3 Months- and a Birth Story

My handsome little guy at 3 months!

So here we are- three months into our adventure, and I never shared Joey's birth story!  I figure that since this milestone marks the end of Joey's "fourth trimester," it's the perfect time to share how he came into the world.

 
I had been contracting pretty regularly for the past 3 weeks or so, and there had been several times that I had that, "this could be it" feeling. None of them were, though, and I was getting really discouraged.
I woke up Sunday morning at about 5:30 feeling majorly crampy- I wasn't sure if it was stomach crampy or uterus crampy, but I did end up using the bathroom a couple of times. After about an hour I woke Dave and told him things might be going somewhere, and we started to shower and get ready. Contractions were coming pretty close together at this point, but they weren't lasting long at all- maybe 30 seconds or so. We were both still tired, so at 7:30 we decided to lay down and I turned on my "Easy First Stage" Hypnobabies script. I slept clear through it til a pretty big contraction woke me at about 8:30. Nora woke up about the same time, and we got her ready to go in case this was it. Contractions had REALLY slowed down by this point, but they were intense and lasting about a minute. This went on all morning. I'd have nothing for 15 minutes and then one big one, but then nothing again for another 10 or 15 minutes. I was getting really discouraged, and finally decided to just work on sewing a couple of itty-bitty diaper covers as a distraction.
By 1:00 I had decided that there was no way this was really it. I talked to my mom on the phone, and she was begging me to just call the midwife and get checked. We live 30 minutes away from the birthing center, and although I was insisting it was probably nothing, she could tell that things would probably be really fast once they picked up. I called my midwife (feeling rather silly) and she said she could meet me there in an hour. My sister Ashlee came to watch Nora, and we headed to the birthing center.
During the 30 minute ride I only had one contraction. One. And it wasn't that bad. I just knew that I would either be laboring at the birthing center FOREVER (which I really didn't want) or we would be sent home (again- not an awesome scenario).
I walked in to the birthing center and was joking with my midwife and her apprentice. She asked if we were going to have a baby today, and all I could say was, "Well . . . I certainly hope so!" She told me afterward that she commented to her apprentice that there was no way I was close because I was way too chipper . As she was checking me, I told her that I was worried this wasn't really it and I was just being stupid. Her eyes got wide and she said, "Well, you're not stupid!" I was a SUPER stretchy 9 cm- pretty much there. I was relieved! We decided that she would break my water so we could just get this little boy here.
She broke my water at about 2:20 and I got into the tub. I expected things to get intense right away as they had after my water broke with Nora, but there were a good 10 minutes of more of the same. Then I had 2 or 3 well-spaced contractions that were pretty intense, but with Dave pushing on my back they were tolerable. Suddenly, I felt him engage and I was pushing with all my might! I said, "Ooh! That's a baby!" and the midwife rushed into the room. Dave moved around to be facing me at the head of the tub to be my strength and support, and my midwife was at the side so she could support my perineum. With Nora, the pushing phase was when I finally felt relief. This time was a little different! I felt intense burning, and I was trying so hard to take it slow so I wouldn't tear. I tore badly internally with Nora, and my recovery was a nightmare. I felt this time like I wanted to just give it my all and get him out, but I was able to take it a little slower to really let things stretch. When his head was out I felt so much relief, and the rest of his body followed easily with the next contraction. I pushed for 11 minutes, and he was born at 3:00 pm- less than one hour after arriving at the birthing center!
I bled a bit more than normal, but that was quickly under control. The best news of all? NO TEARING! I was so happy! There were a couple tiny superficial tears, but nothing worth stitching. HOORAY!! We loved that he was born right into my hands and for the first hour after he was born he was only held by Dave or me. We loved that I recovered in a queen-sized bed, so Dave could just climb in next to me and we could have some sweet time together with our new little angel. We loved our birthing center!

Life since then has been pretty darn crazy!  Joey is such a joy to have in our family- he loves to smile, and there is such a sweetness about him.  Happy Quarter Birthday, Joey!