Hadleigh's Arrival

At 2am the morning of 10/21, I woke up to some moderate cramping, not entirely unusual. After laying in bed for 15 minutes I finally decided I should go to the living room and Google what I should do (of course), even though motto of late is "Google is not your friend."  This was a completely different phenomenon than what I experienced with Ashlyn so I was not thinking I was in labor.  I downloaded an app to track contractions just to see, and the cramps were 30-45 seconds, 2-3 minutes apart with one more intense cramp of 1-2 minutes happening every 3-4 minutes.  They were definitely not regular and everything I read said false labor and to take a bath and relax.  Also in my mind I'm rationalizing that I'm 5 weeks away from my due date and have been taking progesterone weekly which is shown to prevent preterm labor.  I also read that it was not time to call the hospital until you've experienced an hour of cramps 3-4 minutes apart.  At 2:30 (30 minutes later), I could barely talk so I decided to wake Kyle to call the nurse.

Kyle wakes up and in his understandable state of confusion, goes to the bathroom and then grabs his phone to call the hospital. I swear those few minutes felt like an hour, and at that point the cramping was nearly back to back so I couldn't talk.  The exchange between us that best describes the panic and confusion at that time was when Kyle asked me: "what hospital? Scripps La Jolla?" And me screaming, "you know what hospital I'm at!!" Lol. Then while he's on the phone with the nurse telling her what's going on and not quite hearing me (understandably), so I'm correcting him through the pain and crying "they're back to back!" The nurse tells Kyle to call my dr's midwife. 

Then I decide from what I have Google'd (again, Google is not always your friend) I need to relax and get into a bath.  So I grab my swimsuit to head to the hot tub. At that point I had an excruciating cramp and ran to the bathroom, 2:45. I felt something heavy so as I'm headed to the bathroom I put my hand down and felt A HEAD!! I screamed, "BABY BABY," and Kyle came running. I cannot emphasize my horror and surprise at that moment.

I'm not really sure the details from here because I think I blacked out, but I had an uncontrollable urge to push so I I leaned forward, and then a rush of water and a baby... I have since learned, right into the toilet... But better there than the floor!

Kyle had rushed to my side by that point. I remember he held her in his arms and frantically trying to call 911 but his phone wouldn't work because he had dropped it in the toilet trying to grab the baby! With neither of us in the right frame of mind, I remember my phone is on the couch but because Kyle is holding baby and the umbilical cord is still attached, we walked in tandem to the living room!! Blood everywhere! We get to the phone and while Kyle is getting instructions from dispatch, Ashlyn comes walking out.  So I'm sitting on the floor navigating her around the carnage and all that she can do is stare at the towel beside me and say, "baby." Meanwhile I'm in a state of shock and not really sure what the heck just happened and thankful my husband is taking care of the situation!

Then the firefighters arrived.  Someday I'll stop by the station and thank them when I'm fully dressed. As thankful as I am that Kyle knew them, it does add a little level of discomfort. Lol. They cut the cord and loaded us up.

So our family of four is complete, and our girls share a birthday, October 21 😍