Thought I would get a few quick details in from recent events. The last couple weeks are a bit of a blur from lack of sleep/constant nursing a cute little baby, etc. SO, Sunday night on the 28th I was feeling a little funny, which is the first time Brian took me seriously I was maybe going to go into labor. My funny feeling lead me to do about 5 loads of laundry, just in case. I went to bed but woke up with some broken water around 3:30 am. (It was funny because Colin's labor started just about the same time, even on the same day of the week.) I woke up Brian and thought things would pick up pretty quick as they had with past labors. I tried to go back to sleep but could not, so I folded some laundry. I wrote my mom a whole one page note about getting Colin to kindergarten since that was his first day. I was a little worried about not being there for him as I wanted to see that detail through. We called our midwives and went over to the birth center about 5am. When we got there, I was only about 2 cm and things were moving very slowly. The birth center was happy to have us hang out there, but we opted to go and walk around the Walmart that was just down the road (we needed a few things and picked up a new matchbox car and some play dough to give the the kids when we came home with the baby.) By about 6:30am since not much was happening, we decided to head home for a while. The midwife could tell only my fore bag of water had broken which was nice, still making labor easy and allowed it to stall out. I really think I was more worried about Colin than labor which let me go home to see him. My mom laughed and laughed when we pulled up still pregnant. She had already told Colin we would come home with the baby so he was a little confused that I was still pregnant. I was able to take a shower, make the kids some pancakes, and we even walked to school to see Colin off.

Some cell phone photos, the other camera was already at the birth center. I love the big back pack on Colin!

Still a little pregnant. . .

Colin walking into school for the first time. I am glad Dora is in his class.

I love his little nervous smile. He really was not too nervous, he has taken to school brilliantly. He is a very flexible child.

Once Colin was at school, I was able to focus on our third child (since Jane was fine to watch PBS kids with her Nana). I had had a few good contractions walking to and from school and I went downstairs to try and focus. After a while things got more serious so we headed back to the birth center around 10am. They have such a beautiful new birth suite. Brian is such a pro at helping me through labor, there is really no way I could do it without him! He was supposed to go to a cello gig that morning but thankfully was able to cancel. I spent a lot of time just on my hands and knees, we labored in their big birth tub for a while, and when things had really progressed, they have an awesome birth stool that I was curious to try. We had a great birth assistant looking in on us and bringing heat and cold when I needed it, and a very great midwife. Most of our labor it was just me and Brian, they would just check in on us to make sure we were ok, check baby's heart tones, etc. It was so nice just to have some space to get the baby work done. It was kind of funny (and I don't think I have even told Brian this) but one thought I kept having over and over in labor was about Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azcaban. I think these thoughts came from a quote that was up in the birth center about how my contractions are not stronger than I am because they are me. Once I personally get through the fact that I cannot run away from the intensity of birth but that I have to get through it and work with it, then I am much more able to get the work done. I do feel like unmediated labor kind of takes a woman to a different place mentally, and mine took me to Harry Potter. Since it was my third labor, I was thinking about the end of the story when Harry was waiting for who he thought was his father but was actually him and he knew he could do it because he had done it before. Anyway, not sure I am really explaining my laboring thought process super well, but it was comforting to know my body had labored well before meaning I had the power to birth this baby too. I had a very intense transition where it was just contractions on top of contractions without any breaks but I was able to move around bring the baby down. Once I was ready ready to push I had some more breaks between contractions. I should have Brian comment here too, he is the one who caught Kate. She was crying before she was even all the way born, very full of life and ready for this world. We are so happy she is here, even though the newborn period can be a little tricky for me. It is such a short time and she is really so, so sweet.