Oh Boy!

Thursday started out with not indication it was going to be such a big day. DH went to school as usual and I slept in. After eating lunch together I ran some errands uptown. Arriving home around 1:30 I was a little suspicious of somethings (will not get too graphic here) and after some quick internet research and packing I decided to call the clinic at 2:00. While the doctor was checking me, my water broke so he said, "Yeah, you're not going home."

I called Adam and told him to pick up a few things I had packed and then come on over. As soon as I got settled in the room they hooked up the sensors and we discovered I was having contractions 1.5-3 minutes apart. The good news was I hardly felt them at all! We watched the Twins game and joked around with the nurses while watching the readouts on the machines. DH ran down to the clinic to get a flu shot and made a trip or two home. Not until about 7:00 did I start having any pain, but it was still bearable for a while. I even enjoyed watching The Office at 8:00 and had a few laughs. About 8:20 our friend, Dr. K, came back to check me and since I was at a 7, said I could call for the epidurel if I still wanted it. "Yes, Please!" Well, it was not meant to be because by the time the guy got there, Doc looked up and said "Sorry, too late!" I had gone too fast and we were beyond the point where I could receive the epidural. But, no matter, we labored on and by 9:05pm it was all over! Our beautiful son was born!

We named him Ryan Andrew. (Middle name after DH's brother) He weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. and was 21" long. (Just about what I had predicted a few days earlier). The big surprise was his full head of dark hair! It is crazy, but cute. Everything checked out great and we are blessed to have a healthy baby boy. God is good! We called our parents, siblings, and grandparents to announce the good news and both our parents were at the hospital by 10:30 to meet their new grandson who stayed alert for a few hours to greet the world!

We can't say enough about the wonderful staff and facilities of Osceola Community Hospital. They have new OB/Delivery rooms and excellent doctors and nurses. It was also super-convenient to be only a few blocks away from home so DH could run home numerous times to get things and let Nika out. I felt well taken care of and appreciated the organized and efficient way everything went (no middle-of-the-night emergency room visits, no major drama). Everyone was super-helpful and I really feel lucky to have had a good delivery experience.