The day we became four

It has been brought to my attention that I have not yet posted about Brennan's actual birth story. Thank you friend (Rachel) for reminding me because it is an important story that I want to document and remember. So here we go...and I will try to be brief for another friend that appreciates short posts (Brad).

So here we go! It was around 2:30a.m. on Sunday September 6th, that I woke up with a weird feeling in my back. It would come and go but was neither painful or uncomfortable, just odd. I thought perhaps I had to go to the bathroom, I got up and tried, but nothing. So I went back to bed and dozed on and off, but never really fell back to sleep completely because of this weird feeling. So I got up again at 3 and wondered if this weird feeling could be contractions. Now the only other time I have been in labor, it was clear that I was in labor because my water broke, well maybe not that clear because I thought I was peeing on myself, but as soon as I clued into the fact that my water had indeed broken, it was clear labor was starting. But I digress...

So are these contractions or aren't they, I wondered. Given the fact that I was two days past my due date I went out on a limb and decided they were indeed contractions. So I woke up Robbie and told him labor was starting. But you see, there was no pain, just a weird feeling in my back.

Again, my only other time in labor, because of the water breaking and all, contractions were painful right from the start. But not this time...such a little blessing I was given.

We called our midwife and told her labor had started, but that I wasn't in any real pain. So she said to call her with an update in 30 min. At this point we also called our in-case-of-labor-in-the-middle-of-the-night-on-call-friends, Dan and Liz. Gave Lizzy the heads up that this is it and that I would call her when she needs to head over to our house. Such good friends they are. Especially given what dan had to do...more on that later.

So contractions are heating up, but to use the word pain at this point would be to diminish that which is truly pain....8-10 centimeters! So we will call them annoying and slightly uncomfortable sensations in the torso area. It is about this time that we call Dan and Liz to come on over and once they arrive, we chat on the couch for a bit and then head off to the birth center. When we arrive at Heart 2 Heart it is about 6 am and my midwife is outside waiting for me and greets me with a big hug. At this point I am so excited to get this done with and meet our newest addition, but also knowing the world of pain I am about to be in.

Michelle, the midwife, checks me for dialation and I was about 7cm. So she suggests I labor in the tub for a while. So I comply and get in the warm and relaxing water....which is suppose to help mask the "pain" of the contractions I am feeling at this point. I am in the tub for all of 10-15 min when I realize that this is just a little too comfortable for labor and that gravity is surely not on my side while I am laying down. So I get up and start moving. Then I begin feeling the real stuff....bring it on! Lets get this show on the road, I don't want to be here all day.

Labor progressed quickly from there and the next time she checked me I was 9 almost 10 cm. It was time to break my water. It is amazing how Michelle just knew that I was almost there...almost ready to to start pushing. I guess when you have delivered thousands of babies, you can almost predict these things without even looking at the women, just listening.

After my water broke I began pushing and it didn't take long for Brennan to appear!! Such joy that he was finally here and such relief that labor was over! No more pain and because of the awesome job of midwives, no special stitching needed =). The time was about 8:30 am and we were now a family of four, except our 4th person was missing...Shep. He was still at home with Dan. So Dan, the brave and wonderful soul that he is drove Shep down to the birth center for us so he could meet his little brother. When he arrived, Robbie insisted that he come back to the room to meet Brennan; when Dan came back I could see the "what the hell" look on his face and after taking a quick look at Brennan he retreated back to the safety of the waiting area. I think people who have been through child birth just assume that everyone else is as comfortable with the idea as they are. That is not really the case, but we will forever love Dan and Liz for being our "on-call" peeps that night and we owe a special shout out to Dan for braving the land of the newborns to bring Shep to us!

This wasn't brief...but oh well!