Max's birth story (shelley1002)

Last Tuesday night (10/22) I was laying in bed snuggling with DS1 and watching cartoons before he went to bed. I had to pee but was waiting for the show to end to put DS1 to bed and pee right before I went to bed moments after he was asleep. Minutes before 10pm I felt a pop in my belly. I clenched my legs and everything else and just kept saying "oh please no. I'm not ready to do all that work yet". Nothing had leaked out. After a couple minutes I decided to get up and finally pee and see if that pop was my water. I jumped out of bed faster than I have in months. As soon as I stood up there was a Hollywood style gush. Luckily I was wearing a pad just in case none got on the bed and not much got on the floor. I ran to the bathroom and peed and gushed.

I called my OB and he said to go in. I woke up DH and he called his dad and stepmom to come watch DS1. I called my parents. While we waited for FIL and SMIL to get to our house I made sure DS1 was asleep and took a shower.

Contractions started while I was in the shower. They were about 30 seconds long every 3-5 minutes.
About 45 minutes after calling FIL/SMIL showed up and we left. On the way to the hospital my contractions started to get painful and lasted closer to 1 minute.
We got to the hospital just before midnight. I was admitted immediately. OB came in and checked me within minutes of arriving. I was at 4cm and told the baby would probably be here by sun up. I asked for an epi and they called the anesthesiologist. He showed up a little while later. I was checked again right before getting my epi (around 1:30am) and I was at 6-7cm. Epi was inserted but didn't take. My toes felt tingly and my legs were warm but it did not take away the pain. So the anesthesiologist was called back and he did another one. This one worked.
Around 2:30 my mom showed up at the hospital. So mom, DH, and I just chatted for a while.

Around 4am I was checked again. The nurse said baby was right there. DH asked what that meant dilation-wise and she said I was fully dilated and she wanted me to do a practice push to see if baby moved. He did so she called the OB in. After 5 pushes (about 15 minutes) Max was born at 4:23am.

We couldn't believe he came so quickly because DS1 came after 17 hours of labor. I also never got the urge to push with Max when I did with DS1 and had an epi with both.

He was a big 8lb9oz and 20.5inches. I had a 2nd degree tear but not as bad as with DS1. I was sitting up within minutes. I had little blood loss and did not faint or almost need a transfusion like with DS1. We were amazed at the difference between the 2 births.

I have been feeling great. Max is showing no signs of reflux, is a great eater and sleeper; the opposite of his brother.

And here's a couple pics of Max.