While We Wait

At 8:35 a.m., Bethany's water broke at home while I was at work. She was in the guest room on the futon bed laying down with Juliana when it happened. She called me first to let me know and I packed my stuff up and let my team at work know that I was headed out. My mom came over to take Juliana for the day while Tawnya picked up Bethany to bring her to the hospital. Joyce and Keith also got in their car and drove to the hospital.

We all met at Overlake Hospital Childbirth Center in Bellevue, WA. We chose this hospital instead of Tacoma because it's closer to my work. Seems to have worked out. They put Bethany directly into a birthing suite and hooked her up with IV and some antibiotics that she needed. She's having contractions, but nothing super painful at the moment, so now we wait.

The view of Bellevue from Bethany's birthing suite at Overlake Hospital.

It will probably be at least four hours from now before we get a timeline on the actual delivery, so we've been reading, eating, chatting, and in my case, blogging. The nurses all keep telling saying we're going to have a May Day baby, so I assume Coral Ann will definitely be entering this world today. Stay tuned for news and pictures on here or on Facebook if we are friends. If you are the praying type, prayers are always appreciated. If you are the good vibes type, we will take those, too.

UPDATE 6:30 PM PST: Bethany has been having only minor contractions this whole time after her water broke this morning, despite getting up and walking around. So, the docs have decided to speed things up with some Pitocin. The contractions are already getting a bit more intense, but we've still got a little while to go. We'll see if this is going to be a May Day baby or not. Tawnya, Joyce, Keith, and I are still just chilling in the room. Right now, we're watching the Mariners play the Tampa Bay Rays and losing to them 1-3.

UPDATE 10:45 PM PST: The contractions reached a 10 on the pain threshold a couple hours ago and the docs checked Bethany and determined that it was time to numb her up. After an unsuccessful and painful first attempt at an epidural, the anesthesiologist finally seemed to get the second one in and the contractions are getting less painful. The nurses seem to be whispering to each other that there's still a long way to go. That's not very uplifting, but what can you do? Again, stay tuned for more.

UPDATE 11:15 PM PST: Our new nurse (this makes our third now) just told us that we are in the largest birthing suite in the hospital and that Bill and Melinda Gates delivered in this room before. Very cool!

UPDATE 3:00 AM PST: Stop reading this because SHE'S HERE!