3:30 AM

Jordan’s water breaks. She’s having mild contractions. We call the midwife, she tells us to go to the hospital once Jordan is having trouble talking through contractions.

4:50 AM

I call my parents. We had planned to wait until 5:00 AM, but decided this was close enough.

6:00 AM

We arrive at the hospital. Jordan is calm, so the nurses on duty don’t realize how far along she is.

11:00 AM

We both take a nap. Contractions have been slow and relatively mild. Afterwards, I go have lunch.

12:28 PM

I start timing contractions again. They’re strong, and only 3 minutes apart. Jordan and I are taking a walk in the hallway, and she’s holding onto a railing with both hands.

2:41 PM

Ian is born. That’s the official time recorded by the nurse. There’s a flurry of activity in the room, as I cut the cord, the baby is weighed and measured, the placenta comes out, and the midwife stiches up Jordan. (Nothing serious: Ian’s arm was over his shoulder as he came out. The same thing happened with Sylvia.) The baby was delivered by Ann Page, CNM, who also delivered Sylvia and is the sister of one of our friends.

3:18 PM

Things quiet down enough that I can start making phone calls.

Sunday morning

Jordan and Ian come home.

Jordan’s water broke a little while ago. The midwife says to stay at home until the contractions are strong enough that she has trouble talking through them. Throughout this time, she’s been having contractions that have been increasing in intensity.

Chances are, we’ll be going to the hospital before the sun rises.

Oh, and happy birthday, Dad!

No news on the baby. Jordan’s still getting contractions frequently. They are what’s called Braxton-Hicks contractions: they resemble labor, but they’re just the body’s test runs.

It turns out that you can sometimes tell Braxon-Hicks contractions from labor contractions by taking a bath. A good soak inhibits the former and induces the latter. Which is usually what you want, but I can imagine it might be trouble if you then have to jump out of the tub and get to the hospital.

So we’re still at orange alert: it could start at any point. We’re now six days from the due date, and we’re as ready as we’re going to be (I spent all weekend on the final cleaning and organizing.)

Jordan’s been having bursts of strong contractions last night and this afternoon.  She says she feels like there’s a head in her pelvis.  There’s a good chance she’ll go into labor tonight.