Welcome Baby Cole!

Robyn's version of Cole's arrival...

Thursday April 23, 2009

1:45am- woke up to pee, couldn't fall back asleep, nothing unusual though.

3am- Maddie woke up so I brought her back to her room and lay down on her floor. Must have fallen asleep at some point briefly.

4am- went back to bed and started to doze off finally.

4:23am-nearly jumped off of bed with first contraction. I thought, OK this hurts a lot more than all the other ones I've been having... There was also no easing into things... the contractions were every 4 minutes apart from the beginning.

Ben rolled over about 20 minutes later and I asked him when his alarm would go off as he already said. He told me "in 15 minutes", I said "good because I think I'll be going to work with you today"... a minute later I said "or sooner" at which point Ben got out of bed to go get ready.

While Ben was in the bathroom I got dressed and tried to call the OB's office but couldn't get through. By the time I got downstairs a few minutes later, the contractions were closer together... I stopped counting, I just knew they hurt.

We got in the car and I did ask Ben to not hit any bumps, as well as did he really need to stop at the red light, which he told me he did. Thankfully the hospital is only about 4 miles from our house because by the time we got there Ben was asking "really another one already"?

He dropped me off at the front door and I took the elevator up to labor and delivery and signed in while he parked the car. They showed me to the bathroom to change and Ben met me inside. If I didn't know already that things were happening quickly, I certainly knew when I had 3 contractions in the time it took me to change into a gown. The nurse walked us down the hall to our room where they were already setting things up. Apparently Ben had told them I was "active" and to show me right to a room.

When I walked in the room I said "I have to pee but I'm not sure if I really do", the nurse said "go ahead and try", so I did... for about a half a second when I knew that it wasn't pee but rather a baby there.

I sat on the edge of the bed and kept having contractions when my water broke a few seconds later. I couldn't lay down by myself... I think I was scared the baby would come, so the nurses helped me out.

Everything happened very quickly, obviously. There were several people in my room all at once. My OB was there and asked Ben if he wanted to deliver the baby... he did. I don't remember much after that, just that I couldn't focus on anything. I couldn't even tell when the contractions were to push so thankfully Ben told me what to do... he was great... very calm... the only thing I could actually concentrate on.

So at 5:43am, and a very short time after our arrival at the hospital, Cole Richard was born, weighing in at 9lbs 6oz and measuring 22 inches long.

I don't know if I agree with Ben's assessment that I didn't need an epidural... it certainly would have been nice to have. But as Ben put it, and I agree, the 13 minute delivery was even better!

Here are some more pictures of Cole's 1st few days as well as some pictures from Easter and Maddie's birthday that I didn't get around to posting yet. Enjoy. A special thank you to everyone who has/is planning to visit to help out. Your help is greatly appreciated! A big thank you also to everyone for the many gifts, flowers, fruit baskets, warm wishes, etc! We can't wait to introduce the new one to you all!

Easter

Maddie's birthday