Welcome Graham!

It's been an entire year since I wrote a blog post...because life, raising boys, cookies, just all the things.  I'm not really a writer, but have used this blog to keep friends and family up to date (especially with pictures of the boys--which is what they really want to see)!  I'm not committing to start posting again regularly, but I did think this would be a good time to dust it off and write out Graham's birth story.

I'll start out with some background....
This was my third pregnancy with my third boy.  Both of my other boys were induced on/around their due dates, so this whole going into labor on my own thing made me a little nervous.  How would I know when contractions were the real deal, would I have enough time for an epidural, would going over my due date mean I was going to have a big baby, etc.  My original due date (based off my calculations) was January 4, 2017.  My ultrasounds and measurements always had me 1 week and 1 day earlier than that, so after my 20 weeks appointment, my doctor moved my due date up to December 27, 2016.  At my December 23rd appointment, I was dilated between a 3-4 and my doctor asked me if I wanted to be induced again or wait until I went into labor on my own.  I told her I hadn't fully decided, which she then went on to tell me that the next week's induction schedule was already full.  Well I guess that made that decision!  She went ahead and stripped my membranes to see if that would bring labor....and it didn't.  So I went in for my appointment on December 29th (2 days after my due date) and was still dilated between 3-4.  One of my doctor's patients (who was scheduled for induction the next day) had just delivered, so there was a possibility that I could take that induction spot for Friday.  Labor and Delivery had been really busy though and so they told me I could call the next morning at 10:00 and hopefully they would have discharged some people and would let me know if I could come in.  My doctor went ahead and stripped my membranes again, and made the comment, "well I might have just moved you between 4-5cm dilated."  I asked the doctor (again), "now when should I go to the hospital if I'm having contractions?"  She answered if they are less than 5 minutes apart for more than an hour.  Okay, got it.

That night before going to bed, I made the comment to Eric that the week before when my membranes had been stripped, I had a few contractions about 12 hours later.  If this was the same, I would potentially have contractions in the middle of the night (around 2-3am).  I felt pretty normal going to bed, although my back had been a little sore that evening.  I woke up once around 2am and thought maybe I was having a contraction, but knew that I should try and sleep and that they would keep me up if they were the real deal.  Well I fell back asleep right away and woke up at 4:02am and was a little more confident that I was having a contraction then.  I decided I should start timing and see if any more came.  I had probably 4 contractions that were about 5-6 minutes apart, but then I had 1 or 2 that were only about 4 minutes apart.  I decided I should wake Eric up and we should go to the hospital.  My friend Hannah lives one street over and so I texted her to see if she would be able to come over and stay at our house with the boys.  Thankfully she saw my text within a few minutes and said she was on her way!  Eric pulled the van around front and I pretty much walked out the door as Hannah walked in.  He called his parents as we pulled away from the house, so that they could come to stay with the boys.  At this point, I'm having contractions about every 2-3 minutes.  We made the short drive to the hospital, parked, and entered through the ER to get to L&D.  I signed in at the nurses' desk and with labored breath, gave them my name and date of birth.  At this point, they hopped up and asked how quickly my other children had come, to which I answered that they had both been induced.  They took me into triage and handed me a cup to take to the bathroom to pee in.  I contracted during my time in the bathroom and knew that I was not going to be able to catch any urine.  I pulled the red cord to let the nurses know that I was having trouble, to which they came in and just had me go and get on the triage bed.  They checked me and I was a "9 and paper thin" and they started rolling me quickly down the hall with the instructions to "keep my legs together".  They also informed me that I was too late for an epidural, which I was pretty confident of when we walked in, but had told them I wanted one (just in case it was a possibility).  When we got into a room, the nurses waited for me to end a contraction and then had me get into the hospital gown and move into the bed.  I remember having the same thoughts when I was delivering Cooper that I was unprepared to breathe.  I hadn't taken that class!  After a few contractions of "just like you're blowing out candles", my water breaking, and some intense sweating, I knew I had to push.  The nurses had told me that they could deliver, but that we wanted to try and wait for the doctor to get there.  Eric said he saw the look of resignation on the nurse's face when I exclaimed again that I had to push and she said, "okay, let's push then."  Graham came out quickly and was a little startled, but it didn't take too long for him to cry and respond.  I never would have said that I wanted to deliver naturally, but because it was so quick and I didn't labor for hours, it really was for the best.  All the thoughts I had of delivering naturally (laboring for a long time, yelling, the "ring of fire", etc) didn't happen and I have had a really easy recovery.  God knew best and put all my fears at ease.  I hated that my doctor didn't get to deliver him, but he wasn't waiting on her!  We stayed at the hospital that whole day and overnight, and then were headed home about noon the next day. 

So here's the timeline of the short story:
4:02am - contraction that woke me up
Contractions about 5-6 minutes apart, and then only about 4 minutes apart
4:36am - woke up Eric
4:41am - texted Hannah to come over
4:53am - left our house
5:00am - signed in at the nurses' station
5:16am - Graham is born!

And besides the shocker of that dark hair (where in the world did that come from?!?!)...he is actually our smallest baby, weighing in at 7 lbs, 15 ounces. Big brother Cooper was 8 lbs, 1 ounce and Hudson was 8 lbs, 4 ounces.  So who knows which due date was actually correct!  We are so thankful for God's provision in us making it to the hospital and having a healthy delivery and healthy baby boy.  We didn't realize at the time just how close we were to having a home or car delivery!

17 days in and I think we'll keep him!  We are adjusting pretty well and he really is a sweet baby.  While I'm still adjusting to less sleep, I really can't complain because he mostly just wakes in the night to eat and then goes back to sleep.  His big brothers love to shower him with hugs, kisses, and "soft touches".  I haven't had very much time with the three of them on my own yet, so this week will be the start of real life.  Welcome to our family, Graham.  We are so excited that you are here!