Little Brother

  
On November 2nd we had a little brother. :)  He is wonderful and we love him. He has definitely been our easiest baby as far as almost everything goes (except for nursing, but he's doing much better now). Here is how it all went down:




Around 4am I woke up with what I thought might be a contraction. I got out of bed to walk around and see if it was real. Sure enough they kept coming, so around 4:20 I called my friend to come stay with the girls, then I woke up Ryan. We left the house around 4:40 and  on the way I decided to heck with a natural birth, I wanted an epidural as soon as possible. With every kid I've tried to get farther along, hoping to do a natural labor, but in the end just not being able to take it any more. This time i didn't care though, I had forgot just how painful contractions were.  I just wanted it to be over. We got to the hospital just before 5. My contractions felt close though I wasn't really timing them. We got to triage and they nurse asked me nicely if I came to be checked, I wanted to shout at her "no I'm here to have a baby! This isn't my first kid, I'm know what real labor is!" But I just nodded my head instead. She then asked me other questions that I didn't understand because I was having so many contractions. My answer to her questions was "I just want an epidural." She smiled, then gave me a cup and told me they needed a urine sample (don't ask me why). I went into the bathroom and could barely get anything out, then I had a contraction and dropped it all over the floor.  I came out and told them all I had was all over the floor. The nurse laughed and said that was ok and took me back to check my blood pressure and cervix. While she was checking my blood pressure I felt a pop and a rush of fluid, I told her "I think my water just broke." She did a quick check and said "Yup it did." All at once I felt immense pressure like I needed to push. I started shouting "He's coming out! He's coming out!" The nurse shouted down the hall for a doctor and delivery tray, but the baby was already crowing, then several midwives ran into the room and started shouting at me to push. There was then a lot of pushing and screaming on my part and then he was out. 15 minutes after getting to the hospital and it was all over. Awesome. The tiny triage room quickly filled with people, trying to make sense of what all just happened, the nurse was still shouting for a delivery tray so they could clamp the chord and everything.  Once they got the umbilical chord cut and clamped, they took us to an actual delivery room to finish everything up, like delivering the placenta and doing my hospital registration. He was 7 lbs. 15 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long (basically a giant as far as our kids go). We named him Spencer Matthew Woolsey.
  Ryan left the hospital by 8am, once everything was under control, to go relieve our friend who was watching the girls.  In the afternoon Ryan brought the girls to visit. As soon as she walked in the room Lauren  announced that she wanted to hold the baby.  Rachel announced that she didn't. Emily just wanted to play with the pillows in the window seat and eat the small packages of crackers I saved them from my lunch.  Within about 15 minutes the girls were going crazy so they all went home.

  I must say I'm a fan of natural birth, (that is when the whole thing only lasts an hour).  It was great not being hooked up to anything (although they did still put an IV needle in my arm "just in case I needed it"). I was so amazed at actually being able to feel my legs and get up and walk around after having a baby.  Everything healed so much quicker too.

I have this same picture of Ryan and each of the girls :)

  The day after Spencer was born we got to go home. As soon as we got home, Ryan and Spencer went and passed out on the couch and the girls started screaming for food.  Back to reality.  I got them some cereal and then sat down to eat the lunch I had brought home from the hospital.  Rachel saw what I had and in her sweetest voice said "Mommy is that a sandwich? I like sandwiches. You could half it with me."  (This is why I could never do a home birth.  I actually enjoy a day or two at the hospital. By myself. Nobody asking me for anything. Having food that I didn't make delivered to me.  And no one else trying to eat it.)  I halved my sandwich with Rachel. Emily went and found a stack of books for me to read. At least I was missed.
That night bedtime was a complete train wreck. Lot of tears. Lots of craziness.  Once we finally got all the girls in bed, Ryan and I collapsed on the couch wondering what we had done. 4 kids was going to be a bit harder than we thought.

  One awesome thing this time around though was that for the first time Ryan was able to take a lot of time off work for this baby.  He was home for two weeks and it was wonderful.  He made all the meals, did all the dishes and the shopping, and got Lauren and Rachel to and from school and kept the house clean. He is awesome.  It was really great to spend those two weeks all together as a family, figuring out together how to adjust to the changes. And we are adjusting. :)