Meeting the Munchkin

After a doctor’s appointment on Monday 4/25, it was decided that I’d be induced on Wednesday, when my doctor was on call.  The munchkin had other plans though … I woke up Tuesday morning and just felt different.  I was having lots of contractions, but not at really regular intervals. I had big plans to get a lot of stuff done before we were induced but based on how I felt, I quickly decided that I’d be staying home.  As Pat was leaving for work, he asked if he should pack a bag, just in case.  I said yes.

I called my doctor at about 11:30 just to let them know I was having contractions (about 11 minutes apart) and to ask a few questions.  He said to call when they were 5 minutes apart.  At about 12:30, I decided that nothing was going to happen and I left the house to run a few errands – I was going stir crazy.  I talked to Pat about 2:45 and he said he was going to leave work early.  I told him not to bother because the contractions were only about 8 minutes apart.  At 3:15, I texted him that it was good he was coming home because they were 5 minutes apart.  At 3:30, I called him and said “Come home now.”  I called my doctor and they said head to the hospital!

It was of course rush hour and the hospital is 25 minutes away on a good day, so we didn’t get there until about 5.  By this time, contractions were about 3 minutes apart.  We checked in through the ER and they took one look at me and said, “Oh, you’re in this, huh?”  I said yes and we walked to labor and delivery.  They hooked me up to the monitor and said “Oh, you’re in full blown labor.  That’s nice.  I think we’ll be admitting you!”  So we walked to the room where we’d be delivering the munchkin and waited for things to progress.  At this point, I figured that it would be late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning before the munchkin arrived, but I was wrong!

My doctor came in about 7 and said things were looking good.  At 8:30 he came back and had me do some “practice pushes”.  At 8:37, he said “Ok, I’m going to get some gloves on, whatever you do, don’t push”.  At 8:38, I gave a final push and the munchkin arrived!  I was shocked and amazed to see a fat baby and Pat said “it’s a boy!”  My doctor then said, “I think I might have underestimated his weight” – he guessed I’d have an 8 pound baby. Everyone in the room was baffled at the size of him, and took guesses as to what he’d weigh.  9 lbs 1 oz was the highest guess.  When they put him on the scale and Pat said he weighed 9 lbs 14 oz, I just started laughing.  I still have no idea how he managed to stay inside that long.  There could not have been much room for him!

While the nurses were getting Pete all cleaned up, the doctor told me that the little guy didn’t make things easy on himself.  He had what is technically known as a cord accident.  There was a true knot in his umbilical cord, the cord was wrapped around his neck and he was also clenching the cord with his right hand.  Those situations, never mind all three combined, don’t usually end well.  But Pete had a guardian angel looking out for him and I’m quite sure that Brienna helped her little brother make a safe entrance.  We miss Brienna so much it hurts, but I felt her with us the entire day, and I like to think that she is as happy as we are that her little brother is finally here!

Here is the munchkin’s first picture:

We were so happy to finally meet the little man and are totally enamored with him!