Baby M was born at 3:20 a.m. December 27.
She is 9 pounds even. 20 inches long. Short wispy brown hair, 10 fingers and 10 toes, nice pink coloring. Apgar scores were 9 and 9 if you care about such things.
Birth story–rated “moderate” for the squeamish:
YES those days of prelabor (especially yesterday) were doing something–in fact, they were doing just about everything. But boy was it a photo finish. As I mentioned in comments from a previous entry, yesterday morning I had seven great hours of strong contractions before things screeched to a halt. Tried some homeopathic stuff in the afternoon then finally gave up. Went out with R for a good dinner and went to bed 10:30ish.
At 1 a.m. (12 full hours after labor stalled) I woke up from a dead sleep with a contraction the force of a freight train. A couple of them came five or so minutes apart, but by 1:20 they were on top of each other. I woke up R and we called the doula and told her to come over. That’s when I posted the pre-written blog.
It quickly became apparent that no, we would need to hightail it to the hospital and have doula meet us there. R was great as chauffer, driving, er, as one with authority. Got there 2:15, entered through ER and hopped the wheelchair for the long corridor and elevator ride to labor and delivery. I was contracting on hands and knees in the waiting area, bracing myself on the wheelchair, while they were asking me to sign several forms. I’m pretty sure I bought somebody’s house in the process.
The entire way to the hospital I was thinking, these are classic transition sensations. The inescapable fight-or-flight stuff that comes right at the end. At least that is what I hoped: at 2:45 the Janeane Garofalo midwife checked me, and if she’d told me I was only 6 or 7 cm I think I would have perished right there on the spot. Instead she spoke those magic words: You Are Fully Dilated.
My bag of waters had still not broken. Thank God. If my waters had gone of their own accord during the mad scramble to the hospital I probably would have had my baby on the side of the road. So Janeane Garofalo broke my water and I pushed out the babe in 15 minutes with a minimum of trauma. She gave a quick cry, two sneezes, and the rest is history.
Total time from a sound sleep to a birthed babe: 2 hours, 20 minutes.
I feel fantastic. As crazy-making as the last two weeks have been, I have SO much more energy right now than I did after C’s 25-hour unmedicated adventure. That was a marathon. This was a slow climb up Everest.
Thanks for all your good wishes. Assuming all remains well, we will go home tomorrow.
31 Responses to “birth stats and a story for the ages”
- 1 Pingback on Nov 30th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Leave a Reply
Search
Asides
» I have been remiss in posting SBJ’s latest stats: 23 pounds and 27 inches at six months. Yes, I’ve got the big mama biceps.
» Aaaaaand little she-who-is lost another tooth this week!
» SBJ is four months old, 19 pounds 5 ounces, and 26 inches tall. GIGANTOR!
Links
Join | List | Prev | Next Random | Prev5 | Next5
Skip Prev | Skip Next
Join | List | Prev | Next |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Congrats and God bless from Mr and Mrs Texan.
Cried as I read this. I am so happy for you all. I am glad that the delivery was fast. Though think of the great blog story *birthing by the road* would have been.
Best wishes for you all.
such happy news! are you going to advertise your “bringing on labor” menu for other expectant moms? has c had the chance to meet m yet?
blessings
Woo-Hoo! Congratulations! Glad everything went smoothly.
That sounds about right for a second birth–at least in my experience. I was sitting up and laughing with my friend Lauri the L&D nurse who was going off shift at about 11:00 pm. WG just about shot across the room 34 minutes later. I had no Jeneane Garofalo–just a bewildered nurse who had come into the room to introduce herself. (I was marked as 8cm on the board.) She got busy FAST. LOL
(I’m so glad the moratorium on sharing birth stories is over. We swore to no scary birth stories on the Blessingway.)
Gertie sounds like a girl who knows what she wants, just like WG. How’s C handling it?
I’m glad all is well and that you are feeling so good. Peace to you and your family.
Bravo! Great story, and I’m so glad it went so smoothly (and that you got the Jeanene Garafolo midwife. Pictures, please, of Ms. M!
Congratulations and lots of love to Baby M.
I can happily report that so far so good with C’s reaction to the divine Miss M…C held her and kissed her and patted her so gently. When Aunt K arrived and held the new baby, C *demanded* “give me my baby back”.
How wonderful that everything went so well and so quickly. Only next time, if there is a next time, you will want to keep all of this in mind or you really might become too familiar with the roadside delivery!!
So glad that you are feeling great and that C loves ‘her’ new baby.
God bless you all!
I am soooo glad you didn’t have to throw the birth plan tantrum.
Congratulations.
Wow! How fantastic that you feel fantastic! Welcome, reverendbaby!!
For those of you with the password, photos and stuff up via “private.”
Thanks for the good wishes, and cheers!
Oh and Cheesehead, LOL! I had joked all along about hoping to sneeze this baby out–not quite, but close.
Congratulations and blessings to the whole reverendfamily!
I can tell you folks that M is one gorgeous future theologian and she bears a striking resemblence to C…who from what I’ve seen is clearly enamored of her sister.
Brava’s all around…and a big hug to R. RM’s hug will wait for a day or two.
Congratulations!!! Welcome, Baby M!
Yipppeeeeeeeeee
I did tell you that it might be that way….clearly BabyM is an InfantWonder,- since she has done more or less exactly as TeenWonder did back in the mists of time. Enjoy the babymoon. Oh, and I failed miserably to register for your private list but would love to know ALL…can I either have a reminder sometime, or would one of the revgalpals email me with the crucial details please. Sorry to be useless. More happy hugs xx
Congratulations!
Welcome Baby M!
I’m in the same boat as Kathryn, so if someone would email me details, I would appreciate it. Thanks!
Many congratulations on this blessed event! Baby M, welcome to the world!!
Congratulations. And to think, even though I’m relatively new to the blogosphere, I was there (virtually) when you announced that you were expecting…:-)
So happy for all of you! What a delight to have a birth as you wished! I want to hold Baby M and kiss her lil head!
Congratulations! Can’t wait to see the pictures!
Cathy
This is great!!!! Congratulations, and may the blessings of God be with you.
Congratulations and I hope you continue to feel good!
when are you precious ladies coming home?
blessed 2006 for the whole family, and oh … erm … some more photos would be wonderful
So late to this party, but so happy to hear the news! Congratulations!
Happy New Year!
Congratulations, mazel tov and much love