James Laurence born July 5th

(This picture was taken the night before he came).
What an experience! I tell ya, second babies are a lot easier then the first. The fun started a few hours after church (for those who saw me, shouldn't be surprised, I was looking huge). I wasn't sure it was serious because it was such a light pain in my lower back. Seth didn't want us to get too excited and reminded me they needed to be harder and longer before calling people (I called my mom because, worse comes to worse, she would have to hang out with us while we waited for the real show to start). Around 9:30-10 pm we decided to go to sleep because the contractions weren't getting longer. But they sure got stronger an hour latter. I was able to sleep, waking up for two to three contractions an hour until a little before 2am. Then I was having three between my bedroom and the bathroom. We called our midwife and met her at the Bellingham Birthing center a half an hour later. I was dialated to a 6 or 7cm by that time. Yee haw! I had done a lot of work already. Seth and I jumped in the tub. I worked hard focusing on my breathing, relaxing my face and thinking about meeting the baby. Other then barking at my mom twice, because I didn't feel like a flower opening up any more, I was nice and was able to ask my midwife what I could do to progress. Two hours later our purple little boy came out (4:30am). What an experience! I'm like a professional athlete. He was 9 lbs 9 oz. 21.5 inches long.