I've had some time to reflect on the events right before and to the birth of Titus. We are safe and sound at home as a family. Grandpa Jerry dropped off the kids the day after we got home and we're all together again in our tiny apartment.
We appreciate all of the well-wishes and congratulations from everyone. It took so long to get to this point, yet Titus was really only two days "late." His due-date was the 8th, and he ended up being born on the 10th.
A bit of the story can be seen on my Facebook account as it happened and as I would snap pictures and upload them. But that really doesn't capture the story completely.
T-06:09: Book Store - Just a few hours before Titus arrived, Karen and I were actually on a date. Aunt Tammy was watching the kids and we went to Souplantation. After that, we went to the book store and even met with a friend there.
T-05:30: Home - We arrived home to find the kids were asleep in bed thanks to Aunt Tammy. Karen complained of "gas" pain, which made Tammy and me suspicious. But there were false alarms before, so we treated this the same.
T-04:10: First Stage Labor - We went to bed and Karen continued to report pain every 10 minutes. I got dressed. Twenty minutes later, I called Grandpa Jerry, who was our designated baby-sitter for the big event. Jerry arrived quickly after that. We were still trying to figure out if it was time to go to the hospital. See, we didn't want to spend hours there and we didn't want them to pressure us with any unnecessary procedures before we were ready. Then the contractions came more quickly, so we decided just to go.
T-01:10: Hospital Arrival - We arrived at the hospital at 1:20 AM. It took a moment to locate L&D department on the 3rd floor. They were closed up and no one was at the front desk. We found the intercom and they let us in. I had to leave Karen to move the van from patient arrival to the parking lot.
I got back from moving the van and joined Grandma Sue, Aunt Tammy, and Uncle Gilbert. Karen was already in a hospital gown. I briefly stepped out to tell Gilbert we might be a while. Little did I know Karen was "complete, complete." This means dilation was complete and effacement was complete. The doctor was 30 minutes away, so we got the "on-call" doctor.
T-00:18: Second Stage Labor - Karen answered their questions and signed their papers. So much for second stage labor.
T00:00: Delivery - Titus Joseph Martin arrived at 2:13 AM on May 10th, 2009 (Mother's Day), weighing in at 10 pounds, length of 21 inches.
After he arrived, got cleaned up, and Karen was patched up a bit (she sustained far less injury than with Benjamin's delivery, even though Titus was about 7 ounces heavier), we were moved from L&D to our room at around 4:30 AM.
There were several visitors on Mother's Day including Gramps and Nana.
They were already scheduled to volunteer at Torrance Memorial that day, so they arrived early and too me to breakfast.
Later that day, Hannah and Benjamin arrived with Grandpa Jerry. Jerry had some things to take of, so all the kids got to hang out for a while.
We stayed one night and left after diner on the 11th. The hospital is not a place to rest, so we were all too glad to get out of there. They did a number of tests and picked on on the new kid for various reasons (due to his size and other factors) and they all came back negative.
Arrival at home was around 10:30 PM. Benjamin and Hannah were still with Grandpa Jerry, so we had a peaceful night and morning. Titus was very quiet ... almost too quiet. But Karen assured me he'll get more vocal very soon.
Since we got home early, we were in uncharted territory. We never had such a peaceful time so soon after the birth of either Benjamin or Hannah. I highly recommend going home early if it's safe to do so. And I highly recommend ditching the kids of possible, even if for 24 hours.
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