Baby Sister!
Sweet baby Ingrid arrived on Monday morning!
She has a mop of surprisingly dark hair and long, skinny fingers and toes like daddy's. I think she looks like Karl's grandma Joan.
We thought every day last week would be the big day. I had been having relatively frequent, uncomfortable contractions for a week. On Sunday they were coming consistently at 15 minutes apart all day, until about 10:30 p.m. when they suddenly jumped to about 3 or 4 minutes apart. I spent about an hour laboring at home before deciding that I really did not want to deliver this baby in the car outside the neighborhood police station (which actually happened to one of my co-workers who lives nearby), so we headed to the hospital about 11:30. I was already at 7 centimeters by the time the doctor came to check on me. He even suggested that I could try natural birth -- which is practically unheard of at a hospital that has a median maternal age of 39, a c-section rate of 50%, and epidural use nearing 100%. That seems like a good and plausible option for about two minutes. And then I had another contraction and demanded the epidural immediately.
When I had the epidural with Henry I still had some feeling in my legs and could maneuver myself around. This time the OB and the nurse both commented that the anesthesiologist must have been feeling feisty because every laboring woman in the ward was completely numb from the chest down. Someone could have amputated my legs in between contractions and I would have had no idea. Karl and the nurse probably had to put as much effort into lifting my legs as I had to put into laboring. Still, that epidural is a magical thing. The labor probably lasted two hours longer than it otherwise would have, but I'll take four hours of not-pain over two hours of serious pain every day of the week and twice on Sunday the 12th.
The second delivery was light years easier than the first. I guess when your first baby is 10 pounds and sunny-side up, "easier" is the only option. From the time we got to the hospital to the time we had a baby in our arms was 6 hours instead of 22 hours. I pushed for 25 minutes -- of which 10 minutes were spent not pushing while we waited for the doctor -- instead of 3 hours. And I didn't need any further technical assistance (Henry still had to be vacuumed after 3 hours). Time spent in the recovery room before going home was 24 hours instead of 42.
We were cooler and more collected about the whole process this time because we knew what to do and what to expect, but it felt like there was more bustle and hubbub all around. I suppose there are X hours of actual medical tasks that need to be done -- blood-drawing and test-taking and chart-noting and epidural-getting and doctor-checking and whatnot -- and when you only spend six hours in labor, those activities necessarily take up most of that time. When you spend 22 hours in labor, there's a lot of just waiting and having contractions alone in the delivery room.
We came home from the hospital early Tuesday afternoon and are settling into our new routine as a family of four. It is funny to think that Miss Ingrid just arrived a few days ago (and she doesn't look anything like I envisioned her!) because it feels like she has been part of the family all along.
August 13, 2012
6:42 a.m.
21 inches long
9 pounds
She has a mop of surprisingly dark hair and long, skinny fingers and toes like daddy's. I think she looks like Karl's grandma Joan.
We thought every day last week would be the big day. I had been having relatively frequent, uncomfortable contractions for a week. On Sunday they were coming consistently at 15 minutes apart all day, until about 10:30 p.m. when they suddenly jumped to about 3 or 4 minutes apart. I spent about an hour laboring at home before deciding that I really did not want to deliver this baby in the car outside the neighborhood police station (which actually happened to one of my co-workers who lives nearby), so we headed to the hospital about 11:30. I was already at 7 centimeters by the time the doctor came to check on me. He even suggested that I could try natural birth -- which is practically unheard of at a hospital that has a median maternal age of 39, a c-section rate of 50%, and epidural use nearing 100%. That seems like a good and plausible option for about two minutes. And then I had another contraction and demanded the epidural immediately.
When I had the epidural with Henry I still had some feeling in my legs and could maneuver myself around. This time the OB and the nurse both commented that the anesthesiologist must have been feeling feisty because every laboring woman in the ward was completely numb from the chest down. Someone could have amputated my legs in between contractions and I would have had no idea. Karl and the nurse probably had to put as much effort into lifting my legs as I had to put into laboring. Still, that epidural is a magical thing. The labor probably lasted two hours longer than it otherwise would have, but I'll take four hours of not-pain over two hours of serious pain every day of the week and twice on Sunday the 12th.
The second delivery was light years easier than the first. I guess when your first baby is 10 pounds and sunny-side up, "easier" is the only option. From the time we got to the hospital to the time we had a baby in our arms was 6 hours instead of 22 hours. I pushed for 25 minutes -- of which 10 minutes were spent not pushing while we waited for the doctor -- instead of 3 hours. And I didn't need any further technical assistance (Henry still had to be vacuumed after 3 hours). Time spent in the recovery room before going home was 24 hours instead of 42.
We were cooler and more collected about the whole process this time because we knew what to do and what to expect, but it felt like there was more bustle and hubbub all around. I suppose there are X hours of actual medical tasks that need to be done -- blood-drawing and test-taking and chart-noting and epidural-getting and doctor-checking and whatnot -- and when you only spend six hours in labor, those activities necessarily take up most of that time. When you spend 22 hours in labor, there's a lot of just waiting and having contractions alone in the delivery room.
We came home from the hospital early Tuesday afternoon and are settling into our new routine as a family of four. It is funny to think that Miss Ingrid just arrived a few days ago (and she doesn't look anything like I envisioned her!) because it feels like she has been part of the family all along.
Welcome home, Ingrid !!
ReplyDeleteSo thrilled for your family! Sending our love!
ReplyDelete