nora jane soma arrived november 26, 2012
at 9 pounds even, 22 inches long.
now that my baby is approaching her three week birthday (yes, every day is a milestone at this point!), i thought i'd write out her birth story before the details leave me.
nora, or "nora the ninja" as we fondly referred to her as during those last weeks of pregnancy, was a little late to show up to the party. when she didn't arrive on thanksgiving, her due date, i was bummed... hormonal really;)
i was convinced that if i was late, which i never imagined i'd be, that the birth would be rough. i was scared. and all you can do is wait and having never had a baby before, i had no idea how i'd know labor was beginning.
well, you definitely know when you're in labor! really didn't need to worry about that...
the night after her due date, friday, i started to feel weird. just after spending an hour googling "acupuncture to induce labor"... go figure! i had contractions for three hours and when i called my doctor, they of course stopped. super weird. i got m all excited only to feel super silly.
i went to bed confused. no baby!
next day was a lot like the first, i had contractions sporadically, but at this point i was convinced my body was just taunting me. that night i had a hard time sleeping though and by morning, i started making unusual pain induced noises and was assured this was labor.
so i go in at noon on sunday, get there all, "check me in! oh first thing to know is i want an epidural!" and they're all, "hold on, let me ask you about your medical history, slow like. what's your birthday? yada yada yada." they monitor me and then crush my world by letting me know my contractions weren't "active" and that i'd not be able to talk through the real ones. in my mind they were real, two minutes a part, but apparently they were "weak." you have got to be kidding me.
so we went home, i cried in bed for hours and scared my poor puppy's memory forever. needless to say, everything started to get more "active." my water broke, which was awesome, because i knew they couldn't turn me away once i got to the hospital this time;)
we had been deciding between two hospitals, but there was no real choice to make once i actually felt the pain of it all. southdale! five minute drive, i'll take it! (next time i'm camping out in their lobby for the last few weeks!)
so we're checked in, i let them know my birthday and such again, barely talking through the contractions. we get moved up to the delivery unit and i get pain meds! woohoo! then an epidural! what?!?! bliss is most certainly the feeling you get while watching the monitor crest with a massive contraction and you don't feel it at all.
we slept a full night and the next morning was calm and exciting.
nora day!
i will spare you the nitty gritty of labor. some interesting points were:
- our delivery nurse referred to herself as "grandma judy" and discussed how she ate rodents for thanksgiving (raccoons, domestic vs. wild rabbits, snapping turtles, squirrel). she is from georgia and gets creative with her food apparently.
- our nurse would leave for 5-10 minutes at a time while i was pushing, leaving m to hold the fetal heart monitor and to watch the screen for contractions. kind of thought we'd have a bit more back up! he did a good job though.
- i actually had an appt to see my doctor the day i delivered. when she walked in that morning it was ironic and funny. i got super lucky she was at my hospital that day.
- i pushed for 75 minutes and i have to say, it was my favorite part of labor... the beginning being my least. going in i wouldn't have guessed that'd be the case!
nothing can prepare you for the euphoria of seeing your baby, realizing it was her all along in there. i can cry with a drop of a coin just thinking about the pure happiness of it.
when nora jane came, all jaws dropped at just how big she was! my doctor had estimate her a pound and a half less. weighing in at 9 pounds, twenty two inches long, we were all wondering if this baby was in fact related to me! especially with the curly mat of hair she had! her face was most definitely m's however, so that gave some comfort;)
they handed her to me and it was all over.
so relieved, it was just the greatest moment.
healthy (except for a heart murmur scare... she doesn't have one, whew! oh and some jaundice) and happy, we're just incredibly blessed.
i'm in love.
No comments:
Post a Comment