The Many Adventures of Penny & Porter: Porter's birth story

I went to work last Tuesday morning. I had an appointment that morning and told the doctor it felt like the baby was going to fall out and she laughed and told me that you feel that way more and more with each subsequent pregnancy. I was 2 - 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced, but she told me some people stay like that for days and so they scheduled my induction for Monday the 5th.

I went back to work and was planning to go to lunch with some co-workers to celebrate their last days at Cephalon. But, around 11:20am, I started feeling contractions. They were about six minutes apart and lasted for about 45 seconds. I called RC and told him it might be time for him to go home and get the car seat and our hospital bags, so he went on his way. He picked me up from work around 12:30 and the contractions were still about the same. We decided to go to Wegman's and have some lunch and walk around. Then we called the doctor and they said that because my contractions weren't lasting a full minute, it wasn't time to come in yet. We stalled some more by walking around Target. Around 3, we thought about taking my car home and picking up Penny, but by the time we got to my work parking lot, I knew I couldn't drive. We made sure Aunt Becky could pick up Penny and I called the doctor back and told them we were coming in to the hospital. My contractions were about three and a half minutes long, but still weren't always lasting a full minute. I don't think they believed that I was really in labor. We got to the maternity ward around 4 and they put us in triage. When Dr. Senzon came in, I know she didn't expect her exam results- I was eight centimeters, fully dilated and he was almost ready to come out. They quickly transferred us to a room and hooked up our monitors. Luckily, I had planned to go drug free- we were too late for drugs. The doctors switched shifts at 5pm. Dr. Kolter came in at 5:01 and broke my water. Four sets of pushing later, Porter was born at 5:19pm.

The doctor placed Porter on me and I anxiously awaited those first cries. After not being able to hold Penny right away, this was an amazing experience! He was so perfect! And big! The nurses took over and started working on the little guy to make sure he perked up. He gave us some great cries! His first apgar was a 6 (mainly due to color and low tone associated with his down syndrome), so they gave him a little oxygen and his color improved quickly. A neonatologist came in to check him over and his second and third apgar scores were 8. We got to hold him and cuddle him soon after!