the child has arrived!

sorry for the lack of blogging. the last few months of pregnancy brought carpal tunnel syndrome to my right hand which made typing, and everything else, uncomfortable. i thought it would go away once i had the baby, but not yet...

i just wanted to get the arrival details documented before they blur into oblivion. being exhausted will do that.

Calder Jace Hansen arrived saturday, 7/16/11 (one day before my due date) at 2:45pm at banner gateway hospital. he weighed 8lbs 12oz and was 21.5in long.

i was starting to think that i would have to be induced just like i was with gemma. everytime i would go to the ob to get checked, i had made absolutely no progress. then my ob was out on vacation when i went for my 39 1/2 week checkup and i was just sure i would have to wait until she got back to get induced at 41+ weeks.

friday the 15th i was driving to meet lincoln to give him his spare cell phone battery when i started having contractions. linc was really hoping i would go into labor while he was working so he could "drop" his route. i called my mom to give her the heads up (she was planning on coming down here to take care of gemma). but unfortunately after an hour or so, the contractions stopped.

that night we took gemma to the san tan mall to play and for me to walk around a little. i kept telling lincoln that we need to treat this weekend like our last weekend before the baby comes and to get the house put in order, all the laundry washed and put away, and groceries bought. after we got back from the mall, we all were so tired we just went straight to bed without doing anything.

3am i woke up with a horrible stomach ache. 4am i woke up with an even worse stomach ache. then i realized i was having contractions. i started timing them and they were pretty consistent. i woke lincoln up around 5 and told him this might be the real deal. i went downstairs and started cleaning house. i called my mom around 530 and told her to head down. i went back upstairs and woke lincoln up again. i told him i was going to shower and asked him to get some laundry started. after i got out of the shower, i saw that lincoln was back in bed. i woke him up again. he asked me if he had time to mow the lawn.

gemma was up around 645 so lincoln made her breakfast while i made sure our bags were ready. my mom arrived around 730. lincoln had time to fix a sprinkler head. my contractions were less than 5 minutes apart.

off to the hospital we went. once in triage they hooked me up to the machines and did the check. 4cm. it was pretty busy that day so i stayed in triage for over an hour. they had put me on my side to watch my blood pressure and i suffered through the contractions. i kept telling lincoln that i needed to walk around. i couldn't just lay there like that. since they didn't have a room available and they didn't think my contractions were intense enough (trust me, they were plenty intense), the nurse told me to walk around for 30-45 minutes and then they would check me again. otherwise they would probably just send me home.

about 10 minutes later, the contractions were so strong that i couldn't even walk. i had to hold onto the rails on the wall in the halls. they took me back and checked me. 7cm around 11am.

once in my room i got the epidural (i wasn't even going to kid myself this time around). by 1am i was almost there. the nurse came in around 1:50 and said it was time to "practice push". after an eternity of pushing, they had to flip the baby around (he was face up), then a few contractions more and there he was! the doctor (who was just the guy on call, not my ob or even the other ob in her practice) was basically there for the last 10 minutes, so it was just linc and the nurse and me. unlike gemma's delivery which had 2 nurses, my dr, my mom and linc (and my dad in the corner out of view). this one was so laid back and quiet while gemma's was like a comedy club, lots of jokes and laughing between pushes.

i watched lincoln's face as the doc lifted up the baby. biggest smile ever. loved it.

i got to hold him for a long time before they took him to be weighed and measured. he just looked around all wide eyed. i thought he looked just like his sister but now i notice the little differences. gemma was and is such a giant solid baby. while calder has skinny little legs and less chunk. he was 10oz lighter.

his first visitors were his aunt jana and his cousins talia, dana, and abbey. pictures below are from jana. then my mom and dad and sister brought gemma. her reaction was priceless. we made sure to film it.

we stayed in the hospital just 24 hours after his birth. and now we are home adjusting.