on may 4th (practically the 5th) at around 11:30pm i started having some contractions. i was downstairs (blogging!) and everybody else was in bed, sleeping. i had been having quite a few braxton hicks with this pregnancy, so i didn't think too much about it and decided to finish my blog post on the nursery. i locked up the house and headed upstairs at around 12:15am. when i got upstairs, i woke up matt and told him i was having some contractions and they were a little more intense than usual. at 12:45am matt called the hospital and told them about my contractions and where i was at in the pregnancy (39 weeks and 5 days and 4cm dilated) and they told us to get packed up and head on in. gah! i was terrified to be one of those women who rushes to the hospital in SO MUCH pain and then at the hospital they are like, "are you serious right now? you're not in labor... go home." i also did not want to wait too long and not make it in time for an epidural. i was praying for my water to break as a nice "i'm definitely in labor" sign, but no luck. we got dressed, packed up the car, woke up saige (who said, "are you joking right now?!") and headed to the hospital.
we got to the hospital at around 2:15am and after two big breaks where i had to stop walking because of contractions, we got to labor and delivery. they took me to the triage area to check me out. my contractions were pretty consistent and i was 5cm dilated. the nurse (theresa) checked with the on-call doctor and then checked me into the hospital for delivery! yeah! we got to my delivery room at around 3:15am. once we knew that it was for sure go time, matt called natasha (to go to our house to be with beckett) and whitney (to come to the hospital to photograph). what super great friends we have, yes? theresa checked me at 4:15am and i was 6cm dilated aaaaannnnnd ready for the sweet joy that is the epidural. the anesthesiologist was headed to a c-section and my nurse pressured him to come and do my epidural first. theresa is my new best friend for getting junk done! my epidural was placed by 4:45am and it was a real goodie. right after i got the epidural, saige got to the hospital. at 5:45am, my water broke... and at 6:00am whitney got to the hospital. i pushed for five years with beckett, so i was really hoping this time was going to go faster, and saige and whitney wouldn't just have to sit and stare at me forever. at 6:30am i was 9cm dilated.
at 7:00am my nurses switched. i said bye to theresa and hello to jennifer. at 7:30am my doctor got to the hospital and came by to check on me. i was 10cm dilated and ready to start pushing! yikes. i felt pretty tired, which was too bad because i hadn't even done any real work yet, but i luckily really wanted to meet my new baby, so that was motivating. i started pushing and tried different positions, and was weirdly the most productive flat on my back. i was more productive than my nurse anticipated, and after an hour of hearing "push harder...just a little harder!" i heard, "stop pushing right now!" um. yeah. that's easier said than done. literally every part of my body wanted to keep pushing. it's like i couldn't not push. the baby was seriously ready to come out, but my nurse did not want me to deliver without my doctor there so... are you ready... she pushed him right back in! ahhh! it was the weirdest feeling ever! and it made me stressed out about all the work i had done, but she assured me that at my next big push he would come right back out. my doctor rushed back in at about 9:00am and frantically got gloves on just in time to deliver heath. my doctor yelled at me to sit up on my elbows and then said, "grab him! pull your baby out!" uh... i didn't know how to feel about this. we hadn't discussed me doing that and everything felt really fast... so i just grabbed heath and pulled him onto my stomach and that was that! heath kos pennebaker was born! may 5th at 9:02am, weighing 7 pounds, 15 ounces and 19.5 inches long. he had a super short umbilical cord, that matt got to cut this time (things were too crazy with beckett) and saige and whitney got to see it all and everything felt weirdly calm and peaceful for being such an insane thing to have happen. i know babies are born every second, but it's still the most amazing and i cry every time somebody i know gives birth.
i'm so happy to have heath here, sweet and healthy, and to have another birth story to share. i'm especially happy to have an easier, faster story to share. yay for second babies being easier to get out. we are so blessed and excited to transition into a life with two boys. just like with beckett, i already can't imagine a world without baby heath in it. he is the best!
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