This is how it all went down...

Saturday, October 18th - you'll notice I was blogging around 8:17pm. Posting maternity pictures - if you don't notice - scroll down - it was my last post! Anyway - while posting those pictures I was also experiencing some different "muscle contractions." We had been at the dog park earlier in the evening (if you know our dogs - you know how wussy they are around other dogs - so we are working on socializing them) and I had started to feel these different contractions but they were inconsistent. When we got home and I sat down they started to get worse. Within 2 hours - Mike was calling our midwife while I twisted, turned, squatted, sat, laid, bounced (on an exercise ball) tried anything to make it feel better. 

At 10:30 pm we headed up to the hospital where we waited in Triage for the "room with a tub." In triage they checked me and I was 4cm dilated. This was a big deal, because I had been 1cm at my last 3 appts (that 3 different weekly appts). It also meant - I was progressing (as far as they knew) so they would not be sending us home. Once in our room we drew a hot bath where I spent the next hour. This was about 12-1am I think? Maybe. When I got out they checked me and I was at 6cm. At that time we asked them to go ahead and get the anesthesiologist on-call to come in. I still wasn't sure if I'd be having an epidural, but they said he was an hour away, so I kept thinking - "what if I want one in an hour?" He arrived at 2:30 and I had an epidural. After it kicked in they checked me again - 8.5cm and broke my water. Mike and I relaxed the next hour and when they came in to check me again, I hadn't progressed. Bummer...

They wanted to give me pitocin (used to help progress/induce labor) when I told him I felt like I should push. Our midwife, said, "Okay, why don't we try that first." So the pushing began - at 3:45am. My first push the baby crowned. We used a mirror - which I never thought I would do, and Mike touched the baby's head - which I definitely never thought he would do. 14 minutes later (at least the nurses claim) Brooks Joseph Netzer was placed on my lap. The significance of time is that Mike and I were both born at 3:59am which we had in fact shared with the nurses. When I started pushing - we thought there was no way we'd have him before 4am, but when the time was called the nurse said - it's 3:59am. I don't know if there was verification or not, I'm just letting you know what the nurse saw! 

So here are his stats:

Name: Brooks Joseph

DOB: 10/19/08 - his due date!

Weight: 7lbs. 13oz.

Length: 19.25 inches

Hair: yes - brown

Eyes: yes - TBD

Fingers: 10 long ones

Toes: 10 long ones

Cuteness (scale 1-10): 10 most def.

Here are some pics. They might be the only ones for a while so relish them!