silas was born on wednesday, october 25, 2006 at 11:39 in the morning.
the night before we had big plans to go to work the next day and see how i was feeling around lunch time. apparently, silas planned to make his arrival before lunchtime. i woke at 5am with my water breaking. i spent the next four hours pacing around our home, rocking on the bed, slow dancing with sam, cursing the cake ingredients i had left on the counter and growling very, very loudly. i had been very curious if i would be one of those women who labor quietly - barely making a peep, only registering the contractions with slight grimaces. i'm not.
we made it to the hospital by 9:30 am. i chewed the headrest in the hyundai on the way there.
when we were checking in at the nurses' station on the labor and delivery wing, i began to have another contraction. i buried my face into sam's shoulder to try and muffle my angry grunting. at that point, a nurse patiently mentioned "she's pushing, get her in a room." so they skipped the whole "hospital admittance" procedure, got us into a room and got me into a bed. nicole, our midwife, checked me told me i was fully dilated and was good to start pushing for real. she cheerily said "i guess those contractions at home really hurt, eh?"
so i pushed and pushed and the baby made his slow and steady progress out into our world. because of the amazingness and encouragement combined of my husband, my l&d nurse and nicole, i never once doubted that i could do it. i wanted to nap, i wanted to send everybody out for coffee so i could just rest and i wanted to cry because my legs were so shaky but i never wanted to quit.
when silas was born hollering, nicole put him on my chest, sam started crying and i checked that baby's earlobes. my most picky request was that my baby would have detached earlobes like his father. he does and i am very, very happy.
