Charlie's here!!!

Wow what a week!!! We got back from the hospital yesterday afternoon. They didn't even keep us a full 48 hrs considering i gave birth on monday night at 8h46 pm.

So here's how it went: We showed up at the hospital at 8am on monday morning January 15th. They tell me to wait in the little waiting room off the "Acceuil"; there's already 3 mommies waiting. After a while we start talking and we were 2 that were scheduled for an induction and 3 were getting a gel put on their cervix to help dilate (they were allowed to go home and had to come back later)

It had been an extreamly busy night and morning that day; they finally hooked me up on the monitors around 1pm and broke my water around 1h30pm. At this point i was dilated at 3 1/2 cm and effaced at 80%. I was told to walk, walk, walk some more to activate the labor. I started getting real contractions about every 4 min, but they would slow down if i stopped walking. Around 4h15 (after shift change) they checked me and i was only dilated at 4cm. The work was to slow so they hooked me up on Syntho (Pitocin) to activate the contractions and boy did they ever activate.

Around 5pm i took a hot tub to help with the dilation, and i asked for the epidural right away. It took a while for the anesthisist to get there. In the meantime the contractions were so strong (not like with Brady. I was already on the epidural when they had hooked me up to the pitocin the first time, so i hadn't felt thoses contractions the first time around) I never thought i'd be a screamer...but i couldn't control it. The contractions were so strong and painful i was yelling and moaning in my pillow.

The doc finally showed up for my epidural around 6h45 pm. By the time he was done it was about 7h05 pm, with Brady my epi was so strong i couldn't feel anything. This one was dosed a little better. I could feel my contractions in my ass. Everytime i had one it felt like i had an urgent need to poop. So at 7h05 pm i was dilated at 4 1/2 cm and when the nurse came to check on me at 8pm i was at 9 1/2 cm. Talk about working fast! i almost fell out of bed when she told me, i really was not expecting that!

I thought it was gonna take a while (like the first time) At this point Dave was downstairs making long distance phone calls and getting a little something to eat. When he came back in the room he asked me as a joke: "So, when the bb getting here?" So i tell him: "Well, probably before 9pm" He tought i was kidding him when i told him i was already at 9 1/2 cm. Just then the nurse came back to check on me and i really wanted to go to the bathroom but couldn't because the dosing unit for the Pitocin was not on an IV pole so i had to stay in bed. She then checked me again and i was already at 10cm (that's probably why i felt so much pushing in my bum!) So at the next contraction, around 8h25 pm i started pushing and on the second push she told my husband we could already see some hair. She took out a mirror and showed me. Totally amazing! 5 or 6 more contractions and pushing and the head was crowing. At this point i can pretty much feel the burning sensation of the stretching, but i'm told to stop pushing because the doctor isn't there yet. 2 min later she's sitting in front of me and i'm trying not to push while she's putting on her gloves but i feel the baby slipping out; so she tells me to push; the head came out and then the body. I didn't even have to give a push for the body, it just slipped out really quickly.

And it's a Boy!!! We named him Charles Owen Wood, he was born at 8h46 pm, weighing 6lbs 7oz, measuring 19 and 3/4 inches. He's got a full head of dark hair, very long fingers, feet and toes, just like his brother. He's a whole pound lighter than Brady and only 1/4 inch shorter, so he's very thin. Not much fat on him!

Here is one of the first picture of Charlie not even a hour old.

And the second is the first family picture when Brady came to visit the next evening. Charlie wasn't even 24 hours old yet.