Baby makes 4...!

Emmett James... born 10-11-11 at 4:42am (4 hours and 42 minutes past the due date!).  21 inches long.

I labored on and off the day before and was in hard labor the night before at about 8pm.  I waited at home, not believing I was in labor!  I timed the contractions at 10 minutes apart for 2 hours in bed until they hurt too much to wait any more.  And when I sat up to relay this info to Jer, the contractions intensified even more and were instantly 2-3 minutes apart!  Holy crap, I was in labor!  It was 30 minutes to the hospital.  HARD labor.  Contractions on top of each other!  Jer called ahead to make sure I would be able to get an epidural if I was already really dialated.  They were ready with an IV when I got there, praise God.  I was 7 centimeters, and within an hour or two (soon after the epidural), was 10 centimeters.  We waited for baby to drop for a few hours.  At about 4:30am, the midwife went to break the water, and the sack of water came out in tact.  I had never heard of this and they had ONLY heard of it!  Kind of cool.  And less messy.

The room was dimly lit.  Calm.  Jer at my side ready to announce the gender.  We saw at the same time (after barely pushing - and actually being told NOT to push most of the time).  We both exclaimed "It's a boy!" at the same time, and I was holding him in my arms!

My sister was at our house sleeping so Ava could stay in her own bed.  They came later in the am to meet baby boy.

I don't have much time (or energy!) to write more at the moment.  Emmett is perfect.  Ava is adjusting easily.  I now have 4 piles of laundry to fold.  And all is well...