the birth story (for those who care:)

I had a doctor's appt. on Thursday in Ann Arbor. I was 3 CM and 80% effaced. We decided with the doctor to "plan" an elective induction for Tuesday if baby had not arrived. David begins his surgery rotation on Jan. 4 and will be extremely busy with 100-120 hour work weeks through April... so we wanted baby to arrive early enough in his break that he could enjoy the baby. So I left the doctor's office feeling pretty discouraged. I was hoping to be more dilated than a 3 and the idea of being induced was terrifying. We went to our church's Christmas Eve service and had a low key meal just the 3 of us...
I woke up Christmas morning around 5:30 AM with some minor contractions. I had been having them during the day and night all the time for weeks... but I knew these were different. So I made us waffles for breakfast and we opened gifts. I had to stop to breathe through the contractions, but wasn't sure if they might still go away. I took a nice long shower and packed up my things. We decided to call the doctor and she suggested we go in. I walked around the house a bit just to make sure the contractions didn't go away before we left. (We have 2 sets of stairs for the second floor so essentially I just did circles up and down the stairs around the house!) We got in the car and started driving to Ann Arbor--- a 45+ minute drive. While in the car the contractions faded away and I looked at David with a very disappointed face, "I think they're going away. We should go home. I am not in labor." The roads were pretty bad though and so we decided to continue on just to see how things progressed. We dropped Bentley off at his aunt and uncle's home and then arrived at the hospital. We took another quick walk around the parking lot and then up to the 3rd floor. So it's about 11:30 AM now. In triage the Resident checked me and said, "I think we'll keep ya, you're about a 6-7." :) I felt so relieved to know that I am not crazy and I do sort of know my body. After we got our room we walked the halls for about an hour trying to bring labor along. When the contractions became too painful to be in the hallway I went into the shower in my room. On one wall was the shower head and the other wall had 3 jets and a place to sit. Well I turned the shower head on as hot as it would go and it just ran next to me and I sat in front of those jets for about 45 min. and did some serious laboring. :) It felt sooooo good to have the water on my back and then when I was contracting I'd turn around to have the water on my belly. After awhile the nurse got me on the bed and put me on the bean bag to help baby keep turning around... oh yeah, the baby was occipital posterior (looking up and not down) just like my first was... we we needed him to turn around. The resident came in and checked me and I was 8 CM so she broke my water with her fingers rather than that awful hook thing and ahhh relief. Well, only for a second... because then the contractions added much more pressure. Within 2 contractions he had descended down and I had the awful urge to push. So I said I was pushing. That's when things got busy! The doctor and resident put on their green gear :), the nurses were all ready and they were encouraging me to get the baby out. I don't remember it hurting so bad to push! I think I pushed for about 15 minutes and they announced, "It's a boy!" and placed him on my belly. It was great to have him out! His time of birth was 2:40 PM. Fortunately I didn't tear much so I only got a little unnecessary stitch... They did all the tests and then he nursed for about an hour. He latched on great... Then I showered and they brought me to the mother baby unit where we stayed for 24 hours before going home.
We are home now and he's doing well. It's been a very long first night, but I am hoping it gets better. :) Bentley slept soooo well and rarely cried. Clayton definitely lets us know he's here with his strong vocals. :) He has really dark hair and beautiful dark eyes.
Overall everything went very smoothly. My recovery has been much easier with him as well. It was such a different hospital experience. With Bentley they took him at birth for a couple hours and by the time I got him back he was in the sleepy newborn stage for a day or 2. I needed lots of help with his latch- there were tests being done on his heart... nurses were constantly checking on me and taking care of everything. This time I rarely saw a medical person- and was pretty much left alone to do my thing... neither experience is "better" or "worse"- it's just been very different.