Baby Brother has arrived!!!

Baby Brother arrived right on his due date April 23, 2008 at 12:40 in the morning. He weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long.

On Tuesday, the 22nd, I spent my birthday with Munchkin. I'd been having regular contractions for about 2 weeks, and almost thought we were in labor a couple of times. Yet, on the day before his due date, I was still pregnant. We went for a walk and fed the horses, we played sandcastle in the garden, we had lunch and then I layed her down for a nap. I was so exhauseted, so I decided to take a nap myself. At about 3:30, I noticed that the contractions were making it awfully uncomfortable to sleep. They quickly turned uncomfortable enough that I got up and turned the TV on and sat on my Yoga Ball and rocked during them. Munchkin woke up and came into our room and sat on my lap. I asked if she wanted to play a game with Mom, and she of course was delighted and ran into her room. She came back with 5 different games. We played for a while and around 5:00, I realized I was having a harder time focusing through the contractions, and decided to call Hikari at work and have him come home. When he got home, I told him we probably had a few more hours, but I just needed him home. The next contraction was much stronger, and I said "Call your mom, we're taking munchkin over there right now."

We took Munchkin over to Grandma's house, and I cried when I saw her leave, knowing that the next time we see her, she won't be my only baby. I know I was just really emotional at the time, but it was really hard to see her go.

We arrived at the hospital at 7:30, and they opted to immediately admit me, rather than send me to observation, as I was clearly in labor. I was only dilated to 3 cm, though, so I was a bit dissapointed, but at least we knew he was really on his way this time. Around 9:30, the nurse came in and said that one of the partner doctors was there for another patient, and if I wanted, he could come in and break my water to help things move along. I decided that would be alright with me, although I had hesitations due to the lenghth and problems that arose after having my water broken with Munchkin.

When he went to break my water, he said that I was still only at 3 cm. I thought, here we go again. I'm going to be here for another 18 hours! He broke my water, and immediately my contractions got stronger and closer together. The nurse said that since I was going natural she wasn't going to check me unless I wanted her too. A couple of hours went by and she came in at 11:30 to check on me. She wanted to monitor the baby a for a minute and I wanted to lay down. She checked and said I was between 5 and 6 cm. I was so glad! It took nearly 10 hours to get past that point with Munchkin. At that point, I knew my contractions were doing a lot more and that things would go a lot quicker than with Munchkin. Little did I know how quick!

15 minutes later I was starting to feel pressure, and Hikari told the nurse when she came in. She decided to check me again, and I was about 8 cm, but told me he was still a bit posterior. She asked if I wanted to go on my hands and knees and I said that I did, but asked if they had a bean bag for me to support myself with. She came back and said she couldn't find it, and so she sent one of the nurses looking for it. I was feeling a lot more pressure and by the time the nurse found the bean bag, I said I was NOT moving!!

The contractions were so much stronger than I was prepared for, and about the time the nurse mentioned that I was getting near transition, I was done. It was so much more intense than I remember with Munchkin. When the doctor arrived, I had started to feel pushing urges to push him further down, very different and much sooner than the pushing urge I felt with Munchkin, but the nurse insisted I needed to wait, as I was only 8 cm dilated. It was so overwhelming. The doctor sat down and looked at the baby and said, "I think she can push through it. Go ahead and push when you want to. I pushed so hard, and though it was a relief to push, the feeling was so intense, I just wanted him out! I took one more deep breathe and screamed. It was so intense. Then my loving husband leaned over and said, use that energy to push him out and not scream, I tried to stop screaming, and pushed his little head, and his little body quickly followed.

I had a much harder time focusing, as I don't think I was nearly as prepared as I thought I was. I think I figured that since I had done it once before, I didn't need to prepare myself as much. But even with that, it was an amazing experience. It seemed so much more intense, so much quicker, but I got the unmedicated, intervention-free birth that I wanted, and I felt great afterwards. The first thing I asked the doctor was "How much did I tear?" I thought for sure the damage was worse than the first time, but I didn't even need a single stitch, making the recovery MUCH nicer!

I look at him and think of the little miracle that he is...that each child is. How blessed I am to be able to experience such in intimate part of our Saviors plan, the creation of life. I have been blessed with a loving husband who knows what I need to hear, when I need to hear it, in order to continue and a loving daughter who tries her hardest to help and to be a good big sister. It's amazing the little spirits that we are priviliged to take care of on this short time on earth.

I wondered how I would share my love between these two children of my mine, and I found that just like when my daughter was born, my heart just grew to contain enough love for each of them.

I think this was probably around 11:00, inbetween contractions.