Our Little Family: Welcome Baby Boy!!

Our little mister was scheduled to come October 24. I was feeling pretty good about finishing up the last minute cleaning and organizing I had to do the days leading up to his birth, and Mom was coming Thursday to stay with the girls, and then help after baby came. This was the plan, and I do love a plan. However, the weekend before we were expecting baby I started to feel a lot of pressure and it was clear baby was head down and ready to come out...I was also having more contractions than I've had in any of my three previous pregnancies, and I was quite certain I was starting to leak amniotic fluid a couple days before baby ending up coming...
Sunday morning on October 19, I had gotten up early for ward council. As soon as I got up I felt like my water was breaking, and felt pressure and discomfort (down there). I didn't really think it was possible that I was actually going into labor at 37.5 weeks, and I was not ready for baby to come, so I tried to ignore the signs. As I continued to get ready, I kept feeling everything more intensely. I woke James up and asked him to Google all the signs I was experiencing. They all pointed toward labor, but I didn't feel like it was going to happen right away, so I waddled off to ward council and kept my legs closed tight. We went to church and all throughout I kept squeezing James' leg with every contraction or increase of pressure. I was truly determined NOT to have the baby that day! I wasn't ready, we didn't have a name, and I didn't have everything done that I was planning to do in those next few days leading up to Friday, when he was SUPPOSED to come.
After church I had some RS responsibilities, but could barely even walk without feeling like baby boy could slip right out, so I swallowed my pride and quit being so stubborn, realizing I better get to the hospital just in case he was really coming! I called my sweet 2nd counselor Kayla to go in my place, called Mom so she could drive down, and made arrangements for the girls to go to the Ormonds (until Mom got there) so James and I could head up to the hospital.
So we hurried and packed a bag, and headed to the hospital. Around 1:30 or 2 we got to labor & delivery, explained the situation, and they took me in and hooked me up to the monitors. All the while James and I just kept asking each other, "Can you believe this?!" "Can you believe we're actually at the hospital today?!" It was crazy. I was definitely contracting, and after a doctor checked me, we found out my water had indeed broken, and I was dilated to a 2 and 50% effaced. I couldn't believe I was actually in labor!! I had no signs of labor with Emery or Claire, who were both born at 39 weeks. Baby boy was coming that day!!
Now, I have to add another reason I didn't want to have the baby that day was because my doctor had been on a cruise the week before, and I wasn't sure if he was back yet, and I really, really wanted him there! I had even told him before he left that I had a feeling something was going to happen, and it better not happen before he got back!! (I had been telling James for quite awhile as well, that I just had a feeling that something weird was going to happen...that things weren't going to go as planned...) The doctor on call was my friend's doctor, and I had heard good things about him, but I was still adamant they at least try to get a hold of Dr. Jones. They did, and he said he was available to come at 6 if I was willing to wait. It was probably around 3:30, so I was happy to wait. So James and I waited it out texting our family and friends, talking about names, filling out paperwork, getting prepped for surgery, and still in disbelief that our little stinker was coming early!!
Everything went really well and our sweet baby boy was born at 6:22 p.m. on October 19. He weighed 6 lbs., 12 oz., and was 20 inches long. We were immediately in love and couldn't imagine life without our little mister!!