The Hinchcliff Family: Baby Bristol

*Note: I started this post on October 29 but actually finished and posted it on November 4. My due date was November 3 (not October 28), but blogspot dates the post using the date on which I started it. So without that information, it sounds like my due date was October 28, and then it doesn't make sense for me to say that Bristol was born two weeks early on October 20. Just a little FYI.

Yesterday was my due date, but Bristol Amelia came two weeks early, very much to our surprise. Her birth was quite an event. On October 20th, I went to the doctor and was dilated to a 3. Until then, I thought that I was going to make it to my due date or at least really close since Brooke and Jade were born on or around their due dates. However, after my appointment, I thought that there was a good chance the baby would be coming a lot sooner than I expected. Around 7:30 that night, I noticed that I was having painless contractions, but they were really inconsistent, anywhere from ten to thirty minutes apart. So I didn't think too much of them until after we had put the kids to bed. Then I thought that maybe it could just be false labor. At about 10:20, though, the contractions started hurting and were only one or two minutes apart. So I got in bed and waited about ten minutes. After that, I was in a lot more pain so I woke-up Trent who was asleep on the couch. He didn't really understand what was going on at first, though. When he was a little more with it, we started trying to figure out who to call to come stay with the kids while we went to the hospital. I was also trying to get my stuff together to take to the hospital. However, I couldn't really think that well because the pain was getting a lot worse, and I could barely move during the contractions so I decided that I better forget about packing my stuff and just get to the hospital. As I was changing out of my pajamas into regular clothes, I walked into the bathroom and realized that the baby was pretty much coming right then. So I walked out of the bathroom and laid down on the bedroom floor. While I was doing this, Trent got Jade up and laid her on our bed. I told Trent to forget about calling someone to stay with the kids and just call 911 instead. He called 911, and as he was talking to the dispatcher, the baby was born. I didn't even have to push; I pretty much just laid on the floor and waited for the baby to come out. After she came out, she cried and then pretty much went to sleep. I think Bristol was born at about 10:50 pm; we really weren't paying too much attention to the time since we were a little preoccupied. Jade had been laying on the bed, but when she heard the baby cry, she said "Baby!" She got off the bed and came over to see the baby. It was really cute. I felt very relieved that the pain was over and the baby seemed fine. About ten minutes later, the firemen and paramedics arrived. They cut the umbilical cord, gave me an IV, and gave me and the baby oxygen (which I don't think I really needed). Then they took us to the hospital where the doctor delivered the placenta.