I'm a dad!!

Ummm...so I'm a dad. :)

Mama Bean woke me up shortly after 3 this morning saying she was having contractions and asking if she should be calling the midwife. She went back downstairs (i'm not sure what else was said as I was half-asleep) but I didn't fall back asleep. I didn't think they were actual contractions, but maybe something like braxton-hicks as she hadn't actually had much in the way of them yet. Though despite my doubts, I still didn't sleep. I lay there thinking about all the things we still had to get ready.

As we were planning a home birth, there was lots to prepare. Mama Bean had gotten almost everything together, but as we'd had company the past 4 days, some things still weren't setup. Music wasn't on the ipod, the matress wasn't upstairs, there were no sheets on the mattress, the plastic to protect the floor and stuff hadn't been laid out, and the list went on. All of this was running through my head as I tried to fall back asleep.

Mama Bean came back in just before 4 and said that we should probably bring the mattress upstairs and set things up, and the contractions were getting stronger and closer together. I still thought she was overreacting, but part of me was worried, so we setup the futon mattress on the living room floor and put down our dollar store shower curtain to protect things. By this time it was shortly after 4 and Mama Bean was having what looked like serious contractions. So since they fit the criteria of 511 (5 min apart, 1 min each, for 1 hour) we called the midwife and let her know. Our normal midwife has received a call shortly before ours so she was just heading out to another birth so she sent over Lisa, another midwife whom we hadn't met yet.

Lisa showed up about 4:30 and looked to have a mini-freakout session in her head when she realized just how far along Mama Bean actually was. Mama Bean was fully dialated and trying hard not to push. So Lisa quickly called another midwife to come over and help (as there always needs to be two for a delivery) and Kara showed up shortly thereafter.

By about 5:30 Mama Bean was pushing and her water broke around 6ish. At 7:17 we welcomed Bean into this world. Mama Bean is such a trooper doing this all at home, drug free. I'm so proud of her, and so thankful we had such awesome midwives.

The midwives were gone around 11:30 and we spent the rest of the day relaxing and recuperating.

More to come later... :)