By 8 PM, my contractions were lasting around a minute and coming every 4-5 minutes. We called Gigi to come stay with Jensyn so we could head to the hospital. Once we arrived, they got us settled in and checked me out—still only at 2cm! But the contractions were steadily getting stronger. The nurses encouraged me to relax while they monitored me for another hour. By the end of that hour, I was convinced I had progressed to at least 5cm and was ready to be moved to labor and delivery. However, the nurse checked and confirmed that despite the intensity of the contractions, I wasn’t progressing. As she explained that they were waiting for a decision from the on-call doctor (who wasn’t my usual OB), she was gently preparing me to go home since there wasn’t much else they could do.

Then came the final check, and the pain was intense enough to bring me to tears.

Thankfully, or perhaps strangely, my blood pressure was a little elevated, and the on-call doctor decided it was best to admit me to labor and delivery for monitoring. And I’m so grateful they did. They wheeled me back to my room—ironically the same room where I had delivered Jensyn—and just as we arrived, my water broke. By this time, it was close to midnight, and we were both beyond exhausted. Once they got me settled, I was able to receive an epidural, and we finally tried to catch some sleep.

Labor progressed quickly from there, and before 8 AM, you were in our arms. We had an incredible team of nurses and not a single complaint about the whole experience. You were delivered by Dr. Jason Harn, who I hadn’t met before that day, but he turned out to be an excellent doctor.

You certainly surprised us all by weighing in at 9lbs! But you were as healthy and perfect as could be.

The day you were born changed our lives forever, and it’s a day I’ll always be thankful for.