Baby Edison James was born on Thursday, February 9th at about 2:00pm.
He was 7 lbs 10.9 oz, 20 inches long.
{one of the last belly pics}
I woke up Thursday morning at around 5am and felt the first contraction that tugged at my lower back. These soft contractions continued throughout the 5 o'clock hour at 4-6 minute intervals, which convinced me they were actually something.
I was kind of disappointed (Mom was flying here in just two days), but kind of not (see my prior post about the end of pregnancy uncomfortableness).
We got Des off to school, dropped Evie and McKay off at a good friends for the morning, and headed to my doctors office (located in the hospital and I already had an appointment first thing that morning).
They monitored me, confirmed that I was having contractions, but otherwise were pretty unhelpful and not really interested in hearing that this was my fourth baby and that I don't have super long labors.
So we went to the labor and delivery check in, they took us back and monitored and checked me (I was at a 2). They told us to walk around for an hour and come back so they could check progression.
So we walked and walked through the public spaces in the hospital, having strong contractions every 2-3 minutes.
{stopped by the hospital chick-fil-a...labor is much more pleasant while sipping a cookies'n cream milkshake}
At the end of an hour we went back and I was at a 6.5 so they checked us into a delivery room (11:45ish).
At around this time Curt's mom landed (bless her, she dropped everything and hopped on a flight to come take care of the kids). She rented a car, went and picked up the kids, brought them home, and was there for Des when he got home on the bus.
I labored for a bit, got to the point where I knew it was close, had the nurse come and check...she said I was at an 8.5 and had me lie on my side (apparently one side was progressing faster than the other?)...a minute or two later they called the doctor to come.
Those last minutes are always so intense.
And then he was born. We found we were lucky that nothing had gone wrong, there was a knot in the umbilical cord and meconium in the amniotic fluid.
But he got here safe and sound and my recovery has been the best/fastest one yet.
{Shauna took this picture of Des figuring out how long the baby was when he heard}
Shauna brought the kids to come meet their brother that evening and Curt went home to be with them for bedtime routines.
And then we spent the next day trying to babysit the process of getting us discharged at the 24 hour mark (the earliest they'd release us).
Hospitals have super inefficient processes.
Even with trying to manage that process closely we ended up leaving without the baby's circumcision (to avoid a 5 hour to overnight delay) and got that done at a pediatricians the following week.
{we'll see as time goes on, but he may have red hair like Evie}
{so tiny}
{our Valentine welcome home}
Shauna flew home Saturday morning and Mom flew here Saturday evening.
People from church have brought in so many meals.
I have felt very taken care of.
Kind of a good thing since four kids is a lot and will take a little getting used to.
And each of the other kids took their turn with the throw up flu in the first week of us being a family of six.
That's good irony right there.
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