In case you’re curious about my birth story, here it is:
On Sunday, April 21 Gramma and Papa left after spending the
weekend with us in Kansas. After
they left, Dad and Elijah hung out at the park for a couple of hours while Mom
and I napped. We didn’t get to do
a lot of napping together throughout the pregnancy, so it was a welcome
snooze. Mama was especially tired
from the long walk we took with Daddy on Saturday. We walked to the KU campus and around our neighborhood, both
of which have some pretty significant hills. I’m pretty sure she was “power walking” (aka waddling) to
try to get me to come out. Turns
out it worked!
After the nap, we had dinner as a family and did bedtime
routine with Elijah. Because of
our nap, Mom and I weren’t especially sleepy, so we caught up on blogging. As we were sitting on the couch, Mom noticed that her contractions were more
regular than usual (we experienced lots of Braxton Hicks contractions this
pregnancy, so she didn’t think much of it yet). At about 10 p.m., Mama timed the contractions, and found
that they were coming every 8 – 10 minutes or so. She texted Gramma (who had just arrived home) to let her
know that contractions were becoming more regular, but that we would keep her
posted if anything came of it. Mom
didn’t want to get too excited just yet.
Over the past couple of weeks, she had convinced herself that she was
going to go into labor soon but nothing ever came of it, so she didn’t want to get her hopes up.
We wrapped up our blogging and then settled into bed for
the night, but at about 2 a.m., we woke up and timed contractions again…this
time they were coming every 6 – 7 minutes or so. Mama nudged Dad and told him that she was going to get up and
shower just in case. I’m not sure
he heard her, because he fell right back to sleep. At about 4 a.m., Mom woke up Dad to tell him that it was
time to go to the hospital. That certainly grabbed his attention! ;) He
called Miss Kim to come and take care of getting Elijah up, ready, and
delivered to school. When Kim
arrived, I remember Mom telling her that we may be back soon. Mom still wasn’t sure if she was in
labor or not, especially since she was able to talk through her contractions
still.
We made it to the hospital around 5 a.m. Mom still fretted about whether or not
this was a false alarm, but Dad told her to stop worrying. We had to go through the ER since it
was so early in the morning. They
offered a wheelchair, but Mom preferred to walk. When we got to the family birthing center, the nurse got us
all checked into our room. She asked Mom all the questions they have to ask, and we
could tell the nurse was skeptical about whether or not labor had really
begun. We were hooked up to a
monitor, so the nurse could see the contractions, but Mom was still very calm
and talking normally.
Needless to say, when the nurse checked Mom and found that
she was already 6 cm dilated, she was surprised! She told Mom that she was about to send us home based on the
way Mom was acting, but it was clear we needed to stay! The rest of our labor was short and smooth
sailing. Mom found that
contractions that happen naturally rather than being induced like with Elijah
are MUCH more manageable. I was born
at 8:36 a.m. after just five pushes. Daddy got to cut my
cord and I loved my first Mama snuggle.
The doctor and nurses all commented on my full head of hair and how
chunky my legs were. They were all
surprised to see that I was under 9 lbs. based on my hefty physique.
My official birth weight was 8 lbs 9 oz, with a length of 20.5
inches.
Enjoy some pics from that morning!
Love,
Joshua Briggs Flor
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