My labor with Weston didn't start until two days after his due date. By the third time, you'd think the baby would come early! I had a lot of Braxton Hicks during the weeks leading to Weston's birth, unlike my pregnancies with either of the girls, but he was on his own schedule. Anyway, I started having contractions around 3pm on August 1. When the girls got up from their naps, Mom and I took them over to see their Uncle Cole who had just returned from spending the summer in Germany. Maybe Weston was waiting for him. Or maybe he wanted to make sure we had a house to move into - we did find out that afternoon that the seller agreed to the concessions we had asked for on the house we had under contract.
During our visit, my contractions continued and were building but I'm funny about labor - I don't want to attract attention to myself or deal with questions - so no one else knew what was going on! Zane and Cole had been making plans to grab beers after dinner so I think I texted him something like "FYI, I think we are going to have a baby tonight or tomorrow. But you can still plan on meeting him." Around 5, we took Grace to her last swim lesson at the Y. Mom stayed to watch her and I walked on the indoor track. I was pretty sure this was the real deal. We headed home and I fixed dinner and we got the girls ready for bed. I think I was just trying to distract myself from the pain. Zane went to meet Cole. By this time, my contractions were very strong. I texted Zane around 9:30 and asked him to come home ASAP because I was about ready to head to the hospital.
The hospital was less than five minutes away - that was a treat! I hate laboring while riding to the hospital! We parked in the wrong area and got the scenic view of the hospital in the midst of contractions. By the time we got to the L&D area, they said they could tell by my face that this was the real deal. They checked me right in and I was at 6cm or so. The biggest hiccup was getting the IV in my arm - apparently I have very thin veins. It took 3 tries! Shortly after I got set up in my room, I got my epidural. Once that kicked in, we rested. When I woke up, they checked me again and I was at 10cm. This was around 1:30am. My doctor was delivering another baby so we waited for 30 minutes or so. Then a couple of pushes later, we met our baby boy. It really was that simple, if childbirth can ever be called simple! My epidural was so strong this time that I literally couldn't feel anything, even the pressure. I remember laughing to myself that I'll just think about pushing and go through the motions of pushing and hope it works!
I loved how the hospital here did mother-baby bonding! They gave him right to me after birth and gave me a whole hour to cuddle him before taking him to the "french fry roaster" to be cleaned up, measured and weighed and given the eye goop. He was alert the whole time and even started sucking his thumb.
We finally got some sleep in the wee hours of the morning. That morning, still Weston's birthday, we got to celebrate his birth with Zane's family and my mom who were all in town. That was special. None of our family members got to see the girls on their birthdays!
Steve was the first to visit. He brought coffee and donuts! Next came my mom, Vickie, Cole and the girls. Around lunch time, Ken & Carol stopped by and then later that afternoon, Natalie, Dave and Noah and Miles arrived. What a special day!
We left the next day to go home.
Weston wore the same outfit Zane and Cole wore home from the hospital!
His sisters were very excited to have him home. We celebrated his first morning home with our family tradition of pancakes. The girls helped me make them in "W"s for Weston. Lucy got even more into taking care of her babies and Weston was introduced to his swing - where he would spend a lot of time in the future as the third child!
Needless to say, we are so happy he is a part of our family!
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