Jason

I am in Tucson Arizona for the inpending birth of my best friend's (Jennifer) 4th child. April 10th, 2008-it's a beautiful day in Tucson Arizona. 80 degree weather, sunny. Nothing much going on. Jennifer says if I want to get out of the house, we could go up to the mountian, it's a National Park up the road and see cactus and what not. I didn't care, I was pretty fine staying home. I'm a home body and enjoying doing nothing and having very little responsibility at the moment. I played on the computer on and off all day, researching baby names (they have no middle name picked out), looking up how to digital scrapbook, and silly things.
Ken was actually home early today, about 5pm. He and the boys went out to the workshop to work on his "bridge" for boy scouts. Then they all came in and we hung out. While we are all gathered together making dinner, playing on the computer, chatting, etc. Jennifer has several contractions. Not a big deal, she didn't time them, she didn't feel they were regular. Christianna, who hadn't paid attention to Jennifer's belly all day (as she had all week), started paying attention to it during the making of dinner. Jennifer also mentioned at this time that things felt a tad different then they had been feeling, but who knows that didn't neccessarily mean anything.
About 830pm, dinner is done, Christianna is bathed and put to bed, the boys' chores are done; we're watching YouTube clips, playing music, and just hanging out. Jennifer says that she wanted Kenny to start writing down the times of the contractions, just for giggles. They weren't regular...10, 15, 20 minutes apart...though since the start of dinner she'd had several and these were a tad stronger. Probably about 930 or so the boys settled in to watch Spiderwick. Martin and Kyle fell asleep pretty quick and Ken put them in bed. I was pretty tired, so I mentioned I was going to head to bed just in case anything happened this night. Ken and Jennifer sat to watch Spiderwick.
I woke up to knocking on my door and some muffled noise beyond it. I said, I'm awake, come in. I hear another knock, I say, "yeah". I hear Ken say, you can wake her up. I got out of bed and came to the door. There was Jennifer, Ken and Kenny. Jennifer mentions that the midwife was on the way. The contrations were jumping around (3,7, etc. minutes apart), she had a bit of bloddy mucus, but didn't "feel" like it was much. She wasn't sure if anything was happening, but her step dad was on the way as well and they were calling her mom (who lives in San Diego for the moment til she can get a job in Arizona). I got my pants on, and came out and we just sat around chatting. I started water for coffee and called David to give him a heads up.
The midwives started arriving. Kenny opened the gates for them, they brought loads of stuff in. I guided them to places they were going to be and got them various supplies and such. Once they were all set up, the midwife checked Jennifer and she was a very stretchy 7 and very little cervix, so she said, we're having a baby. Jennifer was suprised. She didn't "feel" in labor.
We walked around, sat around talking, joking, taking pictures. The midwives sat in the kitchen chatting. Jennifer felt "slow", like the contractions were getting farther apart, not closer. They were stronger, but not super strong. I mentioned something to the midwives and she went to Jennifer's room and offered to check her, strip her membranes, said she could go for a walk, etc...Jennifer opted to go outside for a walk. We got outside and it was too cold for her! She said it'd stop her contractions, not help them. So we came back inside. She paced back and forth around the house. Things started to speed up. The contractions were strong now. She was having them what seemed like one on top of the other. She was tired of walking, but didnt want to lay down either. The midwife offered the birthing stool. So her and Ken did that. I came in and was rubbing her feet, Ken was behind her on the bed. It's about 4am at this time. Things are pretty strong now and Jennifer is uncomfortable. The midwife suggests a shower. After the shower, Jennifer is ready for the bath. She labored in the bath for a while.
About 430am, I woke up Martin and Kyle (Kenny had been up this entire time, he watched a movie with grandpa and just hung out looking for baby names). Martin and Kyle came in and saw Jennifer and we talked about what was happening. It was getting close to baby time, they decided to go watch Spiderman 3 with Kennny and grandpa. A bit later, Jennifer started feeling like pushing, so we again assembled the boys...
Jason (no middle name yet) was born at 5:03am on April 11, 2008. He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz. He looks just like his brothers and more specifically like Kyle. He nursed right away, he's calm and content and so awake and alert!
Grandma arrived here from San Diego about 630am. She brought coffee and breakfast makins. I got breakfast for mom (nut, raisins, toast with peanut butter and apple), and the boys (cereal) and then I cooked scrambled eggs with ham and cheese in tortillas for grandma, grandpa, dad and myself.
Today I have just been doing dishes, cleaning up, feeding everyone, getting things, laundry, etc. I took a little nap with Christianna this afternoon until the dog started barking right out our window for 5 minutes. LOL. Oh well, at least it was something. Gonna take my sleep medicine tonight and sleep well! I had put Christianna down to bed, but they had friends come over to visit baby. The friends had 3 kids, so that was a bunch of people. They brought presents for the boys so it was loud and chaotic. Kyle and Martin had a mishap (which never was explained) and Kyle screamed bloody murder for 5 minutes and woke Christianna up. Well, she'd been sleeping for a little over an hour, so nice little nap. Who knows when she'll go to bed!