In case you had't heard... Brudder is here!

Here is the bottom line:

And here's the background on how it all went down... I went for my weekly scans at 38.5 weeks, and my fluid levels were now off the charts at a staggering 56! The ultrasound pictures showed a little baby head with all kinds of space/fluid surrounding it - not the cozy cocoon we'd expect to see at this late date. I was initially scheduled to go to the hospital to be induced on Monday (week 39) with strict orders to get to the hospital ASAP if my water were to break, but after my doctor consulted with a Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist I was ordered over on Friday.

We got to the hospital around 2pm to find out that I was already 4cm dilated (from 2 on Monday) but Brudder was still quite high in the birth canal, but we were optimistic things would move along nicely. (and very happy we were at the hospital and not waiting around at home!!) They gave me a low dose of pitocin and the epidural right away (pitocin to keep things moving, epidural as a precaution since we were anticipating complications) So for 6 or so hours Matt and I just hung out, I didn't feel much of my contractions but we could see that they were getting closer together.

Around 10:30, Brudder's heartrate spiked to around 200 and wasn't coming down. Then, while the doc was in my room, my water started to 'leak' I felt the pop and a gush of fluid, but nothing huge - so she checked me again, the amniotic sac was still intact, so it was likely a puncture somewhere and also Brudder was still high and I hadn't dilated any more. So basically at this point I had the polyhydroamnios of unknown cause, baby high heartrate of unknown cause and now leaky water. It took her about 15 seconds to conclude the baby had to come out ASAP and about 15 minutes later he arrived via C-section.

It turns out his cord was wrapped around his head several times, so if my water had broken it surely would have been a really bad situation. In addition, because of the epidural and the way everything went down, I didn't push once (vs 20+ hours labor with Norah) and it all happened very fast! Honestly after the summer with so many false alarms and everything else, I don't know how much strength I would have had to push anyway! The doctor said she has never seen anywhere near the amount of fluid I had, and my uterus was stretched to the same point as if I had triplets, so as you can imagine, one 8lb 2oz little boy had a lot of room to spare in there.

Anyway, the great news is that other than a floppy belly, neither he nor I seem to have suffered any ill effects from the high fluid. He is a champion nurser, and had latched on within a couple of hours and my milk came in over the weekend. He eats like crazy and twice now has granted my 4 hours sleep.

I am feeling very blessed that everything happened the way it did - there is so much that could have gone wrong that didn't! Overall feeling well and much more 'normal' than we did at this point with Norah. A C-section is certainly different from the vaginal birth, and I'm thankful that I didn't essentially end up doing the work (and having to recover) from both experiences.

So, that's the scoop! Matt's home with for two weeks and then my parents for a couple of weeks so hopefully I will be mostly healed by that time. Norah is doing really great, has decided she likes him (her words) and has continued with the potty like a champ! I put a bunch of pics on facebook and updated the baby pool. More later, a really cute little guy needs me :)