And then there were 3

It was a long pregnancy. Two weeks before I was due I had a night of emotional break down, then after that I was fine. Mentally. Physically I was done. My body hurt. And I was ready to meet my little mister. Ready to sleep on my stomach. Ready to sleep comfortably, even if that meant in two hour increments. Ready to use the potty once every few hours instead of once every 15 minutes. Ready for the crazy life of three children. My due date was January 20th. At my last appointment, which was a Friday, I was dialated to a "tight three" and had my membranes stripped hoping that would jump start things. 

Rich and I enjoyed our weekend, then Sunday night, much like all other nights the past 2 weeks, I started having regular contractions in the evening. At 7:00 rich took over kid duty so I could lay down. The contractions, although not "regular" didn't stop and progressed until they were all under ten minutes sometimes less then 5 minutes by the time 1:00 AM rolled around. I hadn't slept. Rich got a little bit of sleep but not much. Being Strep B positive we wanted to be sure  we got to the hospital in time to have antibiotics in me for four hours before  giving birth. We were able to wake up mom and dad arnell, drop the girls off an be checked in to the hospital by 1:45 AM. I wasn't sure if it was the real thing or not and was afraid of being sent home       The contractions, although frequent, were not painful. After getting hooked up to machines, medication in, paperwork filled, Rich and I were both able to get some sleep. I woke up at 6 (I have no idea what time I fell asleep) and the contractions had completely stopped. I felt frustrated and foolish. Since we were at little misters due date we decided to go ahead and get started. I was joked up to pitocin with immediately got my contractions going at 3-4 minutes. They weren't terribly painful yet. Doctor Ann Blackett came in at 10:30 and broke my water. That's when things got intense. I labored in the tub for about 30 minutes until that was no longer comfortable. then tried different positions with Rich there being a great emotional support. To make a long story short I ended up laborinf on the bed on my knees with my body facing the back of the bed. No epidural. It was ... Painful. Due to some scar tissue the baby got stuck, crowned for several minutes. His heart rate plummeted and I was told I needed to turn around onto my back so Blackett could give me an appesiotomy and get the baby out. It turned into a stressful situation, the shoulders got stuck and the cord was wrapped around little misters neck. He finally came out officially bring born at 12:30 but wasn't breathing on is own. 

They got him hooked up to machines immediately. It was such a dramatic relief to have him born. If I can help it, I will never go "natural" again. Twice was enough. This birth was my deciding factor and the decision was easily made that I never want to go through that again. 

Little mister got all the junk cleaned out of his nose and lungs and finally started breathing on his own.  Although, his lungs were "sticky" and he was quite irritable for the 30-45 minutes we got to hold him. Then they took him away for some testing and to be hooked up to an "early lung" machine which would help with the stickiness. My parents came to meet him and we has to go down to the NICU where he was being watched and waiting for test results before coming back to our room. 

He was a different baby. Sleeping and breathing peacefully. I took him back to the room. Rich had gone to mom and dads to take the girls while they came to meet the baby. The girls were so excited I meet "baby brudder" but no one under 14 years old was allowed to visit. :( 

Because of being stuck, little mistrr has a nasty swelled bump on his head. After two weeks it still hasn't gone down. He sure is a cutie and so sweet. He tolerates his sisters well who are actually quite good and helpful with him.