Birth Story...

Thomas Allen arrived on Wednesday, December 16th at 3:41am. 9lbs 3.6 ozs, 21 inches long.

Birth story -

On Tuesday afternoon, I was having contractions that were 20 minutes apart - not very painful so I wasn't convinced they were real. By the time we went to bed, they were 10 minutes apart - still not very painful. I woke up at 1:45am and the contractions were more intense. I was getting my shampoo and stuff ready. The contractions were definitely real. Jeff asked me how far apart they were but I hadn't even had a chance to time them. I told him it was time to leave!! He jumped up and got the girls out of bed. He started timing me and the contractions were 3 minutes apart. We dropped the girls off at a friends house and went to the hospital. We parked the van and starting walking to the entrance. I realized that walking wasn't going to work. Jeff ran inside and grabbed a wheelchair. I wish I had a video of him running out with the wheelchair! We went in and got a little lost - giving directions during a contraction doesn't work very well. We made it to the nurses desk. We checked in at about 2:30am and I was 6cm. My water broke when she checked me. We got to the delivery room and got the iv etc. I asked for an epidural but I knew it was probably too late. I will never know the relief of an epidural! Oh well. The nurse asked if I felt like pushing - I think my eyes bulged out as I said "YES". I was already 8cm. Pushed for 3 contractions and got my precious little boy! He looked great - he didn't cry and they had to work hard to get him to make a noise. He was fine - just didn't want to cry, same as Amelia. We donated his cord blood. They got 209 grams (which is apparently a lot). Within an hour of giving birth, they needed my room so they were hustling with last minute measurements and trying to draw more blood from me. They finally gave up and figured the maternity ward nurses would have better luck. As they were wheeling us out, I heard a nurse say "wow, that was a driveby delivery".

We spent the rest of our time in a maternity ward overflow room. Thankfully I didn't get a roommate. Thomas doesn't cry - he screams! He goes from zero to full throttle in about 5 seconds. Hopefully that will calm down soon. Jeff brought the girls to the hospital after school (They didn't go back to sleep after we dropped them off at 2am - so they were a little tired!). Madalyn was thrilled that Thomas looks like her. Amelia is excited for him to "be fun". They are both in love with him and "ooh and ahh" over his every move and especially when he opens his eyes (which he doesn't do very often).

Thursday morning we waited around for the pediatrican to come and do the circumcision. I had already been cleared to be discharged. They finally did the procedure at noon and then we just had to wait for him to pee. 4 hours later they gave up and let us go home. The nurse said to get him ready and come to the nurses station to remove the security bracelet. We didn't know there were two nurses stations in the maternity area. We went to the one I had seen in the L&D tour. On the walk there, we heard the alarms go off and the sign in the hallway said "Alarm -Nesheim Male"...oops! The nurse came running and directed us to the correct desk. Meanwhile, the elevators were locked while they got the key to reset the alarm! We like to keep things exciting.

By the way, 4pm is also rush hour at the hospital. The 7 mile drive took us over an hour. Luckily, Thomas slept the whole way home!

The girls are in love with him. I would cuddle with him all day if I could. Pure joy!