Labor Day: Ready or Not, Here He Comes!!!

I was convinced that Titus was going to be a late baby. He hadn't "dropped" yet and I wasn't having any Braxton Hicks. I had a lot to do before he came, so I wasn't expecting him to come 9 days early.

On Friday, July 17th, I had a wonderful baby shower in Hillsboro. It was so nice to see so many who have blessed me over the years and who contributed to my spiritual growth as a child and young adult. I hardly slept that night - I think I got 3 hours of sleep. The next day, Nathan and I did some shopping at Babies 'R Us and Clackamas. Nothing out of the ordinary.

(Shower in Hillsboro)

When we got home, we took a quick nap, although I never really fell asleep. When I started to get out of bed at 5:20, I felt the dam break (so to speak). I was in complete shock. For about 15 minutes I just kept saying "No. No. This can't be happening yet..." while at the same time realizing that there was no turning back now and that this baby WAS coming out. You know - funny thing how the books and childbirth class said that if your water breaks before the contractions begin, the baby acts as a cork to stop the gushing. That's hilarious...and my baby was FAR from being a cork. I felt like a kindergartner who couldn't stop peeing all over herself. But I'll leave it at that to keep this PG for all of you who are a tad squeamish (Jen).

After Nate and I came as much to grips as possible (we were still completely insane at this point), I called my parents' cell (they were at a 24 hour Relay for Life event), thinking that they probably didn't take the cell with them because it was 9 days early. Luckily, my mom answered and was beginning to make plans to head down to Salem. I spent the next five hours packing for the hospital, putting away gifts from the shower the night before, and trying to get prepared. The contractions really weren't that unbearable. My mom arrived a little after 11 pm and we headed to the hospital.

(A quick photo while getting ready for the hospital. Can you see the sheer terror?)

We got to the hospital and had to check in thru the ER. When we got to the birth center, we filled out some paperwork and then they evaluated me to make sure that I had ruptured (as if all that fluid gushing from my body could be anything else). I was 5 cm along, so they set me up in Labor and Delivery. Although they told me I had a high tolerance for pain and could easily do it naturally, I opted for the epidural and slept through most of the night. In the morning, they told me I was complete and that I could start pushing or I could let the baby labor down more - I opted to let him do some more work on his own. I started pushing around 9 am and Titus William was born at 9:39 am on July 19th. He weighed 8 pounds, 0.2 ounces (for 5 days Nate and I thought he was 8 pounds, 2 ounces) and was 20 inches long.

The monitor that kept track of baby and my contractions

The first photo of our little Titus

I bawled for a long time - mostly from disbelief, shock, etc. I couldn't believe he was finally here!