We were due November 1st. little man decided to come on October 17th. He was 7 lbs 2oz and 20". Full story: I woke up at 1230a sopping wet thinking "oh lord I peed the bed!" I got out of bed went to the bathroom and "peed" or so I thought.

Well then I had a gut feeling so I put a heavy pad on and went to the linen closet got clean sheets and towels to clean it up woke my husband up and said "babe, babe, babe, honey" I mean seriously this man can sleep through anything

Finally I shake him and say 'babe the bed is wet" he very sleepily says "hmmmmhshsmdm huh?" then rolls over slightly and jumps so freaking high when he feels the bed! "what is that?" I laughed so hard I thought I might keel over I said "babe I don't think it's pee" I start gushing fluid because I'm laughing so hard at his reaction! well I go to the bathroom remove the pad meanwhile my husband is like "babe I'm soaked what is this?" (you'd think by kid number 4 he'd have a clue lmao in his defense I had just woken him up at 1230a from a dead sleep) so I'm like "babe I'm calling the doctor I think it was my water" so I call my midwife she's like oh yeah come on in and we'll get you set up. I walk out of the bathroom to change my clothes and my husband is smelling the bed! "uh Ryan what on God's green earth are you doing?" "babe I wanted to make sure it wasn't pee. it smells sweet so I don't think it's pee."

"Ryan we have to go to the hospital" so we call my mom and she lives an hour away so we couldn't wait that long because damn these contractions were coming. its now 115a so we load our 3 older kids in the van (they're 6 5 and 3). I leave my mom a note so she knows where to pick up the kids. im gushing fluid everywhere on the way to the hospital its just pouring out at this point like

We get to the hospital at 156a the kids are all groggy and sleepy. poor babies. so we get checked in and go to the new l&d; (literally just finished building it 1 month before). The room is huge. The kids all sleep on the pull out sofa they've got in the room. meanwhile it's now 227a my midwife comes in and checks and boom I'm only at 3cm. well shit.

so I start walking around. The contractions getting stronger. my husband puts on our wedding song (I get to love you by ruelle) and we dance. just a gentle slow dance and we're going well its now 355 and I'm shaking I'm it's so much pain (side note the labor was medication free as with all my kids) I'm feeling an incredible urge to poop....so I ring the nurse and start praying that this baby comes soon because lord I'm hurting. she comes in and hey little man is crowning! so midwife comes in (I love this lady! she's punctual) I'm pushing everyone's supportive my husband keeps kissing me and telling me how beautiful I am and how grateful he is were having another baby a person we createdbwith our love and just being his sweet self. then I hear "uh oh" I was exhausted didn't feel like I could push any more. Then I hear "Hollie push, get it together and push" so I do. I've got tears streaming down my face sweating my ass off I'm working so hard. then I hear it 403a I hear his sweet little cry. he's here. Then they tell me "when we yelled at you to get it together he was stuck at his nose in your vagina" well lord in heaven people!

so they put Gabriel on my belly because hey heres another twist! has cord was only 6" long... what the hay? Then husband cuts the cord and I hold little man and start trying to nurse him meanwhile I'm delivering my placenta which they told me I had a marginal cord insertion while while I was pregnant. nope turns out it was a velementous cord insertion connected to the membranes not the placenta and hey if that had ruptured we could have both died! bled out to our deaths. but at this point all is well I'm not hemorrhaging I'm nursing little man is flipping adorable! and NOW my mother shows up she said she wanted to shower and get dressed before she picked the kids up then got to our house saw the note took the dog out for a walk then came to the hospital to pick the kids up good Lord woman!

Well later that day around 10a the pediatrician comes to examine him.... One of his testicles hasn't descended yet and is in his abdomen and he's got jaundice. His levels go down by the next day we get him circumcised and go home a few hours later.

The next day husband and I take Gabe to the pediatrician and his jaundice levels are up. so we wait it out a week go back and again they are up so my sweet little one week old is yellow and fussy my poor butternut squash. I'm then told Gabe has has to be admitted for phototherapy.

so we do this for 2 days I take him out of the isolate when he needs to nurse and change his diaper and put him back in to be under the lights. to reduce his bilirubin levels. fast forward a week and his levels are fantastic and we're doing amazing. He is now 16 days old and doing his newborn thing.