Paul's arrival story!

Here is what my weekly e-mail from babycenter says for 34 weeks:

Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. (Unless you are baby Paul, and you are more like 5 3/4 pounds and over 19 inches long!!!) Her fat layers — which she'll need to regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies. (Good news!)

So obviously Paul just couldn't wait a little bit longer. Have you seen the size of those feet? Just like his sister! Guess they felt they were running out of room already. At about 3 a.m. on Wednesday my water broke (at 1 a.m. on a Wednesday my water broke with Jillian!). And either we intuitively knew what was going to happened or we cursed ourselves but we had just packed our hospital bags that day! I prefer to think we knew what was going to happen - I had been feeling a little bit off, especially since my mid-wife had needlessly sent me for the 3 hour blood test last weekend. It was really rough on me physically at 33 weeks and should have been done at 28 weeks if she had been more attentive - ahem, that is another story - since I had to sit at the hospital and had to fast for 17 hours straight, including water, and have 4 blood draws.
Thankfully, my awesome friend Heather drove and met us at the hospital and picked up poor Jillian, who has been nothing but a trooper this week. I was getting scared, because with Jillian my contractions didn't start for an hour or two after my water broke, but they were starting in the car this time. Then once I was checked in the nurse would NOT listen to me - I can't stand when people act like you don't know your own body - as I continued to tell her they were coming faster and finally at one point didn't feel like they were ending, with no break in between. I was already overdue for an epidural and they hadn't even called the anesthesiologist! They checked me and I was a 3 and after I got my epidural I was a...HEAD! Basically I ended up going through the entire labor unmedicated and could have just delivered him, but instead ended up hanging out for a 1/2 hour as my legs became completely numb waiting for the doctor. One push later, little Paul was here! He was crying and had tons of hair. The first thing I noticed other than all that hair is that just like Jilly he has his daddy's mouth!
We are so sad not to be able to bring him home yet, but the air outside is toxic (the news reported we actually had the worst air in the entire country, worse than LA or NYC!) so we definitely don't want him out until he is 100%! Otherwise he is very healthy and seems to have a good appetite. Dad even got to change a dirty poo diaper yesterday! He is awake a lot now when we visit him too - when he hears our voices he opens his eyes and stares. Last night I was leaving and Paul got agitated but I hung back and waited a few minutes for him to stop crying while the nurse had been trying to calm him down (I'm his mom, I can never leave while he is crying!). Finally I went over and the second he heard my voice he got quiet, gripped my finger, opened his eyes to stare at me and started going to town sucking on his binky. It was so sweet! This next couple of weeks are going to feel like eternity, but we look forward to bringing the little man home!