The Rohrbach's: Charlie's Grand Entrance

As I have mentioned before, my due date was May 27th. I know that due dates are just estimates, but as that day came and went Mike and I couldn't help but feel incredibly anxious to meet our little one. 4 days later, on May 31st, it seemed like there was no movement at all and we just figured we were going to have two kids with June birthday's.

We decided to take Kendall to the Foster City art and wine festival to get her, and us, out of the house. After a few hours of roasting in the sun Kendall and I were getting pretty tired so we went home for naps. It was the first time in what felt like forever that I could actually nap instead of being filled with the overwhelming need to be constantly doing something. I woke up around 5:30pm and headed to the bathroom to pee for the 1200 time that day (oh the joys of pregnancy). As I started to leave the bathroom I heard a loud "snap" sound. I couldn't help but think that it could possibly be my water breaking but there was no movie style rush of water after. I headed back to bed and after a few minutes felt a little wet (sorry, gross I know). I then knew my water had broken but I hadn't had a contraction yet so I debated about even telling Mike. Half and hour later I had a few contractions and decided it would be best to call labor and delivery to check in. Even as I was on the phone with them my contractions started to come a little quicker and stronger. The nurse kept saying "see you in a few hours" even though I assured her my plan was to stay at home as long as possible while in labor. Mike and I both called our parents to let them know things were starting, but I still figured it would be hours before needing to have Kendall picked up or for my parents to meet us at the hospital. Within minutes of hanging up the phone my contractions started to come on quicker and quicker, and stronger and stronger. I went from walking around the house with a smile on my face talking, to locking myself in the bathroom because I was bent over in pain without more than a minute break in between and didn't want Kendall to see me like that. Mike got back on the phone and put the parents in high alert to get here ASAP.

Mike's parents picked Kendall up shortly after and the second they were out the door so were we. Mike was debating about running red lights because we knew I was in transition and wanted to be sure we made it to the hospital in time. I still managed to walk from the parking lot to the hospital, having to stop every few feet to get through my contractions. It's nice to see how concerned and nice people are because everyone that walked passed us offered to run and get a wheelchair :) Apparently May was a huge baby boom for Kaiser because we got put in the last room, a glorified closet that didn't even fit most of the baby equipment for after the birth. My parents showed up but sadly had to wait in the hallway or be pushed around the room while the nurses rushed to set things up. When I was checked I was only at 5cm which broke my heart because of much pain I was feeling already. The nurses assured me that things would move quickly, but in my head I was thinking it would be hours of this pain while being stuck in a teeny room with no room to walk around and manage it. At this point I had very little breaks from my contractions at all, them hitting one after the other after the other, so I was checked again. At a 7.5 I already felt the uncontrollable urge to push and I was shocked that the midwife gave me the ok to do so. The nurses were not wrong when they told me it would go quick because 15 minutes later Charlie was born! My parents at this point had been sent to a waiting room. Mike called them to tell them to come back, and my mom says they just assumed that meant they were ok to come back into the room through my labor. Much to their shock Mike was waiting in the hallway for them to tell them it was a boy :)

3 hours from my water breaking and less than 45 minutes after we walked into the hospital our little man was born, which is just insane! The nurse that I had talked to on the phone when my water broke met me in the hallway when I was getting taken up to our recovery room and said "see, I knew you'd be here in less than 2 hours!" We actually felt like mini celebrities because every nurse we met that night or the next day has some comment to make about how quickly our baby was born. Word spred fast!

Less than 24 hours from my water breaking we were back home with our new little man :) Our nurses were AMAZING every step of the way and we were so thankful that they helped to get us back home so quickly. At the time, I was totally traumatized from my labor because it was so much more intense this round. I was thinking I would have rather had a 14 hour, 2 min apart contractions, like I did with Kendall and build up to the unbearable pain. But now that I'm a few weeks away from Charlie's birth, I wouldn't have had it any other way :)