Reuben's Birth

After a few days of regular 'practice' contractions, I went to bed Tuesday night wondering if he'd come in the morning. I was tired and had lost my mucus plug that day, which along with the contractions, tiredness, and low appetite had never happened to me before. Josh had bought me paczkis for dessert, and he insisted they would make the baby come. ;) I planned Miles's next 3 weeks of school and went up to bed at 11:30. For some reason, I got panicky and starting stuffing things into an overnight bag. Josh said, "Are you trying to pack a hospital bag right now?" Me, "Just a few things..." (I had more clues than I realized that it was time. Haha) I went to bed and slept for a couple of hours. Went to the bathroom and tossed and turned for the next hour or two while baby wiggled and jammed his head against my bladder constantly. Finally after a couple more trips to the bathroom and a couple more catnaps, I woke up with a good, painful contraction. It was 4am. I laid in bed til I had another and decided to try the couch to see if the change in position would help. But first I got myself completely dressed, including socks and brushing my hair. (I really should've known...) I tried the couch for 5 minutes (after having to completely reassemble it after the little boy wrestling session of the night before), but it wasn't helping. I did a couple of squats while putting the cushions and pillows back on the couch, just for good measure. :P I walked around and threw random things into my purse like my phone charger. I noticed my contractions were strong even while walking. That's when I knew - but I didn't want to wake up Josh too early. It was 5am. I stayed in the bathroom for awhile because contractions felt best on the toilet. I woke Josh up casually and said, "But you don't have to get up yet if you don't want." Ha! It was 5:24. He got up and got dressed and I threw a couple more things in my bag. I was having to breathe pretty good through contractions, so he called his parents and the doctor. "Going to the hospital within the hour" was what I told him to say. He went to load up the car while I went to the downstairs bathroom to wait for his parents to come stay with the boys. Meanwhile, the doctor called back and said go NOW. Literally within a minute of sitting on the toilet, bowel movement turned to pushing. I yelled for Josh. He came down and told me to get in the car now. His parents weren't there yet and it was 5 degrees out and I couldn't even think of moving to the car. Plus I was bleeding now and still having bowel movements. And pushing. I said, "The baby's coming now!" He said, "You said that last time! Get in the car now!" We yelled back and forth between my pushing yells ;) and finally I reached down and felt baby's head. I said, "This is either a car baby or a bathroom baby - put towels on the floor!" After one last attempt to argue, Josh threw one little towel on the floor as I could feel the baby crown. Miles came down and looked into the bathroom - I think I said, "Mommy's having the baby. Go out for now, bud!" One or two more loud pushes and his head was delivered. I noticed he was still in the sack. I leaned sideways so I could hold his head and Josh reached down and caught his body. It just slipped right out after his head. The waters broke immediately (and all went into the toilet, my astonished mother told me later). I pulled him up to my chest and said, "Call 911." I made sure Reuben was breathing. He was grunting and had good color, with lots of vermix. I double checked that he was a boy. ;) Josh tried to explain what happened to the 911 operator. It was 6:01. We wrapped Reuben in beach towels and I snuggled him close. My in-laws got there, and Miles came back to the bathroom with Grandma. I stayed on the toilet while we admired Reuben in shock. Josh went to flag down the responders as they drove by our house by accident. Then he had to move all the cars so they could bring the cot in through the garage. 2 ambulances, 1 firetruck, 2 police cars, and about 7 EMTs and police officers, plus my in-laws and Miles and Nehemiah, who had awakened to see the scene. Haha! All for a sweet little baby with no emergency. (Zekie slept through it all.) We bundled up and got to the ambulance where they did Apgar and blood sugar tests. Baby was perfect. I felt good. We had nice conversation about the different stations the guys worked at, which we had visited before, and which ones of them had responded to such a call before. That was probably my favorite part of the morning. ;) The rest is uneventful - admittance, answering millions of questions because I had been planning to pre-register at the hospital THAT day, delivering the placenta, 2 small stitches, lots of checking the baby (grr), and finally I got to settle in to nurse my sweetie. His weight surprised all of us. By the way, my doctor didn't even make it to the hospital. Oh well. :)