38w, 6d

I complained long enough and he heard me!!!!

Timeline: 1:40am: My water broke. I woke Mike and he made a mad dash out of bed. We called my friend Anne to come sleep at our house to be with Jace, while we packed a few last minute things.

1:55am: Called the L&D triage phoneline at the hospital. I was told I'd get a call back within a half hour by the on-call doc, and if I didn't - to call them again.

2:10am: Contractions started. Very mild at first, but definitely more than the "uncomfortable" status I'd been giving them for the past several days.

2:20am: Now they hurt. I was squatting anywhere I was standing in my house to help the pain.

2:25am: Doc was supposed to call back by now. I decided that since my contractions were barely a minute apart already (that happened fast!!!), that I didn't need to call back and we decided to just go to the hospital.

2:40am: Arrived at hospital and stopped at the L&D desk to get checked in. I was in rough shape at this point. They escorted me to triage where the "fun" really started. My contractions were no longer plural and it was one big, long, never-ending contraction. The triage nurse kept trying to get me to lay on my back to check my cervix, but I could not even move to that position, it hurt so badly. She finally managed to check me and I thought I'd get the familiar "Can't feel your cervix, it's too high", but she didn't really say anything. Pretty soon my room was flooded with nurses and I had no idea what was going on. They threw up the sidebars on the bed and brought me out of that room... I managed to ask, "Could you feel my cervix?" And she said, "Oh no. Definitely not - it's gone, honey - you're delivering now." And I was SHOCKED. Beyond shocked. We got into the delivery room and it was full of blue scrubs. I was still in disbelief that it was happening right then and there and that the labor part was officially over. Within minutes, they had me in stirrups and the doc arrived just in time to wash up, throw on a gown and tell me to push. 3 pushes later, he was out. 2:53am. I did get to hold him while they wiped him off, and saw him briefly while he was in my room, but then they took him to be monitored in the nursery for the first few hours - he swallowed some meconium sometime and needed to have it sucked out. But he's doing great now, and we're working on breastfeeding. He seems interested, but not quite latching right. We'll get there.

Stats:
8lbs, 2 oz (just one ounce heavier than big bro was!)
20 inches long

I just can't believe how it all happened! We arrived at 2:40, Cade was born at 2:53. 13 MINUTES after I arrived. Amazing. Simply amazing.

And all the little what-ifs!
1) Had we waited any longer at home, we'd have had a home birth. The doctor later told us that she did receive a page to call me, but it was missing one digit in the phone number, so she couldn't call back! Good thing I didn't wait!
2) It also was amazing that in the last several weeks, MN has had unseasonably nice weather and just yesterday/last night it snowed - a lot. We had very slick and slippery conditions - of course I would go into labor on a night like that :P

But all in all, we're in awe. He's so beautiful and wonderful and we're thrilled to death. Didn't sleep all night :) I'm feeling ok - I'm very crampy from the uterus shrinking. It's like having super mild contractions all over again - not fun. But I took Tylenol, I hope it helps.

I called Jace around 7:30 this morning to tell him the news and he said, "Are you KIDDING me?" Too cute. I can't wait to introduce the brothers. :)