On Tuesday, February 7th, I started having some contractions around 4:30 AM, about 30 minutes apart. They continued like this all morning. I already had my 40 week OB appointment scheduled for this morning, so I went and got checked out... still 1.5 cm dilated. Baby was healthy and doing well, but contractions were too far apart to mean anything yet. But I had a feeling today was going to be the day. I went home and put Micah down for his nap and then let Matt know that contractions were getting closer together: 10 minutes apart or so. He let work know that he was not going to be able to come in for his afternoon shift and helped me labor at home for a bit.
You always hear that the second one comes faster... apparently that's not always true. By this time I had already been in labor for longer than I had been with Micah, and contractions were still fluctuating between 5 and 7 minutes apart. We decided to head to the hospital around 3 PM. After getting checked in, I was told that they needed to monitor baby the whole time, so I could get into the shower for a short time, but then I was done and would need to labor hooked up to the monitor. I was not pleased, and quite frankly was tired of having contractions all day. I was still only 5 cm dilated, and decided I was taking the epidural. I was tired, frustrated, and just wanted a break from the painful contractions that were now coming closer and closer together. So I got to experience another type of birth with the slow-to-come Ezra. I had an amazing anesthesiologist and literally experienced no contractions once the epidural started. You also hear that epidurals slow down labor... but apparently this birth defied odds there too, because I quickly progressed to 7 com dilated, then 8, and then it was time to push in less than 2 hours. Pushing is definitely my least favorite part of an epidural, as it was hard to push using numb muscles. But we slowly got there, with a little help from a vaccum because Mr. Ezra was also sunny side up, making it hard for him to slide out as easily.
And then there he was at 8:26 PM, a full head of hair, crying at the top of his lungs. Matt once again got to announce, "It's a boy!" and cut the umbilical cord. This time, I got to hold Ezra for much longer, as they didn't take him to so much as weigh him for over an hour. When he did finally get his weigh-in, he came in at a surprising 6 lb, 15 oz! He was 20 inches long, and healthy as could be, just tiny! I think his length fooled us, because Micah was also 20 inches long.
Just as with Micah, we only stayed in the hospital for 24 hours, as Ezra passed the health inspection to go home. While we were there, we did get some photos taken of both Ezra and Micah and Ezra together. Micah seemed to really take to Ezra, giving him lots of hugs and inspecting his fingers, toes, eyes, ears, and nose to make sure all were in good health. We also had visits from Grandma, Grandad, and Nana! We're so excited for these brothers to grow up together!