Peyton Ruth is here!

Peyton Ruth arrived on March 11th, 2009 at 8:34am; she was 19.25 inches long and 8lbs 6.5ozs. Once she decided it was time to be born there was no stopping her- she arrived 2 hours and 20 minutes after labor started, barely giving Mommy and Daddy time to arrive at the hospital...but pictures first, story later! Okay, now that you've seen her-here's the whole story...

Early in the morning on Tuesday around 3:30am I was awoken by a contraction, it was enough to wake me from a deep sleep yet not very painful. I had similar contractions every 30 to 45 minutes for about two hours, so I got up and called Rob to let him know that labor might be soon and asked him not to hit the gym after work as I thought he might be needing his rest later. However as soon as I had some breakfast the contractions just disappeared. Later that evening I started having similar contractions again- just enough to make me catch my breath a bit, along with lots of crampiness and lower back pain. After about 2 hours of these weird contractions about 15 to 20 minutes apart I again thought this may be the beginning of my active labor so I called Mom and Dad to let them know that they might be needed for the big kids later in the evening. As soon as I hung up the phone the contractions fizzled out again, but I was left shaken, frustrated and feeling pretty yucky in general. Rob decided to not go to work that night since I had such a long day and was feeling so poorly. I went to bed sore and frustrated- and quite upset that it didn't seem that this labor would be as quick and easy as my others had been.

I slept peacefully until 6:08 am when a big contraction woke me from my sleep- this time it was majorly painful and felt just as the contractions had at the start of labor with my older children. By the 3rd contraction (each 8 minutes apart) I was convinced that this was indeed true labor, so I woke Rob and had him call my mom and the midwife. I went into the bathroom to get a quick shower and throw some last minute items into the suitcase. By the time I got to the bathroom I realized that these contractions were speeding up quickly and way more intense than at the beginning of my previous labors. I ended up leaving the last minute packing up to Rob while I tried my best to get some clothes on between contractions; then I went downstairs to sit on the birth ball to try to ease my pain. By the time Mom arrived my contractions were under 3 minutes apart and more painful than I ever remembered them being this early on in labor. In the car my contractions got closer and closer together and more and more painful. Yet, we had an hour drive to the hospital- Rob did his best to get there as quickly as possible in the morning rush hour traffic while I hung from the handle on the car's ceiling and tried to get through each wave of contractions.

Finally several minutes after 8am we made it to the hospital- Rob pulled up to emergency and ran inside to grab someone to help us. We were not preregistered at the hospital since my midwife had changed hospitals unexpectedly right at the end of my pregnancy- I did have all the preregistration paperwork filled out and waiting in 0ur bag. At the registration desk they didn't seem to understand that I was in a lot of pain, and they slowly went over the paperwork with Rob (though I already had it filled out for them)- some kind man came by and stated that there was no reason that I had to wait to go up to labor and delivery. When no one agreed he decided he would take me there himself while Rob dealt with the paperwork.

In the delivery room a nurse began trying to get all the preliminary details taken care of with me after hearing that I had only been in labor since 6am. After witnessing several contractions and hearing that this was my forth baby she decided that we should skip all those steps and just get me gowned and in bed to figure out how dilated I was. I barely got the gown on and into the bed when they checked me and realized that I was indeed ready to have the baby- the only reason she was not already born was that my water had not yet broken and was holding her inside. Rob finally made it up from the registration area at 8:25am. In the labor bed I began to push involuntarily (at first), while the nurses said, "Wait, your midwife is two stoplights away, don't push! She'll get here!" I replied, "I'm pushing, you can catch!" Charlene, my nurse called out the door to a midwife who happened to be sitting at the nurses desk filling out paperwork to come in quickly to catch the baby. The midwife barely got her gloves on when Peyton arrived into the world at 8:34am! My midwife, Marcia, walked through the door just as Peyton's body slipped out. She got her gown on in time to deliver the placenta!

Here we are getting ready to go home!