from 3 to 4

wednesday, feb 7
i had a feeling that something was going to happen... i just felt "odd". i needed to shower and chris had some events planned for work that made it so he wouldn't be home until late. so i called my mom to come hang with max while i showered. we ate dinner, hung out, chris got home, we put max to bed and i sat down. then i had a contraction around 9 pm. then another about 6 minutes later. they started out a little light but then soon turned stronger and bypassed the braxton hicks contractions that i had been having on and off for about a week and a half prior. they were never really uncomfortable. after i had these contractions for an hour i called the doctor and they suggested i come in to be checked out. i called my mom, she came to stay at the house with max and off we went. it was just before midnight. i got to the hospital they took me to my room and promptly checked me. i was 5 cm and 70% effaced. my water was still not broken. they said, that i was in fact in labor and that i was "a keeper" they started an IV drip so that i could have my epi then have my water broken. the epi took really well initially, when i couldn't feel anything they broke my water, holy heck what a relief that was.... it was like the balloon had been popped and i had room to breathe again. after that i was instructed to get some rest. it was about 3 am. for the next hour i started to feel contractions coming harder and harder and quicker and quicker but i could only feel this on my left side. i paged the nurse but the hospital paging system was all wonky because we were having some bad weather and the system was knocked out. she didn't come for about 20 minutes... oops... i was a bit groggy so i kinda didn't notice tooo too much... until they got to be pretty unbearable and i was about to send chris out to find her when she came in to find me in pain. she then had my epi fixed and in no time i was comfortable again but since the fix really fixed the entire epi, it made my right side completely numb.... i had cement leg and couldn't move it to save my life! i so didn't care though because i was a happy laboring woman about to have her baby. about an hour after the fix i was checked again and was at 8 cm. 6 am rolled around and soon after that, it was time to push. but since i couldn't feel much, that was a bit of a challenge. we took it slow at first until i got my barrings and could start to feel a bit more.... then we really started to push around 7. but of course that's when my contractions started to get a little spacey... they gave me a small dose of pitocin and off we went. it was just chris, me and the nurse for most of the pushing. which was really nice. just about when i was ready to deliver, dr fuoss came in and got everything ready. i pushed a few more times with him and out came andrew at 8:33 am, feb 7th. it was not as painful this time as it was with max. i think partially because the epi was in full throttle. he was just perfect! and stunned everyone with his whopping size! 10 lbs 3 oz! yipes! i laughed and said, "holy shit! you have GOT to be kidding me!" when they told me how much he weighed. nice to curse but hey, it was an emotional time!

since it was a thursday morning and family members were at work, chris and i really got to get to know him alone for a while until we got our first visitors, chris's mom and max and my mom. max didn't really know what to make of andrew at first and i think he was confused as to where he was and what was all going on. in fact the entire time i was in the hospital max was a little amiss.

the next two days, were pretty uneventful. a few visitors came to see us, we nursed and bonded and i got to nap and sleep as much as possible. we got home saturday around 11 am. then around 3 pm my parents brought max back home and we spent the rest of the day getting to know each other as a family of four. that evening, things got a little rough... max went to bed, and apparently didn't hear a thing the entire night. chris and i were not so lucky... andrew kept us getting up and out of bed at least 15 times.... my milk had not come in and he was starving.... we ended up supplementing with formula a bit just to get him satisfied so that we could get a little sleep. then this morning at 8:45 am, it was like someone had turned on the faucets and we haven't had to look back. he has however, spent most of the day attached to me... i think he was making up for lost time with no food.... poor little guy.

As for the rest of us. i'm feeling pretty good considering... chris is just tired, totally expected. and max, well max is doing great in his new role as a big brother. since we've been home, he has been very interested in andrew. he gets concerned when he starts to cry and he gives him kisses when it's time to go to bed. it's very cute and very endearing. i can't wait to watch these two get to know each other as brothers :) it's going to be such a huge treat as a mother to watch this story unfold.

more to come in the next few days