Good news......

No.  Scratch that.  GREAT NEWS.

Had a baby.
Love him.  :)

Monday, June 28th:
I had a dr. appointment at 11:40 am.  I was measuring 2.5 centimeters - he "stretched" me to 3.  <---This is the turning point of my pregnancy.  I was about 75% effaced.  I left the doctor and went back to work.  I started to feel some cramping at about 1:13 pm.  I decided to start writing down this "cramping" and how often it was happening.  After some extremely irregular timing, I realized these were contractions.  They ranged anywhere from 4-20 minutes apart.  At about 4:30 they started becoming more painful and regular, coming every 6-7 minutes.  I kept working through them, but was very aware they were happening.  When it was time to leave work at 5:30, I was pausing and slowly breathing through them...but still wary of calling the doctor.  I drove home thinking they might go away, just like the last time.  Turns out....not happenin'.

At about 6:30 pm, I called the doctor and he said to head on in.....for the THIRD time.  At this point, I was not at all nervous about this being a false alarm.  These contractions were coming on hard & fast.  It was like all of the sudden I remembered every pain I had with Emma, and these were the real deal.  We get to the hospital and settle down in Suite 11 to determine if I needed admitting.  My water hadn't broken, but I was already asking for the epidural.  After answering many questions and breathing through many contractions, I was still only 3 centimeters.  They wouldn't give me any of my magical drugs until I "progressed" any further or my water broke.  I was starting to really think that I was going to go find the drugs myself.  They finally decided that I could get the drugs because my contractions were clearly coming everything 3 minutes and not going away.  Bending over the side of the bed to get the epidural is difficult, but worth every second.  Within minutes I felt relief.  Thank goodness, I could actually rest for a while.

David and I ended up resting with the lights out for a couple of hours.  Contractions stayed regular throughout the epidural (which can be rare), and all of the sudden - I was 8 centimeters.  My parents came in and visited for about 20 minutes.  By the time they left, baby dropped and I was 10 centimeters.  The doctor was called and it was time to "trial push".  Then it was NOT time to "trial push".  I had progressed so quickly, they didn't want me to push at all without the dr. present.  It was about 2 am when the doctor said to push....

....and Baby Dean was born at 2:20 am on June 29th, 2010.  He weighed 9 lbs. 8 oz. and was 21.5 inches long.  Yes.  He was almost 3 weeks early and weighed that much.  Yes.  I am glad I got the drugs.

It has now been a week since I've had him, and he is doing well.  He was jaundiced, so he has to be on a billi-light 24/7 for now.  Today is day 4 on the blanket, and his numbers are going down.  We get him tested again tomorrow for hopefully the last time.  If his numbers go down tomorrow, we get rid of the blanket and can actually get out of the house for more than an hour!  We are going stir crazy for sure.

As for me, I am healing much faster and easier than I did with Emma.  On day 6, I took a 1.5 mile walk without even realizing it.  Today, we walked around our new neighborhood for about 45 minutes with Emma & Dean.  Tomorrow, more of the same.  :)

All of the above was great news....

the bad news is:  I can't find my camera cord to get all of the adorable pictures of my new son onto my computer!  I am now on a mission to find it.  Wish me luck.