Reliving LB's birth *****lots of baby talk*****

Don't worry, I'm not going to give graphic details, we know how babies are born, but I want to forewarn anyone who does not want to read a very baby-intensive post.

My dear friend Wendi is about to give birth any minute now. She's been having contractions for 24 hours or so, but still irregular. Every time I look at her blog or think about her it catapults me to 15 months ago when LB was born. Except that I didn't have contractions until 6 hours before that kid was born. (Sorry, Wendi.)

It was almost Halloween and BB and I had been outside taking pictures of him in his lion costume.


I was 38 weeks and 4 days pregnant and nowhere near ready for LB to make his appearance. I wasn't really excited for a baby because I had a baby. BB was just a year and 4 days old. BB and I had fun taking these sweet pictures but then it was time for his nap. I put him down and looked forward to a caramel apple (the last thing I ate before giving birth) and relaxing my 9-month-pregnant body a little bit. As I put something in the microwave at 3:51 pm a very strong contraction moved through my body. "Uh-oh, I thought, I'd better lie down!"

Off to bed I went with a glass of water, ready to relax away the Braxton-Hicks contractions. Au contraire, mon frere. I felt a huge "bursting" sensation in the nether regions and realized that my water had broken. I had this picture of one gush (OK, maybe this is a little graphic) and that's it, but it turned out to be about 6 big gushes. How many babies did I have in there anyway?

I called my friend Jennifer and told her I thought my water had broken. I was still talking myself out of the fact that I was actually in labor. She suggested I call the doctor. I did so, and they said I needed to come in. It might be a false alarm, but once the waters broke I needed to deliever within about 24 hours .

The night before this excitement I told Randy, "I guess we need to start talking about how I would get ahold of you at work when I go into labor." We decided that I would text message him. So at about 4:15 or so I texted Randy at work, writing, "I think my water just broke." Uh, you think? In any case, he was in a meeting but came on home as fast as his little car would carry him.

BB woke up then, crying. I had called my magic friend Stacey who was going to care for BB when LB came, and she was on her way, too. I didn't know what to do about BB so I just left him in there. I did not know what to do, nor was I prepared. He was supposed to wait a few more weeks. Not! Stacey arrived and I was walking around trying to get some more things together (I hadn't packed), having contractions every 5 minutes or so. I would walk and talk then double over with the pain of a new contraction. We thought we might need to meet Randy at the hospital! He got home just in time for some last minute instructions for Stacey, and we head off to the hospital.



We had to traipse through the whole hospital to get to labor and delivery and they checked me into a room. I hadn't decided whether or not to have an epidural, but after another hour of contractions I decided to go for it. After that I was feeling no pain, answering and making telephone calls, and in a very good mood. Randy went to get something to eat and our friend Rachel, who thankfully could NOT stay away once she heard I was in labor, went to our house to pick up some more things we forgot. By the time she got back to the hospital we had a new little baby boy! LB was born at 10:28 on October 30th, less than 7 hours after that first contraction.

Now I've got two little boys, ages 27 months and 15 months, wrestling on the bed. They play great together and are best friends.

I've got this down now, so when Wendi has her baby I can rehash that experience again, too. Thanks, Wendi!

Oh, yeah.