he’s here. he finally made his debut. and early. bonus. today was my scheduled c-section, but instead carter is now 5 days old.

last wednesday night i began having contractions off and on. nothing consistent so i didn’t think much of it. for about an hour at a time they came and went at about 7 minutes apart. then they’d stop. then out of the blue they’d start again. then stop. you get the picture. the next morning i woke up and looked at doug and said “i just feel off”. the contractions had started around 8:00am and came 7 minutes apart and didn’t really stop. so i called my dr. and he sent me straight into the hospital to be checked out. off we went. well, after a shower. after i packed a bag. after we packed a bag for parker. after i grabbed a soda.after stopping to pay the car payments. ok. then we were off. contractions still coming full force. we arrived, were put in a room, i was checked and told “you’re not leaving. you’re in labor”.

my ob was contacted and he was in surgery. he said to try to slow my labor down and he would be there late afternoon to perform my c-section. i was then put into a labor and delivery room. this was at about 11:00am. doug ran down to the car to grab the camera, made a few phone calls and when he walked into my room it was flooded with doctors and nurses gearing me up to go into the or. my epidural was in and we were on our way. turns out my doctor wanted to make me a priority and stopped everything to come in and take care of me as soon as possible.

i remember being wheeled into the or. it seemed like yesterday that i was there having parker. the bright lights. the blue curtain. the sterile smell. and doug right by my side holding my hand. i didn’t feel a thing. before i knew it, it was over. doug stood up, looked over the sheet and then back at me and said “he’s here. he looks just like parker”. i instantly started to cry. then i saw him. his fat little face. his head full of hair. and my very proud husband and daddy taking pictures, rubbing carter’s head, holding his tiny hand. it was amazing.

during the delivery i remember hearing the doctors and nurses chatting about how big this baby was. one doctor even had to get up on the table and straddle me in order to get more leverage when tugging on carter. i heard comments like “look at those shoulders” and “holy christ”. did i mention carter weighed in at 10lbs 9ozs? the room was filled with joy and laughter and all kinds of talk about how big the reinholz baby was.

once out of recovery i was wheeled up to the nursery where i saw my parker. i came around the corner and when his eyes met mine he lit up like a light. “mommy!!!!”. my heart just melted and filled with joy at the same time. he told me over and over about “carter mohawk” being his baby brother. incase you’re wondering, when in the nursery, the nurse was giving carter a bath and spiked his hair up into a mohawk. parker thought it was just the coolest thing. we walked back into my room as a family of four. we got to spend time together, just the four of us, bonding as a new family. a moment i will never ever forget. my three boys.

i’m proud to say that at 1:01pm on september 22nd carter entered this world weighing 10lbs 9ozs and 21 1/4″ long. he is happy and healthy and has already brought so much joy into our lives. i cannot wait to see what the future holds for the reinholz clan, but i have a feeling it will be nothing but all the wonderful good this world has to offer.