Meet Nolan!

I woke up at 6:45 am and felt my first contraction before I even got out of bed. At 39 weeks this wasn't anything unusual. Over the next hour while I helped the kids get ready for school I had another 4 or 5 contractions which was unusual for me. Nate left for work and I didn't mention anything to him. I didn't want him to worry about me possibly being in labor while he was teaching because I figured they would stop at some point anyways. I had planned on going grocery shopping that morning so went ahead and got ready to go since we needed food in the house whether I was in labor or not. While at the store I didn't have a single contraction but shortly after I got home they started up again. I put Adele down for her nap and as it was getting closer to time to pick up Liam and Jonas from school the contractions were getting stronger. I was only having them every 20-30 minutes but they were really painful. I was very happy when Nate called to say he was on his way home from work and could pick them up on his way home - but I still didn't mention that I thought I was in labor. When they got home I told him and we called some of our good friends (who volunteered to watch the kids) to alert them that we thought it was happening. The wife, Lisa, was at track practice with her daughter and was going to be finished around 4:30. I continued to have contractions but they weren't very consistent. It would be 10 minutes, then 20, then 15. I wasn't convinced I was actually in labor except that they were so strong! I was going to be pretty upset if I was in all of this pain for nothing! At around 4:30 I called my mom to tell her I was pretty sure I was in labor and we decided I should probably call my midwife before their office closed to see what they thought I should do. They suggested I head into the hospital because my midwife would be going in to check on some patients anyways. They would be able to tell if I was actually in labor. We got the kids ready and arranged to meet up with our friend at Wendy's so everyone could have something to eat. By the time we go there at 5:30 my contractions had jumped to every 6 minutes and were REALLY strong.

The hospital was around 15 minutes away. They were very quick in the emergency room to get me checked in. Nate was sure to tell them that I really wanted an epidural. I was so grateful when they brought me a wheel chair because it was getting really hard to walk. When they got me up to labor and delivery and checked me I was an 8! Could not believe it! I had only been having regular contractions at 6 minutes apart for an hour or so but I was already an 8 with a "bulging water". They said they were trying as hard as they could to move things along quickly but weren't sure if they would be able to get the epidural fast enough. I was pretty sure at that point it wouldn't be happening because this baby would be here very soon. They continued to get things set up and told me my midwife would be in soon. I kept having contractions 6 minutes apart and then had that familiar feeling of needing to push. The only other person in the room was a nurse standing across the room and when I said I felt like pushing she didn't seem worried and just told me my midwife was on her way. My body was doing this midwife or not! Right away my water broke, the midwife came in and they had me start pushing through the contractions. I think it only took 4 or 5 contractions before he was born at 7:16.

I had decided before hand that I wouldn't be sending the baby to the nursery. I had been told by multiple people, without even asking that they often give babies bottles in the nursery without asking the mom. I was not okay with that and thought it would be easiest to keep him with me. So once he was born and they made sure we were both okay they all just left us alone. It was so nice to be able to cuddle our little red-headed babe all alone and try and figure out what to name him! We didn't want to announce his birth to our families until we had a name. We had a list with us and went over a bunch of combinations until we came up with

Nolan Thomas

 

 He was 7 pounds, 7 ounces, 19.5 inches and had tons of bright red hair.