RwnMayfair
08-22-2005, 04:37 PM
We arrived home today, after what seemed like a rather long two days at the hospital. ;) Anyway, like Helene mentioned, Elowen is here! She was born Saturday, August 20th at 12:01PM at 8lbs 7.1oz and 21 inches long. We're thrilled and she's doing great!
I started feeling somewhat regular contractions that morning when I woke up at about 8AM or so. I'd had an occasional one the night before and probably while I was sleeping, but they didn't seem horribly regular at the time and so I didn't worry much about it. We had originally planned to go to the zoo with my Dad and stepmother that day, but I decided that we'd just call and ask them to come hang out at the house instead, just in case. ;) (Since my goal wasn't to be on the local news as, "Woman gives birth at zoo".)
Anyway, the contractions increased as we got ready, got Taran ready, and we ultimately decided that we'd need to leave for the hospital as soon as my Dad and stepmother got here since they started to become uncomfortable at about 10AM (I think we called them at about 9:30). By the time they arrived at just before 11AM, they were definitely uncomfortable and probably 5 minutes apart. Poor Taran was trying to climb all over me, and all I could really do was tell him that I couldn't deal with it right then. When they got here, he shot out the front door because he wanted to play outside and we loaded my bag and such into the car while my Dad chased him down. We got to the hospital at about 11:20AM (after having to turn around and go back for the camera - luckily not too far). They checked me real quick when we got there, though the midwife was pretty darn sure I was in labor. ;) I was at 8cm and fully effaced at that point.
They took us back to a room, discovered it wasn't going to work because someone hadn't plugged in the equipment properly, so it wasn't charged, and marched us across the hall. In there, they discovered the computer wasn't connecting to the network, but ultimately decided it didn't matter. My husband, being the computer geek that he is, decided he had to try and fix it until I told him that as much as I appreciated him trying to help, he had other things to deal with. (The nurse backed me up on that.) Things happened really, really quickly. The contractions were already painful and quick when I'd been checked before, and after a bit more laboring (which involved the nurses trying to put in an IV twice before giving up - I'd come up as GBS+ at one point), I was feeling pretty ready. My midwife had me get up on the bed so she could check, and then said that I was 10cm and ready to go because the baby was right there. She broke my water after asking if she could, and said I could start pushing if I was ready. I started pushing, and I think I pushed for maybe 5 minutes before she was born at 12:01PM. (My midwife says that her head was out with one push.)
So it was definitely a quick and pretty darn easy labor and delivery! Elowen is doing very well, and she's nursing well too which is great. Compared to last time, I have basically no discomfort, which is great. (Of course, I pushed longer last time, too.) Taran is fascinated with her, right now he likes to pat her on the head and say, "Baby!" He's also tried to share a couple of his toys with her, which scared her, but I don't think he understood that. (Currently, his method of sharing is to try and hand it over and if it's not taken, drop it on whomever he's trying to share with.)
I'm also not nearly as tired as last time, but she slept more than him while we were at the hospital, too. (Taran was very intent on getting my milk in, and hardly slept while we were there. She's had an easier time of it, I think.) The only part that was unfun was that we had to stay two days due to me having been GBS+ at one point and not getting any antibiotics during labor. (It happened way too fast, obviously.) That, and the poor girl had blood drawn something like four different times. But we're home now, and so far things are going well. Hopefully they'll continue along this path! Here's a few pictures (though I noticed the time is a bit off on them - apparently our camera was off by six hours until I fixed it a bit ago), and I'm sure we'll have more once we've readjusted to being home. :)
http://members.aol.com/Callisiora/meandelowen.jpg
Elowen and I soon after she was born.
http://members.aol.com/Callisiora/taranandelowen.jpg
Taran with Elowen.
http://members.aol.com/Callisiora/wholefamily.jpg
The whole family, later that day.
Thank you to everyone for all the congratulations! And thank you for annoucing her, Helene! Hope everyone else is doing well!
-Melissa
Taran, November 20, 2003
Elowen, August 20, 2005
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_emerald_18m.gif - Eighteen months!
http://lilypie.com/baby2/031120/0/5/0/-5/.png
http://b1.lilypie.com/slsgm4/.png
I started feeling somewhat regular contractions that morning when I woke up at about 8AM or so. I'd had an occasional one the night before and probably while I was sleeping, but they didn't seem horribly regular at the time and so I didn't worry much about it. We had originally planned to go to the zoo with my Dad and stepmother that day, but I decided that we'd just call and ask them to come hang out at the house instead, just in case. ;) (Since my goal wasn't to be on the local news as, "Woman gives birth at zoo".)
Anyway, the contractions increased as we got ready, got Taran ready, and we ultimately decided that we'd need to leave for the hospital as soon as my Dad and stepmother got here since they started to become uncomfortable at about 10AM (I think we called them at about 9:30). By the time they arrived at just before 11AM, they were definitely uncomfortable and probably 5 minutes apart. Poor Taran was trying to climb all over me, and all I could really do was tell him that I couldn't deal with it right then. When they got here, he shot out the front door because he wanted to play outside and we loaded my bag and such into the car while my Dad chased him down. We got to the hospital at about 11:20AM (after having to turn around and go back for the camera - luckily not too far). They checked me real quick when we got there, though the midwife was pretty darn sure I was in labor. ;) I was at 8cm and fully effaced at that point.
They took us back to a room, discovered it wasn't going to work because someone hadn't plugged in the equipment properly, so it wasn't charged, and marched us across the hall. In there, they discovered the computer wasn't connecting to the network, but ultimately decided it didn't matter. My husband, being the computer geek that he is, decided he had to try and fix it until I told him that as much as I appreciated him trying to help, he had other things to deal with. (The nurse backed me up on that.) Things happened really, really quickly. The contractions were already painful and quick when I'd been checked before, and after a bit more laboring (which involved the nurses trying to put in an IV twice before giving up - I'd come up as GBS+ at one point), I was feeling pretty ready. My midwife had me get up on the bed so she could check, and then said that I was 10cm and ready to go because the baby was right there. She broke my water after asking if she could, and said I could start pushing if I was ready. I started pushing, and I think I pushed for maybe 5 minutes before she was born at 12:01PM. (My midwife says that her head was out with one push.)
So it was definitely a quick and pretty darn easy labor and delivery! Elowen is doing very well, and she's nursing well too which is great. Compared to last time, I have basically no discomfort, which is great. (Of course, I pushed longer last time, too.) Taran is fascinated with her, right now he likes to pat her on the head and say, "Baby!" He's also tried to share a couple of his toys with her, which scared her, but I don't think he understood that. (Currently, his method of sharing is to try and hand it over and if it's not taken, drop it on whomever he's trying to share with.)
I'm also not nearly as tired as last time, but she slept more than him while we were at the hospital, too. (Taran was very intent on getting my milk in, and hardly slept while we were there. She's had an easier time of it, I think.) The only part that was unfun was that we had to stay two days due to me having been GBS+ at one point and not getting any antibiotics during labor. (It happened way too fast, obviously.) That, and the poor girl had blood drawn something like four different times. But we're home now, and so far things are going well. Hopefully they'll continue along this path! Here's a few pictures (though I noticed the time is a bit off on them - apparently our camera was off by six hours until I fixed it a bit ago), and I'm sure we'll have more once we've readjusted to being home. :)
http://members.aol.com/Callisiora/meandelowen.jpg
Elowen and I soon after she was born.
http://members.aol.com/Callisiora/taranandelowen.jpg
Taran with Elowen.
http://members.aol.com/Callisiora/wholefamily.jpg
The whole family, later that day.
Thank you to everyone for all the congratulations! And thank you for annoucing her, Helene! Hope everyone else is doing well!
-Melissa
Taran, November 20, 2003
Elowen, August 20, 2005
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_emerald_18m.gif - Eighteen months!
http://lilypie.com/baby2/031120/0/5/0/-5/.png
http://b1.lilypie.com/slsgm4/.png