MAXWELL HIKARU LOW—Welcome To The World!

I was 39 weeks, 5 days and had been having contractions off and on all week.
On Tuesday night I started having contractions at 10:30 or so, but they weren’t regular or terribly strong so I decided to try to sleep through them like I had all week.
I woke up at 1:30 to contractions that were getting more painful. I took a bath and they just kept getting worse!
I was so stressed and unsure about if we should come in or not. I was timing contractions and they were about three minutes apart. I woke Randy and told him the contractions were still there and getting more painful and of course he told me we could do whatever I wanted, but I could tell he didn’t think it was real! I was so torn because I didn’t want to wake Graham and go in just to be sent home.

At 2:10 we called the hospital and they said to come in!
We called my mom and gathered all our things to get ready to go. I was nervous they would send us home but the contractions weren’t stopping.
We woke up Graham and he was so cute looking at the moon and the stars while we drove to my moms.
We dropped him off and said goodbye and I cried thinking about how his world was about to change!
Randy drove fast, may have run a few red lights, as the contractions were getting very painful and I could tell this was it. I was still worried we would get there and they wouldn’t let us in or something and I was wanting an epidural ASAP because the contractions were not fun.
Randy parked the car and I walked in and they got us into triage so I could be checked. They were so fast it was awesome! I was there and getting all checked by 3:30 or so.
I was dilated to a five so they told us we were there to stay!

We moved to labor and delivery and got set up with the sweetest nurses.
The anesthesiologist came to put my epidural in around 4:30 and I started to feel much better. He was seriously AMAZING because I couldn’t feel anything, but I could move my legs a bit and it was incredible. He did such a great job.
We rested and they checked me again before 6 and I was at a 7, so they came in and broke my water for me! Every nurse, med student, resident, and doctor we had was seriously incredible. They made the whole experience so amazing.
We slept and moved from side to side and progressed soooo fast. I was texting family and posting on social media and sleeping, but everything was moving so quick I couldn’t believe it.
At 8:00 AM they told me we were ready to push!! We did some practice pushes and they could see the baby’s hair! I couldn’t believe how different it was than they first time with Graham and I was feeling awesome.

Dr. Gibson was the doctor who delivered Graham, and she was the doctor on call that day and got to deliver Wells! She was seriously amazing, we love her so much.
I pushed for 14 minutes total and he was here!!!! I was laughing and chatting and Dr. Gibson told me to stop laughing or I would laugh the baby out!
I had a team of several nurses and a medical student and a resident and doctor Gibson—every single person in my room was a woman. And it just made me so happy to have all these amazing women surrounding me, doing their job and learning and teaching. It honestly made me tear up to think about how these smart and capable women were all doing these amazing careers and supporting me!
At 8:24 AM, Wells was born!
He has soooo much hair!
They laid him on my chest and he was crying which was so different from Graham and he was so mad, but very cute.
We got to hold him while they cleaned him up, I ate food and we FaceTimed Graham to say hello. Randy got to hold him and we had the most perfect time with our new little guy.
We had come to the hospital thinking he would be named Maxwell and once he was born we just felt great about that name, and knew Wells was just the perfect fit.
He weighed 7lbs 6 oz and was 19 inches long.
It was the perfect day, and I’ve had the best recovery! I was up snd walking within an hour thanks to an incredible epidural, and I didn’t tear at all! It has made recovery a dream so far and I’ve been so lucky. We had a short and great stay at the hospital and got to come home the next day. The whole experience was so wonderful and we love Wells so much!