The early bird catches the worm (and makes grandma fly home from Mexico!)

Some women cry after having their babies. Others say something profound, like, "Now I know what real love feels like," or, "I feel complete." Yes, friends, I have watched way too many episodes of TLC's A Baby Story. But me? What did I say after meeting my son? Well, after I got to hold him and all the baby/ mama doctors were done doing their thing, my profound words of wisdom were, "Wow. That was so weird." 


And you know what? It was so weird. The whole thing. Let's rewind to September 17, shall we? For about a week beforehand, I had been feeling kind of odd. I kept telling B (or "dada" as he is affectionately now known) that I thought E was slowly chipping away in there, Shawshank Redemption style. I had said this to my midwives, too, but they kept assuring me that there was "no way" that I would go early because I was a first time mom. So, I assured my mom (who was leaving for a weeklong trip to Mexico on September 17) that everything was fine and that she should go and drink some margaritas for me. 


As my mom took off that day, B and I got ready for his family to come over for a little pre-baby party. I kind of put the whole labor thing out of my mind. B's family even asked me when I thought I'd have the baby, and I think I said October 10 (my due date was October 8). Looking back, perhaps I should've seen my need to make all the party food from scratch as a sign of nesting?

B & I hanging out with family & our pups never knowing Mr. E was busy plotting his escape.

Everyone went home, and B and I cleaned up and then took our weekly pictures: 

Then we went to bed. Around 2:45am I woke up thought, "Hmm, that's weird." Had my water broken? No, it couldn't be. Hadn't everyone just told me there was no way this could happen? It took me a good hour to decide to call the dr's office (B and Sadie dog slept through all of this, btw). I found out that Carolyn, my favorite midwife, was on call (yay!). She said to meet her at the hospital around 7:30 the next morning so we could check everything out. I started think I might be having contractions the next morning, but I wasn't quite sure so I took my sweet time getting to the hospital. When B and I rolled in eating bagels around 8:30, I still wasn't sure this was the real deal. Carolyn quickly told me that yes, my water had broken and no, I wasn't going anywhere because I was also 4cm dilated already! 


My reply? "Oh no, my mom is going to kill me!" I called B's mom and told her we were in the hospital ("Really? Why?" she asked. See? No one was expecting this.). I talked her into calling my mom in Mexico, who reportedly freaked out but within reason (go mom!). 

Meanwhile, labor was starting to get WAY less fun. I had decided to go as long as I could without pain meds. To be clear, I wasn't trying to be a hero here. I just really like my spinal column the way it is and would prefer to not have it punctured, thank you very much.

For those of you who have never had contractions before, they are like nothing else. Don't bother trying to figure out what they're going to be like beforehand because you can't. They very intensely and completely take over your body and then all of a sudden they're gone and you basically feel fine. Weird, right?

After awhile of this up and down, I felt like I wasn't sure if I'd make it or not. Then they checked me and said I only had 2 cm to go, so I decided to tough it out. By about one hour into the whole 2+ hour pushing process, I definitely regretted this. Right before E was born I was thinking, "Wow, I hope he doesn't mind being an only child because there is NO WAY I'm doing this again!"

But then, out he came. I saw his scrunchy face, his little conehead and his cleft chin and it was all worth it. Literally 5 minutes later I was like, "Aw, that wasn't so bad. I guess I could do it again..." :) E was born on September 18, 2011 at 3:55pm. He was a 5lbs 15 oz, 19 inch long miracle baby. We were so happy he decided to come out 3 weeks early and get this party started!

I love this picture because you can see his little hand on the side of the scale. Always exploring!