Welcome Baby Henrik!

When Henrik’s due date arrived and he was still sitting comfy in the womb, I think I lost all hope.  All hope of being able to experience going into labor naturally.  I think I was completely convinced that my body just simply didn’t know how to go into labor. My next appointment with my Midwife was scheduled for Tuesday, March 17^th, which she warned me that we would have to start talking about a “plan” at that appointment if we made it there.

Monday night Kim sent me a text to just check in and see how I was feeling.  I told her I was feeling way too good to be going into labor anytime soon so we were just going to wait and see what my Midwife had to say at tomorrow’s appointment.

We tucked Hanley in for bed that night, having no clue that would be our last evening as a family of three.

At 2am, I woke up with some mild contractions.  By 2:30am, they were strong enough that I was uncomfortable laying down.  Cody woke up and asked if I was okay.  I assured him I was just fine and told him to go back to sleep.  I went downstairs and started doing dishes just to take my mind off the contractions. By 3:30am, I went back upstairs and woke Cody up.  I told him my contractions were 10 mins apart and I thought we needed to just start taking about a plan. He thought we needed to call the Moms and have them make the drive up but I hesitated.  I told him I didn’t want them to get halfway here and have my contractions suddenly stop.  It took him 15 minutes to talk me into calling my Mom. She of course jumped in the car and headed north right away. Cody called his Mom a short time later and said, “Chelsea’s having contractions.  You have time but you might want to think about coming up.” The plan was for my Mom to come to the house to take care of Hanley and Kim meet us at the hospital to be there for the delivery (since my Mom was present for Hanley’s birth, we thought Kim might like to be there for Henrik’s birth).

Cody and I threw some last minute things into the hospital bag but I kept insisting I could wait it out until my Mom arrived. Soon, I was having a hard time talking through my contractions. Cody timed them and realized they were only 3 minutes apart but I kept insisting I was just fine and we would wait.  “My worst fear is to get to the hospital too early” I kept telling him (I mean, how discouraging would that be to get to the hospital and have them send you back home because your not far enough along!).

Cody called Kim back and told her things were progressing fast and she better get on the road.

We figured my Mom was still about an hour out. Despite my reservations, we started making calls to see if we could get someone over to the house to bridge the gap until my Mom arrived because Cody was certain we needed to be leaving for the hospital. My first couple calls went unanswered. A couple minutes later my phone rang and it was our friend and old neighbor calling back.  I picked up the phone and Tammy didn’t ask any questions, she just said she would be right over! Talk about a huge relief!! She was there in 10 minutes stat then we were out the door.

The drive to the hospital was horrible.  I couldn’t sit through my contractions so I was on all fours with my knees in the front seat, my body slung over the center console with my hands on the backseat.

In triage, they hooked me up to the monitors and realized I was pumping out contractions every 2 minutes then checked me. I was 8 cm dilated. They didn’t waste any time getting us into a delivery room.

We walked into the delivery room at 6:00am. 

The nurse said, “Oh how exciting. Your going to have a Saint Patrick’s Day baby!”.

Cody (with his only other birthing experience being Hanley’s lengthy one) responded honestly with “Well, we hope we have a baby today.”

She looked at Cody puzzled and said “Um…I am off work in an hour.  Your going to be have this baby on my shift.” 

And she was right…

My water broke at 6:12am.  10 mins later, I was pushing.  Henrik Loren Olson was born at 6:48am. Everything just happened so quick. 

No INDUCTION, No medical interventions, they threw Henrik right up on my chest as soon as he came out and Cody got to cut the umbilical cord. It was the birthing experience I had hoped for.

Kim missed Henrik’s birth by no more than 5 minutes.  She walked into the room with a crying baby already in my arms.  I think if it was up to her, she would have had Henrik slow things down just a little bit!

We feel beyond blessed to have a happy, healthy little guy. We love all 7 lbs, 12 oz and 20 inches of him. He is simply the perfect completion to our family.