Genny Genny, You're the Girl For Me!

The birth story. People have been asking so here it goes:

It was Monday morning (June 28) and I went for my regular appointment at the OB. Chris dragged me there. Lucky for me, both of the doctors were not in so I got to see the nurse practitioner. They hooked me up to the monitor for a while to see how baby was. Baby was great and I was having very mild contractions about 10 minutes apart. I didn't really think anything of it because I have a lot of false labor at the end of my pregnancies. We left the doctor's office planning on being induced the next morning.

I spent the day doing regular stuff. I went to the grocery store, did laundry, cleaned, etc... The contractions stayed with me getting a little stronger as time passed. My mother in law went with me late in the afternoon to pick out a new dishwasher (hooray!) and by that time, the contractions were quite a bit stronger. Chris researched the dishwashers online so I knew which one to get when we got to ABC Warehouse. I was so uncomfortable by this time, I could have cared less what features it had or what color it was. We got the dishwasher loaded in the van and a good friend came and installed it for us. By this time, Chris came home and I pretty much installed myself on the couch with a Coke while he took care of everything. I could tell he was getting panicked with each passing contraction because he kept thinking of last minute things he needed to take care of before we went to the hospital like paying bills and vacuuming. I think both of us expected the contractions to just stop like they had in my previous labors. But they didn't...they just kept on coming stronger and stronger.

Finally, around 11:30 I had Chris go get Anna so we could head to the hospital. The contractions were 3-5 minutes apart and strong enough that I could not talk through them. I found the coolest app for my Blackberry that kept track of them for me. We arrived at the hospital at 12:30 and they checked me. I was at 4 cm and had a bulging bag of water. So i thought they would break my water. By 4cm, that's what all my other midwives/doctors did. But not this hospital. If you admit in the middle of the night and water is not broken, they let you labor through the night and break water when your doctor gets there in the morning. I guess the delicate genius needs his sleep. :)

So I got my epidural and I labored. It wasn't so bad. I went from a 4 to 9 in 4 and a half hours. By 5am I felt like pushing. I also felt like the epidural wasn't as strong as it should have been, which was upsetting. They paged the doctor and, since it was middle of the night, it was a fill-in doctor. She ended up being really great. I had her and a midwife on staff at the hospital and two great nurses. The doctor finally broke my water, which was full of meconium. Started pushing and I could tell that it was not going to be good. It reminded me a lot of Calvin's birth in which I pushed for 2 hours and thought I was going to die. I was really scared I was going to have to go through that again. Then, her head turned in a more favorable position and I pushed twice really hard and she was out!!

There is nothing in the world like the sweet relief of pushing a baby out.


She had three knots in her cord, which the doctor said was very unusual and that it was a miracle that she was healthy. They took her and checked her for meconium aspiration. She did not aspirate it. It took a while for them to give her to me. I am used to being handed the baby right away on my belly. She weighed 9lbs and was 21 inches long. I nursed her for a bit. She had dark brown hair and a perfect little round head. Her ears weren't smooshed at all. Her little face looked just like her daddy's.

Then they took her away to the nursery for bath and other checking. This was also very unusual for me. Usually, they do this right in the room where I am. She was gone for several hours and I was getting impatient. I took a shower and ate breakfast but I wanted to have my baby! Finally they brought her into my room.

She had lots of visitors the first day: Jodi, Anna and kids, Grammy, Trish, Uncle Jeff...










Funny story: Anna brought all the kids up to see us Tuesday afternoon. She had mine minus Christopher plus Lucy, so six total. When she went to leave, Chris walked out with her to help and a desk lady told him, in a snotty tone, that only siblings can visit new babies. He said these are the baby's siblings. She looked at Anna holding Lizzie and said, even the little one? Her too, he replied, they are all mine. Love how proud he is of his kids.

We got to go home on Thursday. I missed all my babies so much and was so relieved to be home with them again.

Tomorrow Genny will be two weeks old. Where did the time go? I feel such a weird mixture of happiness, sadness, exhaustion, overwhelmedness, joy and loneliness. My emotions are taking me for quite a roller coaster ride. It is hard to explain and I'm hoping that it will pass soon and leave me with just the joy and happiness.

So I have 7 kids now. 7. It seems like a lot but also not quite enough. I love my little Genny and feel so happy snuggling her and playing with her little fingers and toes. Being a new mom again is wonderful.