We're Live

"I think we're live," was all I had to say at 3:30 am Thursday, May 3rd to jolt John into action. I don't know if it was the strain in my voice or the grimace on my face as I stood at the end of our bed, but whatever it was, John sensed it was real this time. We've joked throughout this last trimester about "going live" and had a few false alarms, but everything in my body was telling me this was it. The contractions were, well, intense. I awoke at 1:45 to a pain that threw me out of bed. As I stood bracing the wall listening to John and Stanley snoring in bed all I remember thinking was "wow, that was weird," and slowly I crawled back in to sleep. By 2:30 I was up and timing contractions. By 3:30 I needed help. John and I sat up timing contractions and laughing in between because during contractions John kept asking me, "oh, what's wrong?" Uh, first, please no questions for the next 60 seconds and second, seriously?! By 5:00 John started calling all our family, and while they hustled to get to Austin, we took showers, tried to make Stan feel like everything was perfectly fine, and headed to the hospital. We arrived to the hospital around 6:15 and were strangely ushered right into the very same delivery room as last week, but this time there was no question we'd have a baby when we left. The nurse, the wonderful Nancy, proudly announced that I was 6 cm and would have a baby by this afternoon. What a fantastic start! My body had already done 60% of the work without me even really realizing it. So we settled in. And the timeline gets a bit fuzzy here, but at some point our doctor came in excited about my progress - I was now 7 cm, and he was ready to break my water. The last thing I remember Nancy saying was that the contractions were about to get a bit more intense. And holy mother she was not lying. Within what felt like minutes, my body ramped it up. There were some primal moments in that room for a while, and then I decided, despite our best laid plans, I just couldn't do it without the epidural. I felt defeated because it had been my plan all along to really experience Charlie's arrival. Little did I know this would be the first of many plans that would change. The epidural arrived as did Tania, and because of both of them, I felt an immense sense of relief and confidence. Every hour, we progressed and more of our family arrived. With everyone safely arrived and eagerly waiting right outside the delivery room, we were told it was time to push. And I pushed. And pushed. And pushed. When the nurse asked if I wanted to take a break for 10 minutes, we were shocked to find out that I'd been pushing for an hour and a half and frustrated to hear that Charlie just wasn't budging. After three hours of pushing, Dr. Mankovsky apologetically delivered the news: c-section. And I thought I'm not going to be able to really experience his birth after all, but after a long morning, we were more than anxious to meet our baby and reassured each other that this was right for us because this was right for Charlie. I was wheeled down to the operating room, and with John peeking over the curtain, at 3:53 Charlie arrived in all his glory. John captured his mighty entrance just perfectly.

Mighty Charlie

And like everything else, Charlie did it his own way and now we know why. He was a gigantitron. At 10lbs 2oz, there was no way for him to come out any other way. And I did get to really experience his birth just not the way we had planned. I'll never forget the feeling of him being pulled, none too lightly, out and rushed to our side. I'll never forget looking at him for the first time and knowing he was perfection after all my months of silently worrying. And most importantly I'll never forget watching John take him from the nurse to walk with him to the nursery. It was the cliche immediate and awe-inspiring love just like everyone told us about.

One Proud Dad

Our Little One-Eyed Jack

One of about a thousand pictures from aunt Tania

My Favorite Snugglebug

The rest of the hospital visit is hazy. John and I were in for the biggest crash course of our lives, but luckily, Charlie is as sweet to us as we hoped he would be. He tries his best to sleep and eats like a total champ (I guess at 10lbs we should have expected he'd already mastered that art). And even more luckily, Tania and my mom are baby wizards and were at the hospital every time I felt like we just weren't figuring it out to reassure us that we were doing great and Charlie was doing great and life is really great. And oh my! Life is really great. Charlie's healthy and beautiful, we got to go home a day early and being here with Charlie is just right.

Gigi Love

Homeward Bound

Proud Cousins

Our beautiful, beautiful boy