Midwives and neighbors and a tiny (9 lb) baby boy

3:30 in the afternoon. I'd been having mild cramps ever since my midwife appointment earlier that day, when she stripped my membranes and said that even though I was only 2 cm I would have a baby within 6 hours and it would be a super fast, easy labor. Yeah right. But then 5 hours after that, at 3:30 on a sunny Pi Day afternoon (and my actual due date!), those mild cramps suddenly got worse. So I text the 2 friends who were going to watch Maxwell, as well as messaging Joe. One woman is on the other side of the island and cant get back for a couple hours. One woman's phone had died and was out of contact for a couple hours. Joe had been called into a meeting and was unreachable. Ok.... Now what.... Worsening cramps turn into obvious labor contractions. I call my other neighbor, luckily she's home and can watch Maxwell. Finally get a hold of Joe. It's only been 30 minutes, but it sure feels longer. He gets home shortly after 4. Grab our bags and run out the door. Arrive at the hospital a little before 5, and have 3 people ask if I need a wheelchair, but I turn them down because sitting up hurts the worst. Get upstairs to labor and delivery as quickly as possible, but by now I'm having contractions every other minute and the pain isn't dissipating much in between, so we move slowly. The nurses and midwife on duty take one look at me and spring into action. They rush me into the triage room and get me hooked up to an IV while trying to find an available delivery room. I'm at 5 cm, the midwife tells me that I'm going to progress too quickly for meds. Two contractions later I'm in a delivery room at 8 cm. One more and I tell them I'm going to push. Three contractions with pushing, lots of yelling and death grips with Joe's hand, and an hour and 45 minutes from when I first thought labor was starting later, little baby Teddy was born.

That first midwife was so wrong. She predicted 6 hours, it was actually almost 7.

Two weeks later I'm sitting here feeding the easiest baby ever while the toddler is acting out the Zugor from Tarzan 2 and I'm really quite content. It's been a nice break from reality, but alas, I really need to get back to it. My to do list for moving is a mile long and still growing, Joe is back at work. The pile of laundry never seems to shrink, but all is well and we cannot wait to get to CA and then on to our new life as a homeowning student and teacher in CO.

I really do need to call about getting day care sorted this morning, though. Maybe after my coffee. And after I change this poopy diaper.