The story

I have wanted to write for a while, but seriously, when faced with the option of blogging or sleeping, I have chosen sleep every time. The only reason that I am up now is because I am waiting to nurse Abraham before retiring for the evening.

My labor and delivery with Abraham went well. Contractions began on Tuesday, September 28th at 4 AM. They steadily increased in intensity throughout the day. I went to my previously scheduled midwife appointment, where they did a bio-physical profile ultrasound (because I was one week over my due date). There, the tech told me that the baby probably weighed 8 pounds or so. I was relieved. I just knew the baby weighed 15 pounds!

Around 2 PM I realized that the contractions were every 2 minutes or so and getting stronger. Brian and I left for the hospital while Mom and Dad hung out with Caleb. I am so grateful for my parents and for Brian's mom and stepdad. They all pitched in to make the transition for Caleb go smoothly and by God's grace, it has been great! We arrived at the hospital (I was 6 cm dilated) and the contractions slowed down (go figure). I walked around a lot and the contractions increased. It was go time! I dilated the full 10 cm in nearly no time and it was time to push. I pushed for an hour and a half and felt certain that this baby was not going to come out...the feeling much like I had with Caleb, where I ended up in an emergency c-section after four grueling hours of pushing (and thirty hours of labor). I wasn't about to endure four hours of pushing again. I said, "C-section." Jenny (the midwife) and Brian both were encouraging me to keep with it, but I knew what I felt. They called for the doctor who was on call and when he checked me, he said that the baby had been at a negative one station in the pelvis for longer than normal (indicating little change-- stuck!) and that the baby was transverse. The best thing to do was to section me.

So, at 10:03 PM on that same day and by cesarean section, we welcomed Abraham Miles Brian Caldwell into the world. He weighed 9 lbs. 6 oz. The tech was wrong...very wrong. =)

I have really enjoyed this transition from one to two children. Caleb loves Abraham. I am trying to adjust to this world of no consistent sleep. It's gone a lot better than I had imagined.