BIRTH DAY!!

The four of us are all cuddled in bed now, reading a bedtime story. Kaden is sprawled out, asleep, on his daddy's lap, Kylin is in between Rich and I... We are a FAMILY!!
I woke up this morning at 2 am, for my hourly (at least) trip to the potty. I was having the regular tightening contractions that I have had for most of my pregnancy, with some crampiness that has become normal the past week or two. The only thing different that I noticed, was that they were pretty regular--maybe 2 minutes apart...but that was not a "first" either. At 2:45 Rich woke up and we talked a little. He wondered if he should get the hot tub prepared (which he had wanted to do Saturday, but I told him that would only jynx me), and again I told him to hold off--I had had many nights like this during my pregnancy with Kylin, with regular contractions not leading to anything. At 3:00 I got into child's pose, kind of a hands and knees position with your chest down, and after a minute I felt a pop up in my belly and my contractions were instantly painful and intense. I told Rich to call Ellie right away. He flew around the house, trying to get the hot tub ready, my mom arrived to be with me during my contractions, and I sat in the living room on my birth ball lighting candles in between contractions. I was moaning and vocalizing loudly to get through the strong, frequent contractions.

After about 15 minutes I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom, so I went in and sat on the toilet--and my contractions instantly became strong, grunting pushes. I yelled to Rich to call Ellie again, and tell her I'm pushing. Ellie arrived soon while I was still on the toilet, about 3:30, and checked me. She said we should get me moved, and I thought she meant so that she could get in a better position to check my dilation, and then she said, "we don't want you having the baby on the toilet." I still can't believe I was fully dilated...
I was really tied to the idea of laboring in the hot tub, but Rich helped me to let go of that quickly, and he helped me to stay present and grounded. He is so flexible and strong in intense situations, and he was amazingly calm and centered during the birth. We got into the bathtub for a few contractions, and Rich was very sweet--sitting behind me in the tub, rubbing my legs and hair--but it was so difficult to push in that small space. So, we got out after a few pushes and moved to the bed. It took a few pushes to get the baby under my pubic bone, but he was born so easily...at 4:22 am, just 2 hours and 22 minutes after I woke up.
Kylin was there during the birth, my mom woke her up when we moved to the bed to push. She was so sweet and excited...kissing me, hugging me, and "stretching" with me. :-) When Kaden was crowning, Kylin whispered in my ear, "your baby is almost here." It was so precious.
He is beautiful and perfect...weighing 7 lbs and measuring 20 inches long. Kylin got to announce his name, as she had been waiting months to do: Kaden River.