Andrew joined the family (in gory detail)

When people would ask me when Andrew was due, I would respond, "I will be happy if we make it to Halloween!" We did it. The very next morning, as I was laying in bed, things were feeling a bit different. I would leak a little bit of fluid at a time and when I went to the bathroom, my mucus plug came out at 7am. I texted my friend Mindy and asked her if she would be available to watch the kids that day. My contractions started coming regularly 5 minutes apart. So, we headed out to the hospital and got there at 9. We got there and they checked to see if my waters had ruptured and they did. So, they checked me into a room. I didn't have a birth plan so when they asked me if I wanted an epidural I didn't know. I was planning on doing some hypno birthing preparations but the first day that I did it was the day that I went into the hospital for premature contractions... so I didn't want to try that again. I decided to just take it a contraction at a time. I sat on the ball and Ryan pushed on my lower back with all of his weight for counter pressure. I had the most amazing nurse that was there the whole time. Her name was Jodie. She was so positive and supportive and complimentary. I just loved her and wish I could have had her for all of my births. In between contractions I would ask Ryan if I should just get an epidural. He said that it was up to me. I just didn't know. I figured that I knew what it was like to do it naturally without medication- its hard but I survive. And the fear of the unknown and needles was enough for me to just keep going. I really love the miracle of giving birth. The feeling of a baby coming down and out.

Around 11:00 I was hungry and wanted to eat. They said that if I was going to have an epidural that they didn't want me to eat. I still didn't know, so I skipped it. Plus, there wasn't really any time to eat.

I looked at the clock at 12:00 and said to myself that I was going to have him at 1:30. He came at 1:56 (pretty close). They put me up on the table to push. It was slow and constant. With my other babies, they kind of shot out once the head was out. Not with Andrew. I had to continue to push his body out. The labor part of having a 4 lb baby compared to a 6 lb baby was the same. The only difference was the pushing was harder. I still didn't tear and the placenta came right out. Poor Ryan, I had a death grip on him the whole time. One time he needed his hand for something so I grabbed his cheek. That had to have been painful.

Once he was out they put him right on my chest and he was all blue and cone headed. He got pretty bruised on his forehead. He didn't breathe right away and he looked around wide eyed and mouth open for a breath but nothing happened. The nurse got scared and so did Ryan- so they took him away just for a minute until he started to breathe. The mid-wife said that it would have been fine- he just needed a minute to adjust. She knew best- but it was a bit scary. So, Jodie said that Andrew wanted to nurse. You could see him smacking his lips. We tried to get him to latch on and he didn't want anything to do with it. As soon as we stopped trying, he did it on his own. Very independent just like his brother.

The miracle of seeing your new baby is so awesome. And, I love seeing Ryan with tears in his eyes. He is such a good husband and father with such a big heart. We are so lucky to have him.

I immediately wanted to eat. I was so hungry. We ate a big meal and then headed to the recovery room. I was sad to say good bye to Jodie. She was seriously the best. I ate twice as much as I usually do for a couple of days until all of a sudden I finally got full. Giving birth is such a work out that I had to make up for the calories lost... plus making breast milk.

Andrew is such a mellow, good natured boy. The nurses that came in to do his tests were all so impressed that he barely whimpered. They say that other babies would cry like crazy... and I could hear them from the next room.

The hard part was finding a name for our baby. He didn't have a name until we were actually leaving the hospital. Other names that were close: Soren, Gordon, Adam

Andrew Kannas Funk. 11/1/2014 6lb 5oz 20 in.