Wednesday evening (June 29), I was feeling a bit poorly after my 40-week exam that afternoon (at which time my body was clearly getting ready for labor - 3cm dilated - but showing no immediate signs of it). I took it easy, and after getting Luis to bed, laid down on the couch for a rest. At 8:30, I realized that the "crampy" feeling I was having was happening ~ every 5 minutes. So I turned on the stopwatch function on my watch to get a better understanding of what was happening. And I sent a text to my friend Leah to put her on notice (she was our person to stay overnight with Luis should we need to go to the hospital). An hour later, I was having strong contractions every 4 minutes. I called the OB at 10, who suggested I take some Tylenol and call her back in 30 minutes. I told her I'd already had some Tylenol and that I was pretty sure I was in labor. She consented that I could head to the hospital "to see what's going on".
Leah came over and Diego and I headed out to Baylor at 10:30p. By now, the contractions are so strong and regular that I am sure I'm in labor. When I get to the hospital and they ask "how often" about the contractions I say "Very". They get me checked in and into a room. They get me on the fetal monitor to see how baby is doing, and then they check my progress. I was 8 cm dilated! The nurse assured me that my doctor was on her way and would be here soon. I told the nurse I was more interested in how soon the anesthesiologist could get there. My ideals of an epidural-free birth had vanished somewhere around 10:15p when the contractions had me doubled over.
The short version is that both the anesthesiologist and the OB made it in plenty of time. Despite an episode where baby's heatrate dropped during delivery, Alejandro Rincon was born at 1:39a. He weighed in at 7lbs 9oz and was a little over 20" long. Diego and I were both taken aback by the fact that Alejo was the spitting image of his big brother when Luis was born. In fact, Diego was with the nurses who were cleaning Alejo off and commented, "I've seen Luis make that face - TONIGHT at dinner!" And it's true. We both see a lot of Luis's features and Luis's expressions in Alejo's face.
[I am happy to share the "long version" of the story with anyone who is interested!]
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