One of my favorite things to do is blog about each of our kiddo's birth story. It's mostly for me so I can go back and re-read about each special day but I also love for our friends and family to be able to read about it, too. It's never taken me this long to bust out the birth story. What's the deal? The poor kid is a month old today. Oh, I know what it is...I'm a mom of four kids and I have no extra time. I gave up a shower to write this. :) So, here we go!
I woke up about 3:30am on Monday, October 8th with some contractions. I drank some water, walked around the house and started some laundry. I kept track of the contractions for a couple of hours but they weren't very strong...I was still able to talk through them. They got a bit stronger so I decided to wake up Dave about 5:30am and he started packing and getting ready for his day. Then the contractions spaced out and I laid down to rest for a while. They picked up again around 6:30am and that's when I gave my sister a call and asked her to come on over. If you recall from my last post, we had some fabulous friends come and stay with us over the weekend because my mom was out of town and I wanted some reinforcements in case I went into labor while she was away. The only tricky part was that they had to leave Sunday afternoon and my mom didn't fly home until Monday night. So, my sister was on call to watch our girls during that time. And, of course, it just so happened that this baby decided to come during that small window of time.
My wonderful sister, Erika, arrived around 7am and even though my contractions weren't super consistent we decided to head to the hospital just to be safe. My last labor went crazy fast and I didn't want to deliver this baby in the car.
We arrived at the hospital at 8am and I was trying to talk Dave into waiting a bit before we heading through the double doors to get checked in. By this point my contractions had slowed way down and I did NOT want to sit around in a hospital room all day waiting for labor to get going. So after stalling for half an hour, we decided to go in and at least see how far along I was.
At 8:30am they led me to an Observation Room. I was so disappointed. With my three previous babies, it had been so clear that I was in labor I went straight to a delivery room. I felt deflated and embarrassed that we had even shown up at the hospital. I felt a little better when the nurse checked me and I was 6cm dilated and 90% effaced. They moved me to a delivery room and got me all checked in.
And then we waited.
I should mention that we asked a great friend of ours, Sarah, to be with us during the delivery. She hung out with us, took pictures and videos and wrote down a detailed account of the entire process. It was such a joy to have her be a part of this amazing adventure and I love that I have the whole day documented.
For the next 3 hours, or so, I had mild contractions, walked the hallways and asked if I could leave and go labor at home. I'm sure the nurse thought I was a weirdo for wanting to go home. She just looked at me and said that there was no way my midwife, Heather, would let me leave the hospital at 6 cm. Bummer.
Heather came to visit me around noon and she offered me a couple of choices. She said she could break my water or give me a little pitocin to get the contractions going. I declined both. She checked me and I was at 8cm!!! Cool!
Around 1pm the contractions were becoming more intense and I had to concentrate more on my breathing. I walked around alot, tried different positions and even fell asleep in between contractions.
At 3:40pm, Sarah noted that I pulled my hair back into a pony tail. I guess I knew it was go time!!!
3:51pm I yelled out, "I want Heather!!! I want to push!
3:58pm I had a contraction and yelled, "I'm pushing! Heather, Heather, Heather!"
3:59pm Heather arrived!!! Yay!!!
4:06pm Samuel David Cribbs was born.
Heather laid our baby on my chest and I said to Dave, "Tell us what it is." He looked, he chuckled and he said, "It's a boy!"
getting ready to leave for the hospital
killing time in the hospital parking lot
that's a big belly
just hanging out waiting for things to get going
Sarah's perspective...taking great notes
he's here!!!
we have a boy :)
so in love
8lbs, 3oz...our second smallest baby
Samuel David Cribbs
Heather, you are amazing!!!
our precious friend, Sarah!!!
thank you soooo much for being with us
Dave and his boy
clean and sparkly
our sweet Sam
I am so thankful to have had another wonderful, natural delivery. Everything worked out so perfectly. Thank you to Blair and Peyton for staying with us over the weekend...just in case. Thank you to my seester for hanging out with Zoey, Ruby & Maggie all day. Thank you to my dad for killing all the ants. :) Thank you to Sarah for all the pictures, videos, and notes. Thank you to my mom who came straight from the airport to the hospital to meet Sam and then went to our house to take over watching the girls. We are so blessed to be surrounded by the most amazing friends and family.
More pictures and stories to come.
