On Monday, May 2nd, we welcomed our second baby into our lives and our home. Sunday night I started feeling contractions around 9:00 pm. I waited about an hour before mentioning something to Gary, I wanted to make sure that they were consistent and that they weren't going away. We walked the dog to see if that changed anything (it didn't) and then headed off to bed to get some sleep (yeah, right!) about 11:00. My water broke around 2:30 Monday morning and we called my midwife, Karly, to let her know what was going on. She said to try to get some more rest and to call her in the morning. Gary got up around 6:30, packed up Jack and Riley and dropped them off at their babysitters' houses (Thanks Prices and Cranes!). I spent the morning laboring in our bathtub and called Karly at 7:30 and told her to her head over. She arrived about 8:00 and started setting up the birth tub and her supplies. By then the contractions were getting pretty intense and I was really starting to feel a bit overwhelmed and tired. I told Gary I didn't think I could do this, but he smiled and assured me that I could and that it would be fine and fast. Not long after this the real work started and I got the okay to start pushing. It was nice to be able to give in to the contractions and really start working with them. It was hard work and I couldn't have done it without Gary. Each time a new contraction would start he would hold my hands and help me get into whatever position I needed. After really pushing my heart out for an hour and a half his head was quickly born. By this point I was utterly exhausted, and my pushes just weren't very effective anymore. I think it is mostly because I kept telling myself that if I could just get that little head down and out then the rest would come easily, but no, he needed help with his shoulders too. Since I was so tired they pulled me out of the birth tub and onto the floor where Karly manipulated his shoulders and finally he was born. What a cute munchkin! Everyone is doing fantastic. Riley loves his baby brother and asks to see and hold him all the time. We are falling more and more in love each day!
