James Timothy den Hollander

All day Tues. Kryna and I fixed up James’ room, that night Mom came into town and we went out to dinner and got a few things at our Mecca, Wal-Mart. By the time we got back to my house I was absolutely exhausted. Even though I was worn out I had the overwhelming urge to pick up the mess in my house from remodeling (some are sure I was once again nesting). I finally laid down on the couch to wait for Tim to get home from work and low and behold my water broke. Later I found out Mom left my house, looked at Kryna and said “She’s gonna have that kid tonight.” Apparently that old saying “Mom knows best” is really true (I knew this but it continues to amaze me). It was 10:45, Tim’s shift would be over in only 15 min. so I called Mom to see what she thought, then called the hospital to let them know we would be coming and then Tim to alert him of the excellent news(also warning him we had plenty of time and not to get a speeding ticket). We got to the hospital at about 12:15am, contractions were still only about 10 min. apart so we settled in. Mom and Kryna came right away because they knew they wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway. By 6:00am my contractions were still only about 5 min. apart so (get this) my Dr. sent us out for breakfast. Yes, out for breakfast to a café downtown. It was her plan to get me going faster and harder. She’s quite brilliant. We came back to the hospital an hour later and although the contractions were not yet 3 min. apart they were stronger. By 11:00 they were murderous I was dilated to 7 ½ and the nurse never left my side after that. Somewhere between that and when I started pushing at 12:20ish James decided to change positions, he went into the OP position which means he was face up I am told, making my labor twice as hard(once again going on what the Dr. tells me because I’ve never done this before). He was born a little over an hour and a half later at 1:42pm Aug. 30. All this mind you without so much as a Tylenol, while the Dr. was still cleaning James she was telling me how much the baby appreciated not having those meds and I told her the next one might not get to have the same appreciation. She was quick to assure me the next would be much easier. There is absolutely no way I could describe how I felt the first time I saw him, it was the best feeling I’ve felt in life and it just keeps getting better. I have to go for now but I promise to keep updating and adding more info later.