A few days past my due date, the doctor decided that it would be a good idea to induce labor because my platelet levels had been consistently dropping. So we were scheduled to go in on Monday, January 12th.
Sending one last email to family to let them know we were off to the hospital (from the yoga ball):
The cats knew something was up. Fabulous Maddy took care of them for us while we were gone:
We had Evie at The Portland Hospital in London...and it was a GREAT experience. Everyone there from the porters to midwives to the doctors were really supportive and
incredible. Here I am, only vaguely aware of the perils ahead, as we walked into the front door:
The father-to-be in the waiting room, before we got checked in:
Once we got into our room, one of the midwives hooked me up to a fetal monitor, which kept track of the baby's heart beat and my contractions (which were non-existent at that point).
The baby's heartbeat went up and down, but mostly she stayed happily at around 150, which was perfect. Jim kept moving the monitor around to get a better read, which made me nervous, but apparently was ok. I would like to take this moment to say that Jim has been more right about most things concerning labor, delivery and first few days with baby than I have. He's good at this.
Then we ate pizza (note how happy and unconcerned I look...ignorance is bliss) and admired the facilities (the hospital room was like a hotel room with medical equipment in it):
Once we were fed, they gave me my first dose of hormones to get things going and at 4am I woke up with what felt like pretty bad menstrual cramps...but nothing unbearable. Here I am still thinking that labor and delivery is a walk in the park (talking to one of the midwives).
Soon after this, the midwife who was with us for most of the day, Kathryn, had to check my cervix to see if it was effaced and dilated. And it REALLY HURT and I REALLY wasn't expecting it to hurt and I yelled out in agony and almost hit the ceiling. Fortunately Jim was there to keep me pinned down. And the good news was that things were happening and I was 1 cm dilated. Despite that good news, I wasn't feeling super happy at that point because they gave me more hormones and the contractions really started happening.
Since we were teenagers, Jim has kept me entertained with his drawings. So, to distract me from my pain, he drew me pictures of what I had to look forward to once we got out of the hospital. In this picture: the baby (obviously), our Mom's (mine is the one running with the small suitcase and Jim's is the one with Eternity perfume), a milkshake, forbidden, unpasteurized cheeses, sushi, margaritas, Mom's spaghetti, and our cats:
Even with all the things that I had to look forward to, I was still in a lot of pain. This is Jim's favorite picture of me, which I only allowed him to take for the sake of this blog. Getting into a really hot bath helped a lot with the contraction pain, but when I wasn't in the bathtub, this was the position I assumed and this was how they found me when the anesthetist came in to give me my epidural. There was much rejoicing, but I had to breathe through my contractions while she put the epidural in, which was really hard to do.
I would like to pause here to say that I am very impressed with the people who are tough enough to do this without pain killers. I have several friends who have done it and I have great respect for their pain tolerance...but I'm really glad it was an option!
I was feeling much better after the epidural and proceeded to go to sleep on my side for three hours. Jim went out for a final beer before the baby came and also to get some sleep himself (even with hotel-like accommodations, sleeping in a hospital is not easy, even for people who can sleep anywhere, like Jim).
When I woke up, the doctor came in to take a look at the monitor and then checked to see how much I was dilated (I couldn't feel it this time, as I was totally numb from the top of my uterus down...bliss!). He thought I would be at least 6 cm, but was surprised to find that I was fully dilated at 10 centimeters.
Here was my reaction (translation: YAY!!!)
He said he would be back in an hour and the pushing would begin.
Kathryn started to get set up for the birth and pulled out this contraption--a birthing stool--upon which I was to sit. I would like to say that by this point all of my modesty and dignity had completely left the building and the fact that I was to squat on something that looked like a toilet was fine with me. I just wanted to have our baby.
Pictures of me pushing out the baby were off limits, but I can say that the baby wasn't liking things on the birthing stool (and frankly, neither was I), so they moved me up to the bed. The baby's heartbeat kept going way down and the doctor was worried about her position (turns out the problem was that she had the umbilical cord around her neck twice), so he got out the vontuse, which is like a small plunger to help the baby along. It also gives babies slight cone heads, so I was really proud of myself when I managed to get her out without any help (besides that of the epidural, which allowed me to push without having to feel the pain). The best part of that moment was Jim's reaction when he saw Evie's head starting to come out. He was so happy and excited and was the best person to have around when I needed a little more encouragement. Plus, I got to reach down and feel her head just before she came all the way out, which was also great motivation.
And suddenly we had a beautiful, slimy, crying baby and I thought she was a boy (even when they put her on me...I was a little delirious).
Evie! A little surprised to be outside:
With her adoring Daddy:
Having a rest:
And in the baby toaster getting warmed up in the nursery:
In her funny outfit that Daddy got her:
Making her 'Popeye' look for the camera:
Cool hair:
Will she be an Aggie, too?
Looking cute at home:
And being burped (we've gotten really good at this move...she's a 'windy' baby):
In one of the blankets that Nana and Papa sent:
And with her new friend Maddy:
Stay tuned for more....
