Friday, May 7^th, I meet a girlfriend for lunch and the first thing she says is, "You know, I have to say - you look absolutely beautiful, I really think you're going to have that baby any day now". I laugh at her and tell her that my doctor just said the day before that he expected me to go late. (This was after 3 weeks of saying I was going to go a few days early - which would have been Mothers Day).

Later that night, Terry and I are watching Dennis Miller Live (on HBO) and I fall asleep on the couch, as usual. After the show, Terry leaves me sleeping on the couch and goes into the study to play a battle game on his computer. I wake up just after midnight and while still trying to really get my eyes open, I feel this WOOSH. It was an unmistakable

WOOSH and I knew it was my water breaking even though I had never felt it before. I head into the bathroom where I get a towel and change my nightgown. I check for the bloody show and it's there. Oh boy, no turning back now. I begin to shake. Strange reaction for me, but I guess nerves took over.

Walked into our study and asked Terry if he felt like having a baby today. :-) Called the hospital and talked to the on call OB and they said to come in. I really didn't want to because I wasn't having any contractions, but the OB said to take our time, but do come in. I called my Mom to come watch Matthew (who was sound asleep) and then went in and took a hot shower. My mom arrived after Terry and I had both taken showers and we leave for the hospital, arriving shortly after 2am.

We get checked in and moved up to a L&D suite where we just basically sit and wait for contractions to start. I'm hooked up for monitoring. Baby's heart rate was good and no contractions - it figures. We pass the time by watching Jerry Springer ("Sexy Strippers Revealed"), followed by your standard late night/early morning garbage TV movie selections. They did an internal on me and I was only 1cm dilated - which is what I had been for weeks.

They tell me at 5am that I have until 6am and then they're going to start pitocin to get me going. ugh. I really really really didn't want pitocin, but nothing was happening and I knew I had 24 hrs from my water breaking to have the baby. Sure enough, at 6:45am they started the pitocin - which meant constant monitoring. At 7am I had my first contraction and they dubbed that the start of labor for me.

At 7:15am I told Terry that the contractions were getting serious and it was about time for the coaching to start (previously we had both been trying to get some sleep - he being MUCH more successful than me). By 8am I remembered why we waited 3 years in between kids. :-) The previous hour had been all back labor and as the time moved on, it got worse and worse. Terry was great about helping me relax in between contractions,

and they weren't constant contractions like Matthews birth, but they were going off the chart scale and were only about 1.5 minutes apart.

Finally found a position that was comfortable with me sitting on the very corner of the hospital bed leaning on Terrys shoulder. During the contraction he applied counter pressure to my back - ahhhh. At 9am I asked for help going to the bathroom and when I stood up from the toilet and walked back toward the bed I got another surprise... turned out to be another bunch of water plus part of the sac. Oh boy. It's only been 2 hours but they decide to check as this is apparently not too normal. They tell me I'm 6cm and the baby is REALLY low. They decide I'm going fast and they're going to set up for the birth and call the doctor.

At 9:30am when the doctor comes in I'm 8cm. By 10am they have me in a position where I can start to push and they've given me the go ahead as I'm now fully dilated - thank heavens! 5 contractions later, at 10:23am, Andrew Michael Duncan arrived. J

The only birth complication was that his cord was wrapped around his neck, but not tight and the doc removed it before delivering the first shoulder. His cord was also really fragile looking - so much so that the OB commented on it. Not sure what all that meant, still don't, but at least he was crying (the baby that is, not the doctor). J

I had one tiny tear that required a stitch and that was it. I did this labor entirely without any pain medication - thank goodness for the breathing and relaxation stuff (plus a really great coach again). For Matthews birth the doc knew he was going to give me an episiotomy, so I had a shot of local anesthetic - but not this time. This sounds dumb, but I never expected it to burn that much! YEOCH!!!

So much was different for me this time - it was really nice. Matthew's birth was so touch and go - Terry and I just commented after Andrews, "So, that's what a normal birth is like". Terry got to cut the cord and I was able to hold Andrew for way over an hour. He nursed, cried and he was just so beautiful. His apgars were 8 and 9. Terry went with him to the nursery to be weighed and cleaned up. Little did I know that I wouldn't get to hold him again for 8 hours... L

Little one developed what they call 'grunting', which is a difficulty breathing. He coughed up some sludge that they think he breathed in on the way out. They kept him in pediatric ICU until 8pm that night. Terry and I could go in and hold his hand, but his head was in a moist air tent. The nurse took pictures of us with him, but no other family was allowed in.

Matthew came to meet him and so we pointed him out from the window in ICU. Andrew was hooked up to monitors and Matthews response was "Ooooh, the baby is playing on his computer?!". Gave us a giggle when we needed one. Chest x-rays and lab work all came back normal and by 8pm he was breathing steady on his own outside the tent, so we finally got him back with us.

The next afternoon we were headed home. He nurses like a champ. In fact, his ICU nurse said he wasn't a bottle baby. Since he couldn't leave the tent to nurse and they didn't want him to loose ground, they gave him formula in a bottle. He refused the nipple and what formula they could get in him, he spit right back up. He's still a sleepy guy and nurses well when he's awake, but trying to wake him up to nurse you can just forget.

He's all muscle and skin - no fat. Terry said they were doing tests on his muscle tone and ranking them on 1-4 scales and Andrew was getting all 4s. I can see why - those kicks for the last 9 months have paid off, what a strong guy he is!

Well, that's about it I think...I'm just glad he's out and I'm home. Matthew LOVES his new baby brother and is really doting on him. I'm going out of my way to try and keep what rituals we had going strong (like me being the one to read to him before bed) and I think it's making us both feel better.

I spent Mothers day in the hospital, but I had packed a really nice nursing gown and robe set - so I got a shower, cleaned up and did my make up and looked wonderful (I hope) in time for the visitors to arrive. Sunday was also our 7th wedding anniversary. It turned out to be QUITE a weekend! :-)