Peter's Here!

Peter Ronald Cavener was born weighing 8 lbs 4 oz on July 26th at 12:04PM. We are so happy! Here is his birth story.

Last Tuesday the doctor checked my cervix and announced that I was 2 or 3 cm dilated. He checked my chart and said "You're scheduled for an induction on Monday (another doctor had scheduled it), if you last that long!" So I left the appointment on Tuesday, very excited and feeling like labor was imminent. Tuesday night I felt some cramping and started to wonder, "Is this it?" I felt the same thing off and on on Wednesday and Thursday. Every morning I would wake up and think, "Well, I'm still here! I guess I didn't go into labor!"

Saturday was forecast to be the first sunny day in weeks. My sister and I made plans for a beach day complete with coolers and sandwiches. I imagined this would be my last chance to sit with my feet in the water while Bryan chased Jill on the beach. Becky and I agreed that with this stellar plan in place I was sure to go into labor on Saturday.

Saturday morning I woke up crampy and feeling a little different. Keeping with our Saturday morning routine, Bryan and I packed up Jill and went to the Hollow Cafe for breakfast. As we drove to the restaurant my contractions started organize to 20 minutes apart. Bryan and I exchanged anxious smiles like, "Ooooh, this is it!" The doctor had told me to go to the hospital when contractions were 10 minutes apart, and we thought it could be a while before that happened, so we ordered breakfast. My water broke as the waitress arrived with our meals. We ordered a blueberry pancake for my mom, and then called her and asked her to pick up Jill at the restaurant. A couple of cups of coffee later my mom arrived and we headed to the hospital.

Over the course of 30 minutes my contractions went from 15 to 6 minutes apart. By 10:30 we were admitted and as we took the elevator up to labor and delivery I needed to pause in conversation during the contractions, but I was feeling OK. When the nurse checked my progress, she said, "Wow! You're 6 cm! I wasn't even sure you were in labor when you walked in here!" Then it was off to the races. Chaos ensued and Peter was born with three pushes at 12:04PM.

Bryan and I were stunned and just laughed in the delivery room. It felt like we went out to breakfast and just dropped by the hospital to have a baby. All together it was three and a half hours of labor. It was awesome.

We had a wonderful time with Peter in the hospital. Having packed our bags weeks ago (so different from Jill's birth!) we had everything we needed to be comfortable. Bryan ran out to get his dinner Saturday night and brought me flowers and 4 tabloid magazines. We kept Peter with us all day and let him sleep in the nursery at night.

My mom brought Jill to meet her brother on Sunday morning. My mom had put her in a pink dress and she looked really pretty. At mom's house when Jill saw her outfit she asked, "That Anna's dress?" Mom said, "No, that's Jill's dress." Jill got really excited and when she came to see us the nurses all admired her curls. :) Jill gave Peter a lukewarm reception but soon afterward her Auntie Becky arrived with her cousins and she had good reason to ignore him.

My mom didn't want us to take this picture. I said, "Come on, Mom! We have to take a picture, this is a big life event. Nobody looks good." Anna took exception to that. "I look good!" she said. That's Anna. She's so funny. Later in the day, Keith, Deb, Jean and Tim came to visit us. It was really nice to show Peter off to our friends. He slept very contentedly with both Jean and Debster. Hello, future sitters? :) In the first picture in this post it's actually Debster with the fabulous manicure holding him.

We were discharged on Monday afternoon after the little guy got circumcised. :( As we packed up our things I said to Bryan, "What a great weekend. It was like staying at a strangely appointed B&B!" You know, instead of a mint on your pillow you got Motrin and Colace. Bryan and I are part of what I imagine is a small group of people who actually like hospitals. We spent our honeymoon period with then baby Jill in the hospital, so the smells and the routine remind me of her first weeks. Oh, and one other thing that doesn't usually happen at a B&B... On our last day a man knocked on the door of our hospital room and tried to sell Bryan his watch for $2000. Crazy!

On our way home we stopped at Target to pick up a couple of last minute things we needed for Peter. Peter had many admirers in the store and of course a couple of disapproving older women commented, "Oh, he's so little! Should he be out?" That always happens! :) Despite being decked out in head to toe light blue, a couple of people asked if he was a girl. We decided Peter must be man-pretty like Kelso.

Since we've been home, we've had visits from Auntie Janet, Charlotte, and Debster, and of course regular visits from Becky, Yaka, and the girls. We're looking forward to visits from Rich, Patty, Erin and Erin and the next couple of weeks.