Meet Corbin Alexander

Meet Corbin Alexander. Born December 2nd at 4:14am and weighing 8lbs 3oz and 22″ long. Click on the picture to see more.

Everyone is doing well and adjusting to our new lifestyle quickly. There’s lots to learn and no amount of classes or reading can prepare you for all of it. Somethings you just have to experience for yourself. Plus, every pregnancy is different, so you can only rely on what you’ve heard so much.

As I stated in my last post, everything happened so fast. We went to bed around 11-11:30 and at midnight, Julia woke me up to tell me she was having contractions. Now the one thing I remember from all my reading and classes and conversations was that labor is typically a long process – typically.

Julia told me the contractions were 5 minutes apart and lasting about 30 seconds each – which in layman’s terms, would put her in Active Labor (something it takes most women hours to accomplish). So, feeling like I should do something, we started actually timing the contractions. It didn’t take long for the contractions to get serious so we called triage (aka the hospital). It was now 1:30

Triage asked if her water broke which we think it had so they suggested we wait an hour and see if it becomes more obvious. 30 minutes later the contractions were already 2 minutes apart and lasting over 60 seconds. It was time to go. Oh, and her water had definitely broken. It was now 2:30

Now if you are expecting to give birth in a winter month, might I suggest that at the first sign of needing to go to the hospital, you start the car so it can warm up. Not only was Julia having to deal with the near constant contractions but getting into a car at 2:30am December 2nd isn’t all that pleasant – even in San Diego.

We arrived at the hospital and I had already forgot the one thing I needed to remember. Don’t use the south entrance after hours – it’s locked. I quickly drove around to the other side of the hospital and entered the Emergency Entrance were they were expecting us. They loaded us into a wheel chair and away we went to the fourth floor. It was now 3:00

They barely got us into one room where they do the initial exam to see our progress when they whisked us off to the delivery room. You see, on Thursday at Julia’s regular appointment, she was 3cm dilated and 70% effaced. 10cm and 100% means you’re done. But, Julia’s sister-in-law was 3cm and 80% for a month with one of her kids, so we thought we had some time. At the hospital, she was 8cm and 90% effaced. By the time the midwife saw us a few minutes later, 9cm and 100% effaced. it was now 4:00

When the midwife arrived, it was time to push and after about 5 contractions with 3-4 pushes each, Corbin Alexander was born. It was now 4:14 and we had our son. Healthy and with lots of dark hair. No complications but we did learn that his umbilical cord had tied itself into a knot. Luckily, it had no impact on the delivery.

I’ll save my thoughts on the delivery itself and post delivery experiences for another post. In the mean time, feel free to ask questions.