Welcome Brendan Jeffrey Ruda!

At 01:14 on March 18th Brendan Jeffrey Ruda made his entrance into this world.  His timing was impeccable.  Here are some pictures and his birth story...

minutes after he was born

 Still a little purple but using his lungs!

 A very happy Mommy!

 Calling my parents to let them know he had arrived!

 My dear friend Angela who came for the birth to take pictures and also be his pediatrican

 A happy Grammy with Brendan at 7 hours of age!

 Big Brother Ian!

 These are out of order but this is Ian on his way in to meet his new little Brother

 Leaving the hospital = two very happy parents!

 First car ride.

Brendan's due date was March 16th and I never thought I would carry him beyond his due date.  But he had different plans :).  When I went to my prenatal visit on the morning of the 18th and we decided that if he didn't make his arrival by Monday, the 21st we would go ahead an induce my labor.  Well, apparently Brendan didn't like that plan.  My parents were scheduled to arrive from NH at about 7pm that evening so I was busy making a lasagna and getting everything situated for their arrival.  I started to feel some contractions around 6pm but still wasn't too sure if these were the real thing.  My parents arrived at 7pm and we sat down for a glass of wine (sparkling cider for me!) at which point I started to time the contractions... they were coming every 5 minutes and lasting about a minute but not strong enough to get me too excited.  By 9pm we all headed off to bed...  well, I headed to the hot tub and soon after decided that this was it!  This wasn't false labor.  I called labor and delivery and asked them to save me a room. 

The contractions continued to get stronger and more frequent but being at home and alternating between the hot tub, shower, bed and birthing ball helped tremendously.  By 11:30 I was thinking it was time to go to the hospital but chose to wait until midnight to avoid being charged for an extra day in the hospital (I know, it seems silly but if you show up at 11:55pm vs 12:05 pm you get charged an entire extra day.  My frugal nature won out!).  The contractions themselves were pretty intense but in between I was completely comfortable so I found myself using the 2-3 minutes between the contractions to get my last minute things done and then would dive to the bed or birth ball to breathe through the contraction.  I wish I had a video of the event... I'm sure it must have been comical to see such frenzied spurts of activity. 

Anyway, at 11:50 we headed to the car and made the 6 minute drive to the hospital.  I had planned to wait in the car for a contraction and then, as soon as it was over I would have about 3 minutes to make it in through the front doors and to Labor and Delivery.  So, as I was waiting in the car in the parking lot Stephen got out to collect our bags.  As he's out there in the pouring rain I hear him start talking to someone and my contraction starts...  I'm thinking to myself, "who in the world has he found to chit-chat with in the hospital parking lot at midnight on such a rainy night when I'm in labor!!??!!"  Well, my contraction finished and I got out to start my 3 minute sprint to L&D when I realize that he was chatting with John, our obstetrician.  Apparently he was just about to head home but saw us drive into the parking lot and knew that we were coming in so he waited.  Perfect timing.  We all walked in together and I was happy to make it through the doors of L&D before having to grab the wall for my next contraction.  

The nurses got me situated in my room (room 205... the one I had delivered Ian in) and I was checked.  I was 8 cm so John ruptured my bag of water which is when I suddenly decided that a medication free labor was a crazy idea.  I was having contractions every minute and they were lasting 90-120 seconds!  My nurse said that if I had been on pitocin she would have turned it off but... well... that wasn't an option.  Less than an hour later Brendan's heart rate dropped for a moment so they called John back in to check me and I was completely dilated.  I was incredibly relieved!  I had been waiting to feel pressure to push but never did so the news that I was completely dilated gave me the permission I needed to push this baby out into the world.  Fortunately John got his gloves on quickly because I pushed once and out came Brendan's head.  His umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck once but easily came over his head and then out came his body.  What relief and joy!  

Stephen asked me after the fact if I would choose to have another medication-free delivery versus having an epidural if I were to do it again.  I have to admit that the feeling of intense joy, happiness and relief I felt when Brendan popped out was so incredible that I think it was worth it.  It was a very different experience than when Ian was born.  I had absolutely no pain with his delivery and it was beautiful because I gradually pushed his head out and was able to watch the whole thing in the mirror which was incredibly special.  But Ian's birth felt much more surreal.  It took me awhile to feel like it really had happened.  Whereas with Brendan's birth I was very aware that he had arrived and felt immediately connected to him and Stephen as well.  Stephen had been so incredibly supportive through the labor... providing pressure to my back and hips, water to my lips and a hand that I squeezed so tightly his fingers turned blue!  After Brendan was born I felt like we had all made it through an incredible journey together.

Now, on with the story....  Brendan nursed immediately and has a marvelous latch.  After feeding him the nurses took care of weighing and measuring him (8#4.2oz & 20inches) and eventually we all went to sleep for a few hours.  We awoke in the morning, enjoyed a lovely breakfast and lunch at the hospital and then headed home.  It's not often that a patient will leave 13 hours after their baby is born but we were excited to get home to our home and bed and they couldn't really find a reason to keep us around :) 

Being someone who loves when things work out perfectly, here are the parts of the story that are pretty cool...  My Mom had booked their flight to come months before Brendan was born.  She knew she could change the tickets and planned to do so based on when I went into labor.  The plan was for my parents to get on the first flight available after I went into labor however, as my due date approached we decided that they should come on the 17th as planned and hang out with us as we awaited his arrival.  I thought it was pretty cool that I went into labor as they were on their way here and that within hours of their arrival I headed to the hospital.  Ian was in all of his glory to have his Papa and Grammy here and, because they were here we didn't have to bring him over to Tiffany's at 10pm!   The next cool thing as far as timing was that my nurses for the delivery were my two dear friends Kelly and Beth.  It was Beth's last night of work before she headed on her own maternity leave and Kelly was called in at the last minute because the nurse who was scheduled to work couldn't take her shift.  What were the chances that I would have both my friends on for the delivery, that John would have been waiting in the parking lot as we arrived and that my parents arrived less than 6 hours before Brendan was born!?!  Someone was looking out over us all, that's for sure!