And it happened - Mino is a solo child no more

On November 17 at 7:37 am little James Tiberius Felices emerged weighing 9 lbs 7 oz and healthy and happy and little Mino is no longer our only child.

 And here was Mino on his last supper as solo child. . .

I was 40 weeks 3 days pregnant and ready to be done as of 3 weeks and 3 days before.  My first check at the doctor was at 36 weeks and I was already 2-3 cm dilated and being the second child was told that it could be any time.  That weekend (Mino's 2nd birthday) I was panicked that I would have two children with the same birthday.  The day before his birthday the signs of labor started and I thought it was go time.  Oh how wrong I was.  The days kept passing, the phone calls and texts starting rolling in asking if I was still pregnant.  My mom and sister were on daily deuce watch and I was just not cooperating.  A snow storm was blowing in and my mom thought it would be the perfect time for a baby to arrive so she made the trek over, I tried my darndest and managed to start having contractions every evening starting at 37 weeks but nothing that was real because I would fall asleep while timing them.  Finally after my 40 week check up and being told I was 4-5 cm but baby was still high and having to schedule an induction I reached a new low.  My mom had been here for a week and a half with no baby and was ready to head home.  The rest of family was rolling into town and I was still pregnant.  I decided to bounce all day long on the birth ball, to go for long walks at the store and around the neighborhood, I raked the lawn.  Finally it started for real on Saturday.  Contractions started at 6 pm on the 16th, I was timing them, 6 minutes apart was as close as they would come but they started to get stronger.  I called the doctor at 9 pm because after the drama with Mino's birth and pain I was so scared to have this happen quickly and not have drugs.   She said I should come in based on my measurements at last doctor appointment and it being the second child and get checked out.   We showered up and headed into the city for the delivery.  It was a full moon night and Labor and Delivery was a hopping.  I was checked and told that I wasn't going home that this was it!  My doctor had 8 other patients in active labor and mine was the least dramatic so we just let nature take its course (with an epidural of course).

 I was 10 cm by 530 am but the doc was in a c-section and I was comfortable so they let me "labor down" for a while which is just let my contractions push the baby down so I don't have to do as much work.  The doc came in after 7 am, we started pushing at 730 or so and 737 my giant baby emerged.  His heart rate was steady as a metronome throughout labor.  It didn't hurt a bit.  It was such a different and amazing experience compared to poor dramatic Mino.  He got to rest on me right after he was born and we were only separated at 24 hours for his vaccination and metabolic and hearing tests.

 Everyone was in town so they all came to visit us, Sarah and Aaron arrived. . . .

 

 

 With DQ!!

 Being Flu and RSV season big siblings were only allowed in the postpartum unit for 30 minutes so Nana and Mino arrived afterwards.

 

 

Little Jimmy was very thoughtful and got Mino a Batman Jail and that helped a bit.

 

 Ben was indifferent to the new guy at first and really didn't want to go near him or touch him, but would look at him.
We got kicked out Monday afternoon - the standard is 36 hours now I guess -  but we were ready to go, having Ben at home made us want to get back there.

 I felt so much better this time afterwards than the first time, emotionally and physically.  Maybe it is the new house, maybe it is that I know what I was getting myself into this time, maybe it was just so much less dramatic that I wasn't as drained but it has been an entirely different experience this go around.
My pregnant belly was massive

 I couldn't bend, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, I hated it at the end and no one warned me that this child was so big but little Jimmy sure made it totally worth while and we can't wait to have him grow up here in our home!