We welcomed Jack to our family on Saturday, January 21st @ 6:27 AM. He weighed 9 lbs, 7 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long.
So here's the scoop. Caution: Do not try this at home! Results may vary.
It was Friday night and a day past the baby's projected delivery date when the family went out to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. I decided to walk the mile and a half journey home hoping to induce labor. By the time I arrived home, I was exhausted, cramping, and happy to have detected at least one true contraction was strong enough to stopped me in my tracks. When I arrived home, I watched a movie while Stephen massaged my aching lower back and the kids slept in their beds. Stephen and I turned into bed around midnight. Three hours later, I awoke from a strong contraction. I got out of bed and was unable to return to rest because the contractions would not subside. Around 4 AM, Stephen got out of bed, unable to sleep from the commotion of my "enduring" through each contraction. At this point, I knew it was ''the real deal," but didn't want to spread the word and wake up family and friends unnecessarily. Finally around 5 AM, Stephen started making phone calls between rubbing my lower back through each contraction and packing my hospital bag between the contractions. My mom in L.A. was phoned, but judged by the sounds she heard coming out of me that she wouldn't make it to San Diego in time to see the delivery. Our friend and designated on-call childcare-taker Rachel arrived at about 5:45 and shortly thereafter, we drove off to the hospital.
On the way to the hospital, I feared that I might not be dilated enough because all the pain was manifest in my lower back. I did not allow Stephen to leave my side though as we checked into the hospital, and the car was left parked on the front curbside of the hospital entrance. We arrived around 6 AM or just before.
As I finally got into the gown and my status was checked, I was happy to hear that I was dilated to a 9. Not long after that, I felt the urge to push. The doctor made me wait while she put on her gloves and broke my bag of water -GUSH! A couple of hard pushes later, he was out. I couldn't believe how fast it all went. Really, even though he was 2 days late, my thoughts at that moment were, "He's already HERE? How did that happen?"
Life is good. I can't believe we are now parents of 3 children!
*Sorry this took so long to post. I've attempted twice to upload pictures, but because we used a higher resolution camera, it didn't work to load a bunch at a time. I finally figured it out and have barely finished this overdue project now that he's only about 3 months old! More pic's and posts to come! :)
