Corinne's Arrival

Corinne Nicole Kuder

May 4  2:47 am

7 lbs, 4 oz

19.75 inches

So, on to the birthday story...Around 1:30am I started having contractions, but I've been having a lot of false labor the past few weeks, so I wasn't sure this was the "real deal".  By 2:15am, the contractions had gotten pretty intense and had sped up from 6 minutes apart to 4 minutes apart.  I started thinking that I must have forgotten what labor feels like because I was already in serious pain and figured I still had several hours of labor ahead of me.  The contractions had only been going on for 45 minutes after all.  As soon as we decided this was for real, we called my parents to come over from their condo about 20 minutes away to stay with Josh and Brielle.  Around 2:30 my water broke and I felt the urge to push!  I told Dan, who sternly said, "DO NOT PUSH!"  He then called 9-1-1, got me in the bed, and said, "We're gonna make it to the hospital."  (Even though he knew at the time, we were not going to make it.  And, really, I did too.)

Daniel then took over as "Dr. Dan" and was telling me not to push until the fire truck arrived so we'd have equipment and a fast ride in case there were any complications.  The firemen arrived, including Fireman Dave, our kids' hero and one of our closest friends!  Dave was carrying the OB kit and got to assist Dan in delivering Corinne.  About that time my parents walked into the room too.  I pushed twice and Corinne was out!  She came out crying, pink, and perfect!  They wrapped Corinne in a towel and handed her to me, then loaded us on a stretcher, and off we went in the ambulance.  Despite all the commotion, Josh and Brielle slept through the whole ordeal!

Even though Dan works as an ER Physician Assistant, this was the first baby he's delivered.  He was completely calm and in control the whole time.  We've been laughing all week about how we never would have planned it to happen this way, but somehow it just fits - it's just the type of thing that would happen to us.  We are so thankful to God that Corinne was born safely and everything worked out fine, despite the crazy birth story!  Apparently she was in quite a hurry to make her dramatic entrance into the world!

The delivery team - Dan and Dave

I was able to piece together a timeline of the events using our cell phone call log:
1:30am    First contraction
2:00am    Start timing contractions
2:19am    Call mom and dad to come over
2:25am    Call dr. who tells us to head to hospital
2:33am    Dan calls my parents and tells them to HURRY
2:35am    My water broke and feel urge to push
2:37am    Dan calls 911
2:41am    EMS arrives
2:47am    Corinne is born!

First picture in hospital that night

We went back to thank the firemen and get a picture with Corinne a few weeks later.