From where I stand here's how it happened

You know when I was a little kid I wanted to grow up to be a doctor...I don't know what kind but I think I'll just stick to computers!

Kat is little more verbose than I am and I won't go into as much detail as she will but here's what happened:

We went for the walk that Kat talked about and got home around 9:45pm. I had a couple things to finish up on the computer and Kat went to the bedroom to lay down and I guess read or something relaxing.

I finished up about 10:30pm and went into the bedroom where Kat informed me that she was having some contractions, but nothing stronger than what she's had before. So I just chalked it up to Braxton-Hicks and started getting ready for bed.

About 11:00pm Kat told me that the contractions were starting to get stronger and felt different than the ones she's had before. That's when I started to get excited and started wondering if we'd have a boy/girl in the next 24 hours. Immediately I started timing the contractions. They were irregular, 2 minutes apart, 4 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, etc. They were also pretty short, 30-40 seconds. I learned in med school (also called Babyworks) that when they got to 60 seconds we would know that the labor was real and moving along.

Even though the contractions were not very regular I decided to call Kim, the doula, and see what she thought. She advised, based on what Kat said about the pain level, that sleep would be best so that Kat could save up her energy for whatever was around the corner. That happened at about 12:30am on the 26th.

After about an hour I realized that the contractions were getting a little strong and a little more regular, but they were still only about 30 seconds. Again I called Kim and told her that Kat wasn't going to be sleeping and that she should probably come on over and check things out. Kim lives about 30 minutes away so she said she would be at our house in about 45 minutes. Sounds reasonable when you are expecting this to take hours and hours.

At around 2:00am I called Kim, who was on the interstate and told her that things were getting stronger and that I thought Kat was pushing (but I kept thinking how could she already be pushing?). Kim said that we might want to start thinking about going to the hospital. I went in and checked with Kat and she just wanted to wait a couple minutes and then we would head out to the hospital. I had the bags packed and already in the car and all I had to do was put the dogs out.

It was about 2:15am and I was headed to the back door to let the dogs out and that's when Kat let out a scream that I knew meant something was up. I ran down the hall and to the bathroom and was shocked at what I saw...it was a bag of water just hanging there (freaky!). I looked at her face and saw that she was a little scared, and so was I. But that was the only moment that either of us could even feel that way.

I called Kim and told her what was going on and she said that we needed to get to the hospital quickly. I said that I didn't think we would make it. That's when she said that we had to make a decision about what we would do. I said that we would go to the hospital and I began to help Kat get ready. But the pushing contractions were coming so quickly that there wasn't even time to get her dressed between them. That's when I realized we were in for something crazy.

It was about 2:35am when I called Kim for the last time and said that we couldn't leave because I didn't want to have this baby on the side of the road. She said that was cool and that she would stay on the phone with me and walk me through whatever happened.

Thinking back on it all now I don't know how I didn't feel stressed out, but I guess that was my first experience at being a parent and just doing what you have to do.

Anyway, back to the bathroom...I told Kim that I thought the baby was coming and then all of a sudden I saw the head starting to push out. I thought maybe it would push out a little and then go back in like we had seen on many of the birthing videos. Nope. I had the phone to one ear and had my hands ready for whatever happened, and it happened fast.

One push and then Nate's head was all the way out. I had a towel and wiped his face off and while that was happening Kat pushed again and he turned to the side and his shoulder's slid through. After that it was lighting quick and I was kneeling there on the floor with our baby in my arms.

I helped Kat get down onto the floor and them placed Nate on her chest and then grabbed some more towels. After that I had to step out of the bathroom for just a second to just process what had happened and then I was good to go until Kim got there.

Well, the rest of the story from my end is the same as Kat's except that I just watched and helped Kim and Stephanie with whatever they needed.

It was AMAZING. Delivering a baby in your house with just you and your wife is the most private thing there is. We didn't plan it that way, but everyone is healthy and safe and I wouldn't change a thing about it.