Joshua Carson has arrived!

Christen and I went to a state park yesterday to spend some time outside as a family. She was a trooper and hiked about 4 miles. Ayden played on the playground for about an hour and we had made a picnic for dinner. After dinner she said she felt like something might be going on because she noticed some similar symptoms from when Ayden was born.

We left the park about 7:00 and got home about 8:00. We watched part of a DVD and Chris mentioned that she felt like she had bad gas. About every 10-15 minutes she would have a pain that only she can describe! At 9:30 we both decided to go to bed. Christen was feeling restless and said she couldn't sleep because the "gas" pain was getting more intense.

Still, we had no idea that she had started labor. I called my mom in Augusta a little before 10p.m. to let her know that she might need to come up in the morning. I hung up and Chris and I started recording her the frequency and duration of her pain. About 10:15 the pain was about 5 minutes apart and started becoming more regular.

At 10:45 we called our friends Aaron and Lisa Brown to see if they might be able to come over and stay with Ayden. They were both asleep but Aaron gladly came over about 11:00. We left for the Hospital shortly after.

I remember looking down at the clock at 11:12 and noted that Christen's "pain" or contractions were about 2 minutes apart. We were just getting to the loop. At that point I began to get a bit worried. I'm proud to say that I ran 3 lights on the way. The whole time in the car, Christen was in the "zone".

We got to the hospital and I was going to drop Christen off and then park the car. However, while I was getting a wheelchair for her, she got down on all fours and had a huge contraction. We made it in the ER and the admissions nurse asked us about 5 questions and realized the severity of the situation. Christen had gotten in the floor twice to cope with the intense paoin.

She wheeled us up to the Labor and Delivery room. On the way, Christen stopped 3 times to get on all fours. Needless to say, she was in transition and about to have the baby! We made it to the room at 11:40 and Christen took a seat in the rocking chair. The kind nurse (who remembered us from Ayden's birth) asked to listen to the baby's heartbeat. Christen was got in the floor for about 2 minutes.

After that contraction she said she needed to go to the bathroom. That's when the midwife arrived. The three of us helped her to the toilet and that's when the fun really started! The midwife indicated that the baby had crowned. I thought to myself "Oh my gosh, this baby's going to be born in the toilet"! Christen was hysterical at this point but the midwife calmly reassured her that she could have the baby wherever she wanted.

I asked the nurse to drop the foot of the bed and to position it in such a way that would allow Christen to squat. This seemed liked the preferred position from Ayden's birth. After this was done, I asked Chris if she wanted to move to the bed. Thankfully, she agreed. She got on the bed and pushed a total of 3 times. It was an intense 8 minutes but Joshua Carson was born at 11:48. He weighed 7 lbs 6 oz.

This picture is taken about an hour after the delivery. Mom looks great (as always) and baby is doing well. We hung out as a family until about 2 a.m. and then fell fast asleep!