Augustus Frederick

On November 26, Augustus Frederick was born at 7lbs 3oz, 19in long! He and I are both home and doing great!

Several days later, I'm still in shock over his birth and "early" arrival. At 34 weeks, we had a preterm labor scare with him that sent us to the hospital. Since that time, contractions remained constant but inconsistent. At 36 weeks, my condition {1.5 cm dilated} had remained unchanged since 34 weeks. My OB was pretty confident that Gus was in no hurry to make his appearance.

Fast forward to Black Friday, and I woke up feeling tired, cranky and over being pregnant. Nora had woken up at 5:30 a.m. and it was my turn to get up with her. Henry had spent the night with a stomach bug and was recovering on the couch. Since we clearly weren't leaving the house that day, I spent the day looking for deals online and putting out Christmas decorations.

At 4:00 p.m., I started getting a few consistent contractions. At first, I paid no attention to them because they were exactly like the contractions I had been having for weeks. Within an hour they were coming every five minutes or so but not really getting stronger. I figured they were just fake and hopped in the bath to try and stop them. Up until this point, a bath always stopped the fake contractions, except for that first day at 34 weeks.

This night, the bath slowed the contractions, but they were right back to five minutes apart as soon as I was up putting the kids to bed. But, still not very strong or changing. By around 8:00 p.m. both kids were in bed. I was annoyed, and Morgan was restless. He decided to run to Target to check some deals and grab some sick-kid essentials.

While he was gone the contractions got a bit closer together, but no stronger. I sat down with leftover Thanksgiving pie to binge watch The Crown. When Morgan returned around 9:30, the contractions were still unchanged but at about 3-5 minutes apart. We got ready for bed and tried to sleep. By 10:30, I was unable to sleep with the contractions and decided I should probably pack a bag just in case this was real.

I packed a few things but by 11:00 everything STOPPED. Like nothing. I was so crabby. But, I settled in to go to sleep. Then, at about 11:20, I got hit with an INTENSE contraction. This was not like the others and I had to stop and breathe. Then, three minutes later, another intense contraction. It was at this point that I finally knew labor had started. I quick jumped in the bath to relax a bit but they contractions only got stronger and closer together.

Morgan called his mom to come watch the kids a bit after midnight. But, she was still over an hour away. We were planning to just stay until she got here, so we packed the rest of our toiletries and settled into a rhythm dealing with contractions. By 1:00 the contractions were 2.5 minutes apart and lasting for a minute each. Morgan called Labor and Delivery to let them know we would be in an about an hour or so. They advised that we call 911. I didn't feel like things were that serious, so we just told them we needed to wait for our childcare.

But, by 1:15, I was starting to feel shaky and weird and knew we had to go NOW. My mother-in-law was still 40 minutes away, so Morgan ran to our neighbors house and got our good friend to come sit with the kids. We had a horrible car ride to the hospital, where I was pretty sure I was going to lose it. When we got to the hospital at 1:40 a.m., I could barely walk but I made it. The nurse checked me at 2:05 a.m. and I was at 6 cm with a bulging bag of water.

I was admitted and took the short walk over to my delivery room by 2:15 a.m. The nurse suggested that I try another bath to get some pain relief. But, by the time I got to the room and settled I was starting to feel the need to push with each contraction. The nurse checked me again at 2:38 a.m., and I was at 8 cm.

At this point, doctors started flooded the room. I asked that they start the fluid for the epidural and they all played along nicely. But, they also calmly explained that if they were to break my water, I would have a baby, now. They explained that the fluid would take at least 45 minutes, time they were sure I didn't actually have.

I agreed that they could break my water. So, they did that, and I had the most intense moment of pain I've had in my entire life. I'm not sure I even felt this much pain on pitocin with Nora or Henry. It was horrid. But, as the doctor predicted, I immediately went from 8 cm to 10 with that one contraction.

They quickly broke down the room and called the baby nurse while I began to push. Through some serious self-doubt that I could do this unmedicated, I pushed 6 times. At 2:55 a.m. -- a little more than an hour after we got to the hospital -- Augustus was born!

The whole experience was just incredible. I was left completely in shock over what had happened. In the four hours I was really in active labor, it never really occurred to me that I was actually having this baby. And, being only 38 weeks, it was even more of a surprise. I just feel so blessed to have another wonderful, healthy baby.