Pregnancy: Third Trimester Community

BOY!!! Lane Douglas Keith T. was born on November 3rd at 6:12 a.m. He weighed 7lb 10oz. and was 20 3/4 inches long. He has a FULL head of dark hair that keeps going to his eyebrows and fills in little sideburns too. What a doll, I think he's a keeper! We are pretty excited to get a boy for #4 after 3 gorgeous little girls! And his big sisters are pretty excited about their little brother too

Full story: I had my membranes stripped at my OB appt on Thurs Nov. 1st. I never really had any contractions on Thursday, just a lot of pressure and tightness. Thursday night I lost a good chunk of mucus plug, and Friday morning I lost more and had more bloody show, but no contractions! I had my husband stay home from work b/c I was sure I was going to go into labor anytime, and we had a late breakfast and went on a little hike close to our house, and still nothing! I couldn't believe it. My husband told me to not worry, I would go into labor that night. He was right - don't you hate that? I woke up at 1:30 with good contractions but stayed in bed to make sure they were going to pick up. At 2:30 I got up and finished packing up my hospital bag and went downstairs to pace through the contractions. They quickly picked up to every 2 minutes and about 45 sec to 1 min in length. We decided to head to the hospital around 4.
When we got checked into labor and delivery, the nurse checked me and said I was about 3cm. I was kind of worried that I had gone in too early since I wanted to go natural again this time and usually I can cope better at home than in the hospital. She called my doctor and he decided (!) to keep me - good choice since this is my 4th baby and my labors don't last longer than 5 hours (but said he'd be in around 9 to break my water, hmm?)! By the time she finished her questions and paperwork and the monitor trace it was 5 a.m., and she checked me again and I was already at 6cm! I got into the tub (just to labor in, and oddly enough this was a total shock to my nurse since I guess no one uses the tub or goes without drugs at this hospital) and started to relax, but got out again quickly because I could tell I was going into transition. When she checked me again I was at 8 cm and it was obvious I wasn't going to make it until my doctor planned on coming at 9! Shortly thereafter I was ready to push, but my nurse wasn't ready to catch the baby...so she was telling me to concentrate on my breathing! Let me tell you, it's virtually impossible to not push out a baby when it's crowning! A few minutes of this ridiculousness and I decided to push anyway, baby boy was born with 2 good pushes and my husband coaching the delivery - and he announced we had a boy! My doctor walked in literally 2 minutes later. This was technically my nurse's first unassisted delivery (although I think that honor technically would go to my husband) - and little boy was none the worse for the wear with APGAR scores of 8/9 and a healthy cry!
Recovery has been pretty good, just tired mostly. I had one skid mark that's pretty much healed and Lane is eating and sleeping well (for a newborn!) We really couldn't be happier. Best wishes to all the new moms, it's been a pleasure to be on here with you all!