Welcome little man

Dateline: September 15 2011 - 34 weeks pregnant

It was a busy day at work, the day before new states roll to a new operating system always are. I stayed late to tidy up a few things and walked out to a cool, nearly fall evening. With the smell of crisp air tickling my senses it seemed a perfect night to cook up a pot of chili. So I chopped my peppers and onions, browned my meat and set the pot to simmer while I got in a quick walk on the treadmill. Dinner, time on the couch and by 10 I was heading to bed...just another night, or so I thought.

September 16 2011 - 2:45 a.m. - Uh-oh! This is embarrassing, I think as I awaken with a start. I rush to the bathroom thinking I really have to pee and that I've lost control of my bladder. Business done I stand up and realize that there is still something leaking out of me....hmm....that's interesting. A few laps around the house confirm for me that something is going on. So what does one do at three in the morning when a question lingers? Turn to the Google, of course. "Did my water just break" is the question posed to the all knowing search engine and lo and behold it told me what I was not quite expecting to hear. Still not quite believing this to be true I continued to wander around the house until I felt was my first contraction. A quick call to the doctor's office where I learned my doctor was off duty on Friday and that the woman I just spoke with would be meeting me at the hospital. Holy shit..am I going to have a baby today? My heart is pounding, so many thoughts running through my head " it's too early, I haven't packed a bag, the room's not done, it's too early...." I walk upstairs where I wake up Chris and tell him my water has broken and we need to go to the hospital. We pack our bags, brush our teeth, kiss the dogs and head out into a cool, dark early morning.

We arrive at the hospital where the labor and delivery nurse escorts us to a room and has me pee into a cup to make sure I'm really in labor. Hang tight she says, this test usually takes about 5-7 minutes for a positive response...two minutes later two bright lines are staring at me saying "here we go". The nurse then goes to work--IV, baby monitor, wrist bands, etc. By this point I'm starting to contract pretty seriously but am able to work through it with 3 deep breaths. I am checked by the nurse, dilated about 1 cm and was told they'd be back to check on me. The next few hours kind of went by in a blur - met the doctor, met two women from the NICU who explained what would happen once the baby was born, got an epidural, friends and family came and went and before I knew it the clock showed 12:40 and it was time to push. 35 minutes later at 1:15 p.m. our precious angel entered the world and the words "it's a boy" became the sweetest phrase to fall upon my ears.

At that point Baby Boy Suther was weighed and measured and the nurses worked on getting him to breathe. We had a few moments to snuggle, pose for a picture and then our little man was shuttled to the NICU for further care. In a moment my heart was both filled with a love bigger and stronger than I could have ever imagined and broken by my baby boy being wheeled away from me.