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It all started on Tuesday, March 27th...My Grammy all along predicted that this was going to be the day...she was wrong but not by much!

Mommy and Daddy woke up that morning and Mommy thought it might be time for my grand entrance to the world. We won't get into specifics for Mommy's sake, but that trip to the hospital turned out to be a false alarm and they were sent home.

So Mommy and Daddy headed home thinking they had at least a few days before I might decide to come on out.

Well, around 6:45 pm, Mommy started to have some contractions and after the false alarm, didn't think too much of it. They watched some TV and Aunt Karleigh called. While Mommy was on the phone with Aunt Karleigh, she noticed that the contractions were starting to bother her. So Daddy started timing them.

Mommy was not eager to call the Doctor again after being sent home once that day so they timed and wrote down the length of the contractions and how far apart they were. They started timing around 9:00 pm...5 min...5 min 50 sec...4 min 13 sec...5 min 57 sec...3 min 41 sec...4 min 35 sec...YIKES...4 min 55 sec...4 min 33 sec...Call the Doctor!

They called the Doctor and she said "Head on up to the hospital, sounds like you are going to have a baby tonight."

So at about 9:45 they pile into the car (luckily we were lazy that morning and all the bags were already in there!) Daddy drove Mommy through the severe thunderstorm that decided to hit that night and timed her contractions that were about 3 minutes apart by then.

They got to the hospital and were admitted at around 10:25. Mommy was hooked up to the monitors and given her IV and a quick cervix check...4cm!!! The nurse said she could have the epidural as soon as her lab work came back...probably in about an hour...Uggh!!

So Mommy tried to breathe and Daddy held her hand and reminded her to breathe. (He was such a great coach!!) The contractions were getting pretty intense. They had to laugh at the difference on the monitor between the line that morning and the line that night....they were hitting one right after another! Mommy was starting to have trouble focusing but she did her best by staring at the TV...a rerun of Friends was on the TV!

The nurse began to get the room ready for Mommy to get her epidural. After she wheeled in the cart, she did another quick cervix check and her eyes got wide and she rushed out of the room. When she came back a few minutes later, she told Mommy and Daddy that Mommy was at 8 to 9 cm dialated and she paged the epidural man to get up there ASAP!!

Before they knew it, the epidural man was there and the nurse and Daddy were helping Mommy to sit up to get it put in. She tried her best to stay still and hold on while the epidural was being placed. Mommy was going through the transition stage at that point...she looked over the monitor and saw that the contractions looked more like plateaus than hills (and from childbirth class, she knew that meant she was going through transition...she was going to have to push soon!)

They got the epidural placed successfully however, it never really got time to work. Mommy had a few more contractions and was checked again....fully dialated to 10 cm! The nurses called for the doctor...who just barely made it because of the bad weather outside. The bed was broken down, the medical equipment came out and Mommy started to push.

After about 30 to 40 minutes of pushing, out I came!!! They laid me on Mommy's tummy and I let out my first squeal as they dried me off. Daddy cut my cord and watched me in amazement!

So that is the amazing story of my quick birth. I scored an 8 and 9 on my APGARS and weighed in at 7 pounds even. Mommy, Daddy and I cuddled for a few minutes and then my proud Paw-paw and thrilled Aunt Tammie came in to meet me!
Love,
Reilly