Surprise Party!

On Saturday morning we got treated to a great surprise! At 3:30 I woke up and got some pretty consistent hints that something was going down, but since birth day wasn't for several weeks, I was convinced that it wasn't real and tried to go back to sleep. That didn't work so I got up just before 5 and started picking up my room. Still in denial, I showered around 6 and finally got a clue when I realized that my contractions seemed right on top of each other. I woke Jamie up at 6:30 and told him to shower. While he was in there I decided I'd better time the contractions--about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes apart. That's when I finally clued in that we should probably go--soon. We called our wonderful neighbors to come watch the kids and left. As we were getting in the car I asked Jamie to push on my back during a contraction. Well, all I said was push and pointed to my back. "Push on your back?...Wait! You push? NO YOU DON'T PUSH!!" (That's when Jamie got a little keyed up.) You know those movies where the mother is panting or screaming in the passenger seat and the father is driving like a maniac to get her to the hospital before baby comes? Yeah, our 6 minute drive to the hospital took 3 (although I wasn't screaming). We went up to the nurses' station and I told them that I was having a contraction and that I had to push. See...there's lingo at the hospital to get you their 5-star service. If you go to the ER with a cut, you'll wait 6 or 7 hours before you get a room. However, you go with that same cut and tell them your chest hurts and you are having a hard time breathing, BAM! you've got a room. Same with Labor and Delivery: you tell them you are in labor, they ask you seven million stupid questions at the front desk, take you back and monitor you and finally a couple of hours later they let you into a room and officially declare you "checked in." Apply the lingo: You walk in, put on a pouty face and tell them you have to push and BAM! you're in. We were at the hospital for a total of 4 contractions before Caleb came. I couldn't have planned that better. One of the nurses was extremely nervous and told me to "just close your legs" so the Dr. could get there. I wasn't too keen on that and let her know--unfortunately at top volume--that we were not going to wait. (I didn't realize that I yelled at her until later, oops.) We got there and got my name in the computer at 6:53 and our birthday boy showed up at 6:54. SURPRISE!!!

Caleb Dallin Childers born at 5 lbs. 15 oz and 19 inches long.

Ten minutes after we arrived at the hospital.

Perfectly beautiful and healthy!