the king has arrived....

well... we did it. we finally welcomed our 5th baby... and a BOY at that... to our family.

it was quite the experience. i had always wanted to experience natural childbirth, so i was bound and determined to do it this time. paul and i studied for months, made a birth plan, read, read and read some more.... and i'll tell you what.. those books are pretty accurate. i couldn't believe this was my 5th pregnancy and i was reading this stuff for the first time.

after realizing this baby was not coming early, after watching my due date come and go, i went to the dr. on monday to try to move things along.... not too exciting. i said.. do it again! she looked at me like...

"ok crazy lady, now you're talkin!"

she tortured me a little more and then whispered...

"do you want me to break your water?"

i asked if i would have time to go home and get my bag. she said probably not. i said what the heck... go for it.

i was past my due date and a little delirious at this point. i was weak. also, this was not part of the birth plan. i DID NOT want to be induced. i knew i would not be able to labor in the hospital... i am too weak and the epidural would be right there if i wanted it.

anyway... she tried and guess what, the baby blocked that move. it put it's sweet little hand up so that she couldn't do it. not ready. we went home.
on wed. morning i woke up with mild contractions. i was apprehensive the whole time, not wanting to go to the hospital until that baby was practically coming out....so i tried to distract myself. we decided to go ahead and take the little girls to atrium. we walked around for a bit and the contractions were getting much stronger. in between contractions i was just fine, stopping to talk to friends, etc. etc. paul downloaded an iphone labor app. he was pretty pumped about that. we were able to chart contractions, make notes and charts. it ended up being very helpful.

after we picked up the girls, it was starting to get pretty intense. i just wanted to go home. we did stop at whole foods tho, just to push things a little more and i really wanted some pears. we were able to drop S off with my neighbor and my dear friend M came and picked up D.

so we were ready. it was around noon at this point. we tried all of the things on my list to pass the time. the idea was to stay relaxed. if i could pick the best tool, it would be the heated rice bags. those things were awesome. if it weren't for the immense sensations i was feeling, i would've thought i was at the spa. it was hard work but manageable. finally, when out of nowhere i began to lose it over being fearful of getting stuck in traffic, paul was able to gage my emotional signpost as probably nearing the transition phase. which means that baby was coming very soon!
the ride to the hospital was very trying. it was hard to maintain composure, especially feeling every bump in our 4 runner. we did not run into any traffic tho ;) it was 3:30 in the afternoon.

as we pulled up to the hospital, i was grabbing onto a blanket and got out of the car. the nurse could tell i was upset and asked if i was pregnant. i could not do any talking at this point. paul was able to explain everything and guide us briefly thru check in, where they couldn't even get a bracelet on me, and into triage. another nurse asked me to change into a gown and she would be right back. that didn't happen either. i couldn't move or do anything but focus on each contraction which were right on top of each other at this point.
finally another nurse was able to get a better gage on the situation and quickly but calmly got me onto a bed and wheeled me into a delivery room, while announcing to the other nurses to get the dr. ... 5th baby, dilated to an 8, this baby is coming!!!

i didn't have an i.v., baby monitors, hospital id, i still even had my dress on when the dr. came

in. she kindly removed my dress with no help from me. before you know it, thanks to paul for putting up the stirrups, i pushed that baby out and paul said...

"it's a BOY!!!"
it was 4:05. i was in shock. shock from what i had just done, shocked from the fact that it was a boy. shocked that we were blessed with 5 healthy babies, shocked that i was lying there completely naked. i could have been in a field somewhere, it was an out of body experience.
the girls came to see him just a few hours after he was born. they were over the moon. they brought me beautiful statues of mothers and babies, a stork with a baby boy, cards and other goodies (all from the dollar store) they were so excited about their purchases. noni took them there and let them pick out whatever they wanted.
i was so thankful for paul during this whole experience. he was a great coach. i think it felt good for him to feel so involved too. i was so thankful for all my friends and family who jumped right in to help with childcare, meals, gifts, visits to the hospital, i even had beautiful birthday cakes waiting for me when i got home. they kick you out after 24 hours now, which i think is a little early. but all in all it was an amazing experience and i am

thankful.




top favorite sayings while i was in labor (all in a matter of about 15 min.)

1. look at my hands! guys there's something wrong with my thumbs! look at them!

2. dr.: i am going to check you... me: why? what's the point? i don't need to push yet.

3. someone came in to draw blood. that was not going to happen, everyone told her to leave. she was bound and determined to get that blood sample from me. she finally made it thru the crowd of people around me and asked... i turned around and looked at her and said "where ?" in a not so nice voice.

4. i kept calling everyone guys. hey guys...

5. i asked paul in a really calm sweet voice to please get me some ice chips.

6. after the whole thing was over, i looked down and realized the situation and said

"i guess i am a little exposed." and then covered up my top with a teeny tiny white washcloth.

7. i started to get really hot. so everyone was kind enough to put cold washcloths on my neck and forehead. i said "please just pour water all over me. can someone please do that?" and i was serious.

8. at perhaps one little weak moment... "this sucks!!!"