She was due January 4, but made her appearance exactly two weeks early. Dave's parents and brother had arrived from Dallas that morning, and we spent the day running errands. I had missed my usual two-hour nap so when I started feeling funky around 5 pm, I just put it down to exhaustion. But by 6 or so, I could tell that the times I felt worst had a definite beginning and end and were, in fact, getting downright painful! I told everyone I was headed to bed, but when Dave came in I let him know that neither of us would probably get much sleep, but on the plus side, we would probably get to meet our daughter that night! He looked at me and said, "Uh, what?!?" And I said, "Yeah. That's my reaction, too!"
He started out trying to get a general feel for how often I experienced a contraction and how long the contractions were lasting. We soon realized that they were actually fairly close together and regular. Around 6:30 pm, Dave went to borrow his dad's watch to get more accurate measurements. By 7:15 pm, Dave called the answering service to let them know my contractions were every three minutes and lasting about 75 seconds. They said they would page the doctor on-call (Dr. McKeown) and have him call us. Dave started packing our bags (no, we hadn't done that yet!) because he was determined that regardless of what Dr. McKeown said, we were headed to the hospital! Fortunately when Dr. McKeown did call back, he said he'd meet us at the labor department so we headed to the hospital.
Since it was after regular hours, we had to check in at the ER. After they finished getting some information, a nurse took us up to the Women's Services floor. The nurses had me put on a hospital gown and lie down in a triage room until I could be assessed. At that point I was told that I was at 4 cm and my water had indeed broken. The nurse left to prepare a labor room and returned in about 10 minutes to wheel me down there. After she strapped on the belly monitors, Dr. McKeown came in to check me out and said, "Okay, you are completely thinned and at 8 cm!!!!!!" I wish I had been able to tell him "That's just crazy talk!" After that, things are a bit of a blur as we had three different nurses asking us questions, two other nurses trying to get an IV in me and find the baby on the monitor and Dr. McKeown asking for the epidural nurse to come quickly. The epidural nurse just blasted me with the pain meds since, by the time they made room for her, I was at 9 and a half cm!
And Julia Lynn was born kicking and screaming at 9:51 pm!
6 lbs 15.7 oz
20.5 inches
Whew! That was the most unreal experience ever.
Our daughter
So cute ...
Our Family
2 comments:
Wow! Look at all that beautiful hair. =) I can't wait to meet baby Julia Lynn. We will wait a few weeks until things settle down before we plan a visit out to see you guys and that precious baby. We are so happy for you. Congrats!
What a great birth story! That is the first time I have read it. I hope number two goes as well, er, uh, quickly, at least. ;)
Post a Comment