Welcome William!

William's birth story:
Last Tuesday I was having some contractions (which was not unusual for me - I am the queen of Braxton Hicks).  They came and went all morning, but I noticed that around 1:30 they became pretty regular.  I texted David and said he might want to try to come home early for work.  Then I started doing some serious cleaning!  While I was in labor, I did two loads of laundry, swept the entire floor upstairs, changed the sheets on the bed, cleaned the kitchen, and even dusted under the furniture in the living room!  It helped pass the time and being on my feet might make labor move faster.  Lucky for me, Eliana took a long nap that afternoon.  David came home from work early and my brother Michael and sister-in-law Melissa came over.  This just so happened to be the same day as the USA vs Belgium World Cup game.  So while I was marching around the house in labor and Melissa was taking care of Eliana, David and Michael watched a soccer game.  Of course the game ended in a tie and went into overtime.  I had told myself that I would stay at home until the game ended, but I really started to lose my cool when it went to overtime.  We got to the hospital around 8pm.  The nurse and resident both thought I was progressing pretty fast, so they kept saying they thought the baby would be born before midnight.  So when the resident said around 9pm that was about my last chance for an epidural, I said no, I didn't need one.  Labor is so much easier when you don't get induced!  The pitocin they give you for inductions just make the contractions so strong.  So I was doing pretty well and thought - let's just get this thing over with.  I was bobbing away on my labor ball and breathing through contractions.  And time just kept ticking.  Midnight came and went, and still no baby.  As the contractions continued to get worse and time kept going, I realized that I had made a TERRIBLE MISTAKE.  What was I thinking not getting an epidural?  I told David that I couldn't do it, and that I would rather die, and then I begged the nurse for any kind of pain medicine that she could give me.  That's when the resident said it was too late, they couldn't give me any pain medicine because the baby would be coming soon.  That's when I really started yelling.  Poor David took the brunt of it, but no one in that room was safe.  I said that they better get that baby out right now or just kill me, because I couldn't do it.  I kept repeating "I made a mistake!"  I did not die, however, and within minutes I was pushing.  Baby William came out so quick that the resident almost caught him.  The doctor made it in just in time, and we had a big, healthy baby boy at 12:59am!  William weighed in at 8lbs 10oz and 21in long.  He was perfect in every way.   We all love him so much, especially his big sister Eliana.  When my parents brought her to meet him that afternoon, she didn't want to "share" him and kept delicately kissing him.  She is a wonderful big sister!

PS.  Eliana funny for the day:  Yesterday when Eliana woke up from her nap, I found her wearing her rain boots (she apparently slept in them).  When I asked her why she was wearing her boots, she said, "They keep my toes safe so they don't get bit."  "Who is going to bite them?" I asked.  To which she replied, "The horse in the basement."  What an imagination!

Another naptime, Eliana brought her hard plastic doll house into bed with her.  Sure looks comfy.  The sign above her bed was made by her friends as daycare for her last day.  We are going to miss that place!