigned myself to the fact that I might have to go the induction route because he didn't seem to want to come.  Well, that all changed less than 12 hours after I posted about the possible induction.

Friday night we went to bed a little after 11:00. I was just settling down and hoping to fall asleep when I felt a pop.  I laid there for a minute waiting to see if anything was happening.  When I shifted around I felt the fluid start to gush.  I said "Oh shit!" under my breath and ran for the bathroom.  This was at 11:28 PM. The clear fluid gushing out confirmed my suspicion that my water had just broken. I put a new pad on and climbed back in bed, telling J that my water had just broken, but I wasn't having contractions yet.

I went ahead and called my mom to give her the heads up so she could head this way to watch Andrew, but I got her voicemail. I felt bad calling people at 11:30 at night, but we needed to figure something out. I then called Andrea (daycare provider) in case my mom couldn't be reached, but I got her voicemail, too.  So I sent a text to my friend, Karen, letting her know my water broke, but didn't get a response from her, either.

Finally at 11:50 I called my dad thinking maybe he would answer, and he did - albeit sleepily.  I told him I was in labor and he said ok they'd get it figured out.  Right after I got off the phone with him the first contraction hit.  10 mins later my mom called me back and when I was on the phone with her the second one hit - so the first two were 10 mins apart. She said she would be on the road in 10 mins and be here in two hours.  I thought I would be able to hold out until she got here since the contractions weren't bad yet.  I changed pajama pants and put yet another new pad on and we settled in the bed (me on a towel) and were watching "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days" while I waited for the next contraction.  The next two came at 15 minute intervals so I figured we would be good waiting for my mom. And then the next one came only 8 mins later.  Uh oh.

J called our friend Chris just to see if he might be able to come over to sit and wait for my mom to get here in case we had to head to the hospital.  The next contraction came after 7 mins and the one after that was down to 5 mins. I hurried up and called the answering service for the doctor and she told me she'd have Dr. Gregory call me back.  I knew I'd seen Dr. Gregory at some point during this pregnancy but couldn't quite remember which one she was. Anyway, by the time she called me back a few mins later the contractions were to the point that they were one after another with barely a break in between. I couldn't believe that that was possible - for them to intensify THAT fast.  She told us to get to the hospital and she was calling ahead to let them know we were coming.

J called Chris to get him over here and I threw the rest of the stuff I needed in my bag even though I was doubled over in pain.  I got to the car and we headed to the hospital. I was practically climbing the walls in the car because it hurt so much. Halfway there I started feeling like I needed to push. J put the pedal to the metal and got us there in record time.  I got out of the car and went in through the emergency entrance just as another contraction hit. This one dropped me to my hands and knees as I was trying to get my insurance card and license out of my wallet. I was on the floor swaying back and forth on my hands and knees trying to get through the contraction and the security guard who had a wheelchair for me was trying to get me to get up into the chair. I yelled "Hold on!" and waited for the contraction to pass.

They got me up in the chair and he wheeled me over to the one door waiting for the nurse to come get me.  I was writhing all over the chair in pain and he looked nervous. Finally the nurse got there and started wheeling me towards the elevator. I told her I felt like I needed to push and she yelled for a nearby EMT to come with us and took off running with me towards the elevator.  I was banging on the wall of the elevator on the short ride to the 3rd floor. She ran me through the halls to the delivery room yelling "She feels like she needs to push!".

She got me in the room and got me stripped down and into a gown. I was able to get on the bed and the one nurse went to check me - in the midst of another contraction.  She looked at me, said I was fully dilated and then said the words I dreaded - "There's no time for an epidural.". I almost burst into tears right there.  The nurses kept trying to calm me and talk me through the contractions, telling me to breathe and to try to relax. I kept saying "I can't do this!" and begging for an epidural.  J made it up to the room right then and grabbed my hand.  I looked at him and said "I can't do this." and he said yes I could. The contractions were awful. Every time I felt one coming on I would tense up and they would tell me to relax and breathe. Amazingly I didn't swear at anyone.  Dr. Gregory got there and checked me and said since the baby was still pretty high there might be time for an epi. I don't know if she was serious or just telling me that to calm me down, but I held out the hope that I would get some relief.  J was trying to fill out the consent form (without his glasses) and I was struggling through multiple contractions.

They were telling me to push and I didn't want to. I wanted the damn epi!  Eventually I had to push because it hurt too much not to. But I didn't want to push him out, just push enough to relieve the pressure and pain.  All of a sudden on the next contraction when I pushed his head came out and all of the nurses were yelling for nursery to be ready. At that point I knew an epidural was not going to happen.  On the next contraction as soon as it hit Dr. Gregory cut me a little (I had an episiotomy with Andrew and the scar tissue was not stretching and allowing this little guy to come) and I pushed.  All the nurses and J were yelling encouragements to me. I bared down as hard as possible, heard "He's coming!" and felt him slide out.  The plopped him up on my chest and I looked down at him in complete disbelief. He was screaming away and was amazingly pink.  I just kept saying "I can't believe that just happened.".  The time was 2:08 AM - 2 hours and 40 mins from the time my water broke. Holy hell.

After some skin to skin time they took him and cleaned him up before weighing him and getting him back to me to nurse.  He got a perfect 10 on his Apgars (a first for Dr. Gregory) and when he went to nurse he latched right on.  I was just looking down at him in complete disbelief.  7 lbs 8 oz and 20" of amazingness.

He is perfect. He has my fingers and toes (Andrew has his daddy's), and J's small head.  At first I didn't see any resemblance between him and Andrew, but the more I look at him the more I see it.  He has dark hair and we aren't quite sure what color his eyes are, but he is beautiful.

We came home yesterday with a bili blanket due to some jaundice, but I'll get into that later. Right now I just want to go enjoy this little person.

I still can't believe it happened.