Happy Birthday Carter!

I woke up Sunday morning at 2:00am with hard contractions. I didn't think too much of it because they were only 8-10 minutes apart. At 3:30am I finally got out of bed because I could not fall back to sleep or get comfortable. I went downstairs and checked my email, went on Facebook and paid our car insurance bill. By 4:30am I went back upstairs and woke Tom up. I told him that I didn't think we were going to make it to church and asked him to rub my back due to the back labor pain. He rubbed my back for about a minute and then that is when I said "my water broke" and I quickly got up and jumped in the tub.

While I took a shower Tom called my mom for her to come over and watch the boys. Tom also took a shower and ate some breakfast. Mie Mie was at our house just after 5:30am; we sat and talked to her for a little bit before we headed off to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital at 6:00am. By the time we got checked in and all situated in the delivery room they checked me at around 6:30am and I was already 4cm dilated.

The morning was pretty uneventful in the fact that the contractions continued at 6-8 minutes apart and I had my normal back labor. At 9:30am my friend, Kris Vilwock, stopped in to check on us and that is when things started to progress a little faster. She ended up staying for the whole delivery with the way things took place. At 10:30am Dr. Strabel stopped in and rechecked me; I was then at 6cm. At this point I really started to feel discouraged in the fact that it took 4 hours to only progress 2cm.

The nurse asked if I had to use the bathroom and I decided to give it a try knowing that it would be awhile until I actually would meet Carter. Little did we know that getting up to use the bathroom was all I needed to do. It took me a half hour to get up, go to the bathroom and back on the bed. The contractions intensified and became closer together. At 11:48am I began pushing and Carter entered this world at 11:56am!!!

It was a wonderful Sunday afternoon being able to hold our precious new baby for a full 1 1/2 hours before they took Carter to weight and measure him. He weighed 8lbs 11.9ozs and was 22" long.













You and Dr. Strabel the next day