VERY LONG POST BUT FILLED WITH DETAILS AND EVEN GRAPHIC PHOTOS!!!!

Okay, okay. I'm tired. I have so much to say, and I've already forgotten half of what I intended to write, but I'm so TIRED!

We went into the hospital on Friday afternoon. It wasn't easy leaving the house. I sat on the computer catching up on my blog list long after we should have left. We got settled in and the doctor suggested bringing in several of the cots we had seen stored in the old OR so that everyone could sleep. We didn't really have a plan but everyone wanted to spend the night.

At dinner time we asked permission to go to the cafeteria and permission was granted with rolled eyes. I was reminded that I was a patient, and that tomorrow I would not be granted permission to go to the cafeteria. Check. Sadly they did not have any chicken wings and I did not end up eating.

I got the kids settled into their cots for the night and got in the tub to start laboring. I think it was around 2 am when the nurse came in to check on me that the contractions were regular and 3-4 minutes apart. I got on the birthing ball and it made them so much more intense. Then Matthew woke up and wanted to join me on the birthing ball, and then I was just so tired that I had to lay down, so Gary took Matthew onto his cot and I went to sleep. The contractions became much more intense, but much farther apart.

Then all the kids woke up and needed to be fed and told to brush, and told to calm down, and so on and so on. The doctor came in and told me that we needed to start pitocin. I asked for 10 minutes to think about it and got into the shower. I then decided that I wasn't going to be able to focus in such a small space with so many children so I had to have someone come and take at least Matthew. I called Gannet and she said she would be there in 5 minutes. Then Josh and Noah decided they would like to go as well so I called Jen to keep them and had Gannet drop them off. The doctor came back in to tell me that it had been 40 minutes since I asked for 10 more. I explained that I was still in "Mom Mode" but that the children would be gone in a few more minutes and I promised that I would be laboring soon, without pitocin. She didn't seem convinced but agreed to wait.

The kids left, except for Katherine who wouldn't have missed the birth for all the money in the world. I got on the birthing ball and immediatly went back into a regular pattern. The on call OB came in to introduce himself and to let us know that he was available if we needed, but he knew that we wouldn't.

Gary and Katherine rubbed my back and the doctor squatted in a corner out of our way. Soon I said that my water was going to be breaking any minute. Gary said, "I know, that's why I have been standing like this!" I looked down to see his feet as far apart as he could get them. I went into the bathroom and on my way out my water broke. It was clear.

I had them put mini mattress thing on the floor in case I wanted to squat, but I ended up standing and leaning on Gary instead. Right before she was born I heard the monitor turn on and I declared myself untouchable. The nurse said she was going to listen to the heart beat and I remember being very clear that she would not be doing that. "OH no no no no no no. Not right now...no no no no no!" Gary reminded me to focus, and that contraction ended, she slipped in and out again, getting her heart tone without objection.

Then her head was out. I wanted to write "crowned" but in my births there isn't really any crowning because the minute I am fully dilated that baby is coming out! Her head was out, Katherine got a little freaked out and started backing away. I asked the doctor to get behind me and catch the baby, and she called Katherine back saying, "Look, here is her little nose! And her little mouth!"

Then her whole body was out, although I do remember it coming in two pushes, and the doctor handed her forward to me. Her little cord was very thin and she had it wrapped all around her arm. She nursed right away, with me still standing on the pad. Eventually I couldn't stand any longer so they brought in a birthing stool to sit on. Then that wasn't comfortable any more (I think about 30 minutes had gone by at that point so I asked them to disconnect the baby so I could walk to the bathroom. Katherine cut her loose and I handed her off to Gary, but couldn't walk to the bathroom and made it only as far as the bed. I rested there for a while as I "massaged" (aka pushing down as hard as you can!) my uterus to help expel the placenta. It wasn't working so I tried to walk to the bathroom again. At this point I knew that at least an hour had gone by and I was so impressed that neither the doctor or nurse had done anything to interfere with the lack of placental progress. Sitting on the toilet combined with external pressure did the trick and I was able to step right into the shower.

The placenta was starting to calcify, and the baby was very dry and over baked. No doubt she was ready to come out.

The whole birth was very relaxed, the room was very dark and we were all rather subdued, so the exact time of birth is "sometime around 11:40 am".

Gary met three other dads while we were there. The first told him that it was his first baby but his girlfriend's second, the second said that it was his second baby but his girlfriend's first, and the third told him that he was resentful because the baby was still in the hospital and the only way they could stay is if they fed the baby every three hours, so they were being forced to see the baby every three hours and it was a pain. Oh, the hardship!

Okay, no one really cares about that, or the food, which was very good by the way. They brought us in a "candle light dinner" that was severed for lunch and lacked candles, but I am willing to over look that in light of the shrimp cocktail and homemade blue cheese dressing.

Baby Girl weighed in at 9 pounds 5 ounces. Katherine took some pictures when she was born that are a bit graphic and startled her each time giving her that classic "deer in the headlights look" but I am willing to share my big floppy breast because I'm nice like that.



Still so damn cute!

MOLLY AGNES

Yes, she has a name! It seems to really suit her. Agnes was Gary's Mother's name, as well as my Great Grandmother's middle name. Interestingly enough her first name was Mary, of which Molly is a derivative.

The doctor asked what she could have done differently, and what she could have improved upon. I honestly don't have a single suggestion. She was perfect, and she suited me perfectly. She said I was the first patient induced by sheer willpower alone!

The hospital staff was fabulous. I know they were treating me with kid gloves, but I never felt like I was receiving anything special in their treatment of me. The on call resident came in because she had heard about all my "requests" and wanted to meet me to tell me that she agreed wholeheartedly! Everything was really fabulous and I'm really glad that we decided to birth at the hospital. I really can't think of a single complaint.