Happy Birthday Baby!

We arrived at the hospital at 7:50pm. Most everyone had gone home and we were really at a loss. We walked to the office of the woman who ran all the education programs to see if she might be there. No luck. We tried to remember what we had heard in our last hospital class 3 weeks before, but nerves and adrenaline make you stupid. We wandered. We asked custodians. We finally got to the Labor and Delivery check in desk, apologized and got these weird sympathetic looks as we waited for all of our "goodies" as the nurse called them. 

She walked us down the hall. She was very kind asking me to put on my gown, giving us our bracelets and prepping us and the room for our coming activities. 

I called my mom and gave her the green light to come. Bad call. I had not yet been given my IV. Just as my mom and sisters and friend Sarah walked in, the nurse was right on their heels with her phlebotomy kit and IV materials. I had my sisters and friend sit on the bed and block my mother's view of me and my view of my arm. They chatted and made sure my mom didn't faint and we all tried to ignore the 4 needle sticks and wiggles it took to get my 2 tubes of blood and IV set up. 

They stayed for a bit and then left me to sleep. My doctor walked in as they were leaving and began the first step of my induction. It was really not very exciting. My cervix was still only 2cm dilated, as I had been for the last 2 weeks. No big deal. The monitors and I could not find a happy position and I struggled for 2-3 hours trying to get comfortable for my night in the hospital. Around 9:45pm Geoff was starving and asked if I was ok with him going to Wendy’s and getting something to eat. Off he went. I was finally comfortable, he turned off the lights and left. About 5 minutes later I was finally comfortable and my nurse and a crew came flying in, turning on all the lights, repositioning me, the bed, the monitors, talking rapidly to each other, the works! The baby was freaking out on the monitors. So, they made reposition again. Geoff got back just as things were settling down and was, rightfully, alarmed. The nurse tried to calm him. He apologized to me and promised not to leave again.

The next morning, around 7am, my doctor arrived and checked on me and things had made quite the progress. We made the decision to break my water and boy, did things take off! My mother arrived at around 8:15am and wanted to come in. I asked the nurse to tell her to wait. (Looking back, I completely regret that decision. I was scared that she would get upset, or faint or try to get in my face, or you know, act like my mom. Now, I wish I had allowed her to come in and share in that moment. I don’t think it would have been as bad and dramatic as I had imagined, but I had this picture in my head and all these people willing to let me do it my way and I told her no.) The phone rang incessantly that morning. Everyone wanted to know what was happening. And Geoff, suddenly social, would answer the phone and give everyone details about what was happening! It was so annoying. The nurse disconnected the phone from the wall, because, well, she’s a saint. My doctor reminded me and Geoff of some of the things that she was concerned about and the NICU team came in, a few others came and by the time I was ready to push, there was a veritable army of people standing in my room to witness. My daughter arrived and I heard everyone in the room let out a breath I didn’t know they were holding. She was perfect. Not only perfect, she was healthy. A lot healthier than anyone had given me reason to believe. But I knew. My mother came in and held her. She left to go get my sisters when I was moved to my permanent room. My daughter, Annie went to NICU for about 2 hours that afternoon for testing and then returned. Geoff and I called people, flowers came, family came. It was great time.

His mother offered to come and help us once we got home from the hospital. At first, unbeknownst to me, Geoff declined. I asked him to call her back and accept! I knew he was going to have to go back to work soon and I was not excited about being stuck at home with just me and the baby and no one to help me. I liked our tiny little duplex, but being stuck and alone and having 5 channels, well it just didn’t sound awesome. So, he called her back and she said she would come on September 12 and stay the rest of the week.