Joshua David

Today Dan is home and school was cancelled because of Isaac. While we wait for the storm to come and for the power to go out, I thought I would share the story of Joshua's birth. For a woman, sharing a birth story is comparable to a guy sharing a story about shooting the winning basket from half court...but so much better!
'Twas the night before Dan's birthday when all through the house not a creature was stirring, except for a very very pregnant lady...

Around 3 am on on the morning of June 11, I awoke to go use the restroom for the 100th time and while in there my water broke. While I was in the bathroom coming up with the game plan, Kolbe suddenly woke up crying. I ran waddled back out to see Dan slowly waking up and realizing that Kolbe had wet the bed, then Emma ran in the room because the crying woke her up and then I said, "Sweetie, happy birthday! My water just broke."
Wow. Good morning Dan. Once the reality of the situation hit us, we started laughing and then jumped into high gear. I called Jenn and asked her to come over. We quickly got dressed and packed up while trying to calm down two tired and nervous children. Once Aunt Jenn arrived, we headed out and arrived to the hospital about 4 am.
Once there we told the nurse at the front desk that my water broke and they unnecessarily went into panic mode and put me on a stretcher and wheeled me up to my room. I was only 4 cm dilated, so I knew I had a long way to go. Then we waited...

Around 6 the nurse came back in and I was only 5 cm. The doctor on call ordered pitocin and at that point I didn't care to argue. About 10 minutes later I was having intense contractions very close together. Thank you pitocin. Then it was time for pain meds. Dan loves this part becasue he enjoys seeing me loopy- and I don't care becasue it takes the edge of of the pain. At 7:30 I started crying out for an epidural, but it was too late. I was 10 cm. And then came the strong desire to push, like the strong force of a hurricane. I could hear the nurses whispering, trying to find my doctor, but she was not available. Meanwhile I am doing my best to follow orders to hold this hurricane force in.
Then an angel in the form of Dr. Plessala entered the room. He is not my doctor, but he goes to our parish and is a friend of ours. We were both so happy to see him walk in the room. Then finally at 8:01 after pushing and the use of the vacuum thing, Joshua made his way out and then all I remember is seeing the doc's jaw drop because of how big our baby was. They immediately let me hold him while Dan cut the cord.

We were all in amazement when we found out that he was 10lb 6oz! Where did this huge baby come from?! Now I usually try to be a humble person, but I was very proud of myself for birthing this huge baby AND I felt it ALL. As I was being wheeled into one of the NEW recovery rooms I could just see the looks and smiles of all of the nurses in the hallway. I could hear them saying "She is the one." "She is woman." and then came the applause...ok not really, but my husband sure did applaud me.



Best birthday present ever.
Greatest wife ever.





Happy little family!