First night and Jacob's Birth Story Part II

We are now home and settled into our house as a family of 4. We tried to get out of the hospital on Saturday night, but in order to get Jacob discharged, we had to have an appointment on Sunday and our doctor doesn't have Sunday hours. So, we had to endure another long night at the hospital, but left first thing Sunday. Last night was amazing. My parents came over as we got home and made us lunch and took good care of us. Then Nana and Aunt Stephanie came to visit. After they left, we were alone as a family of 4. AJ is battling a cold and ended up sleeping with us--which wasn't ideal, but it made me feel better to have him next to me. I had both of my boys on either side of me and it was amazing. Jacob will be sleeping in a co-sleeper bed next to me for at least a few weeks. The little boy is a SLEEPER (at least for now). I have to wake him up to eat and even then all he wants to do is sleep. I think if I was allowed to let him, he would sleep all night. So anyway, the first night was great and our first full day was also very wonderful.

So that brings me to Part II of the birth story. I left off with my choice of hypnobirthing. I practiced everyday on my breathing and relaxation. I was ready and determined.

For the last two weeks, I have been only working in the office on Tuesday and Thursdays. The distraction was nice since Jacob was so late. On Friday, July 15th, I woke up as usual with AJ and I felt incredibly tired and worn down. We ate some breakfast and got ready for the day. I took him to the park after a stop at Starbucks. He loves the park. The weather was beautiful, especially for July. It was breezy and a cool 77. It got slightly warmer later in the day, but the morning was perfect. We went home and ate some lunch together before I put AJ down for a nap. I had to take a work call at 12:30, which I did. After I was off--I checked on AJ, who was playing in his room. It took him a little bit to fall asleep and I just laid in bed answering work emails on my IPad. At around two, I started to feel some menstrual cramps, which wasn't unusual for me. I went down to the basement at this point because it felt a little timetable and I didn't want to lay down if they were going to turn into contractions--or if I had a chance of them turning into contractions.

Once downstairs, I started timing them on my IPad contraction app. Turned out they were every 8 minutes, 40 seconds long. I bounced on my yoga ball and called John. I told him I thought they were more false labor and to just stay at work. John was leaving at 3 to go get a tattoo of AJ's hand on his arm. At 5 to 3pm, I called him to tell him that they were still really regular and starting to get slightly more intense, but they were still virtually painless. They were more intense then the past few weeks though, starting in my back and radiating to my lower abdomen.

John left work and came home. On the way home he called me and we decided it might be a good idea for my mom to come over to help with AJ in case the false labor stuck around. If they did, we thought that we had a little bit of time and John was going to go to get his tattoo as planned for the early labor. Little did we know that it was a GREAT IDEA to call my mom. At 3:09pm, I called my mom on her cell and work numbers and didn't get her. I reached my sister at home but didnt' want to get her excited, so didn't tell her anything and just asked if mom was working. Then I called my brother since he works for my mom to see if he could get her to call me. By 3:15, my mom called me back and she was already half way out the door. Friday afternoon traffic in Northern Virginia is no joke, so I was pretty sure it was going to take them longer then usual to get here.

John came home and told me that his appointment was pushed back, so he didn't need to leave until 5. AJ was still sleeping at this point. John and I basically hung out in the basement. During a contraction, I hung on John with my head down and breathed through the contraction. It was really easy at this point. We continued like this until my mom and sister got to the house just before 4:30. My brother quickly followed so he could take AJ and Tyson if needed (again, another really good idea!). John ate some food before leaving around 5 for his appointment....

To be continued, we are going to take a walk with AJ to the basketball courts...