But then, wouldn't you know, at 38wks and 6 days, I went into labor.
At 5:30 Wednesday morning, I woke up to an intense contraction. I laid there and nothing else happened, so I dismissed it as my uterus again being irritated by my full bladder. I got up a quarter after 6 and due to spicy Thai for dinner last night, had an unpleasant trip to the bathroom. As I tried to wash up and get ready for the day, I kept feeling like I needed to get back on the toilet but it felt like upset stomach cramps, not birthing waves. I finished dressing and went downstairs to try to make Emberly's lunch and breakfast, and the cramps started to form a pattern. At 6:50, when it was time to be getting Bauer in the car to head to daycare, I was pretty sure I was having contractions and was afraid to drive. So instead I shot a text to my photographer and midwife's apprentice. I undressed and hopped in the shower. It felt great, but did not make them stop, in fact, they started lasting over a minute. My midwife arrived and listened to her heart tones through a contraction and got set up. I went for my go-to seat on the toilet and the waves seemed to lose their "peak" and spread apart and I got a little worried that we'd be here a while and I'd called everyone too early. But every time I tried to stand, I'd get hit with a more intense wave that sat me back down. I decided to just not worry about how while seated it felt more like menstrual cramps than contractions. And sure enough, I started feeling like I had to go #2 again and when I tried to breathe through the urge, my body forced me to push. I reached down and felt the bulging bag of waters. What? Was it really already time to push?! I waited for one more wave to confirm the need to push and I moved out to our bed. I kneeled on the floor and draped myself over the edge of the bed. Damon and the kids were downstairs eating and my midwife thought she'd let them until birth was imminent. Well, next contraction, during which I was still trying to "breathe baby down" without actively pushing, she was crowning. So everyone came in the room and took a seat. Next wave, waters broke, I took a breath and my body forced me to push and out she came at 9:37 (at under 3hrs from the onset of regular contractions, labor with her was over 30min shorter than with Bauer and 2.5hrs shorter than with Emberly; if I were to have another baby {I'm not!}, I'm afraid of how fast it'd be)! Welcome to the world, Charlize Athena (who nearly *everyone* was convinced was a boy for the last month!).
She weighed in at 6lbs, 10.5oz and 20" long. So despite coming over a week early, she's bigger than Bauer! And longer than Emberly was too! Her siblings are so in love and want to hold her all the time. She's nursing like a champ and so far, sleeping like a champ too!
