What a surprising birth day….this was such a special day for this family, welcoming their
fourth baby (surprise gender) into the world early morning on December 30th!

This Mama had stayed at 3cm, in prodromal labor for about a month!! 
Contractions stayed spaced out, and just would not kick this Mama into active labor.
So, on Monday December 27th, her Midwife decided to do a Membrane sweep
to help kick things into gear.  Informing her, it usually takes effect in around 30 hours,
and with Ruth’s last baby she’d also had a membrane sweep and welcomed her baby the following day.
So, obviously this was what we were all expecting…

Well, baby had other plans.  This baby took its sweet time (until labor actually began)…
I awoke to a text from Ruth around 4:50am on December 30th, that strong
contractions had woken her, and she was having several other official labor signs
besides the consistent, strong contractions. She was an hour away from McKinney where her home & her hospital were,
so she had a bit of a drive ahead of her, but she wasn’t too worried.

I got up, got dressed and gathered all of my equipment up, and just decided to go ahead and leave for
the hospital myself, in order to arrive there around the same time as her.
Based on previous conversations, I knew Ruth’s labors did not last long, so I definitely wanted to make
sure I didn’t miss it.  Well, I arrived at the hospital before her, and decided to just go ahead
and wait in the L&D Waiting Room until she arrived.  About 30 minutes later, I see the elevator door
open, to Ruth, holding the wall, bent over, breathing through a long contraction.
I knew things were serious at that point.

I followed her onto the L&D unit, where she was swiftly taken into a triage room to be examined.
At this point, Ruth is really feeling the pain of the intense contractions, and asking if she
could get an epidural.  The nurse proceeds to do a vaginal exam to see how far along she is and determine if that would be an option for her. 
To our surprise, Ruth was 9.5 centimeters,
with a bulging water bag just ready to break.
Immediately, a group of nurses comes into the room to try and turn this triage room, into a
delivery room before Ruth birthed her baby… bringing in all the baby’s equipment, monitors, IV equipment, fluids, pitocin for after birth, etc.
And amidst the chaos, only about 3 contractions later, her water broke….and with the next contraction after that, Ruth said she felt like pushing.

With my Labor & Delivery experience, I could tell by the sounds she was making through that next contraction that she WAS pushing, unaware even to herself.  I looked down, and could see the baby’s head emerging. So, I snapped a couple photos, while yelling to the nurses around that “Baby’s head is coming!” Immediately all of the nurses in the room, flock to the bed to help Ruth catch her baby.
No midwife, no hospitalist, just Mom’s hands and the nurses hands there to deliver her sweet baby.

The next moment, her baby was born, immediately cried a big cry, and immediately pink & perfect.
The shock, amazement, love, and SO many more emotions filled the room in that moment. 
They lifted the baby up to Mom’s chest, and all you could hear was Ruth exclaim, “It’s a girl!!!”
(Ruth had been convinced her surprise baby was a boy.)
This baby was not only a surprise gender, but also a surprise baby. 
Ruth’s husband Armando had a vasectomy shortly before she got pregnant….
needless to say, there were still a few sperm left….and with that, they received this most surprising
and most amazing blessing into their family.

 What a quick, and beautiful morning this was for this sweet couple….and one I won’t soon forget!
Happy Birthday sweet Ellie Quinn Escobedo.

Here’s a video/photo montage of that special day….   
Enjoy!