BABY VERONICA

All week I knew I was going to go into labor. We had dinner plans with friends on Friday and I repeatedly asked Husband to ask them if we could go earlier. He had it in his mind that it would be rude to reschedule so we didn't. I felt well enough to sub for 3 days and on Friday I told the front office to be aware that I may go into labor and to be prepared if that should happen. The office ladies were stoked and wanted a baby to be born in Lewisville High School.

I was wearing my sister-in-law's skirt all day and when I got home I felt like it would be good practice to wear my own clothes in case my water broke. Almost 30 minutes after I changed I was lying on the couch with Dinah kitten and my water broke -but only a little. Husband was 15 minutes away from home and we were 30 minutes away from going out to eat. I had not eaten since 11 -gummy prenatal vitamins do not count. 

This is Husband's favorite part: I called him and said, "I hate to tell you this, but my water just broke. But it was only a little bit, and I'm not having contractions, so maybe we can still go out to eat?" He laughs when he tells people that. He said that if my water broke I should probably just go to the hospital. So I got everything ready for kitten to be alone for a couple days and waited. 

When I got to the hospital my water had not just broken a little bit. I was leaving a gum drop trail on the sidewalk and walking the way a toddler walks when it goes swimming in a regular diaper -you know the badonk bowlegged way. As I was dripping on the floor the nurse asked, "Why are you being admitted? You think your water broke?" uh yes. 

 This is me in my very flattering gown holding up a towel diaper. Still no contractions at this point.

I was, however, starving and the nurse wouldn't let me eat. But she said, "If I don't see you eat, I don't see it." So I ate 3 mini snickers and was persuaded to eat a Slim Jim.

After about an hour or so I started to have contractions. I really didn't want to have an epidural if I didn't have to because I know so many people  that have had horrible side effects. Plus, I do not do well with drugs. I opted for lesser drugs that completely knocked me out. for about 2 hours. I would semi wake periodically and tell Husband to go get food and then I would have a contraction.

I had one more round of medicine during which time the doctor came all the way to the hospital to try to convince me to get pitocin to get things rolling. And then the baby's heart rate dropped for a few minutes and they put more tubes in me and oxygen on me and tried to scare me by saying I had 2 minutes to recover or I would need an emergency c-section, but good news, I now could not even consider pitocin.

During the contraction phase Husband stood by the contraction monitor and would say things like, "Wow that was a big one! Almost an 8!" "Oh, that wasn't a very big one, you barely hit 4." You see, I was trying to break my high score...

At about 3ish I was starting to involuntarily push and then shake for about 5 minutes after. And the meds had just worn off and they couldn't give me any more because they might now affect the baby, so I was on my own. *insert terrified face*

I suppose I still have time to forget how painful it was. But I will never forget involuntarily screaming (a pure pain-induced scream) in front of a room of strangers. I kept apologizing to everyone for how much noise I was making. One nurse said, "You don't hear screams very often anymore on the labor and delivery ward. It's a nice change." Seriously? Apparently of all the women who come in only 5% don't get epidurals by choice.

At 5:20 am on Saturday, I finally pushed baby all the way out -and was torn in 3 places. While they cleaned her up, I was sewn up and shaking wildly for about 10 minutes.

 I told Husband that he didn't have to do anything he didn't want to -including cutting the cord. The doctor guffawed and said to him,  "I forgot how to do this, can you take over?" And, rolling his eyes I'm sure, Husband acquiesced. He was so good the whole time, holding my hand and telling me I was doing great. We didn't even need a 10 page birth plan going over his specific roles during the delivery process. He was just good and nice.

 The worst pain of the contractions was in my hips. I just wanted to stand up so badly. They made me lay on my side, though, to keep the heart rate up. I kept begging them to let me stand up or sit up. In the photo above they finally let me sit up. I was so over lying down.

 Baby girl was so small. I always knew it was a girl, so I wasn't surprised. Husband didn't even tell me though. No one did! I had to ask! Rude.

 We call this photo "Lana is finally allowed to eat". All we had was mini snickers and Slim Jim, so I opted for the snickers.

The rest of the hospital stay was easy. I recovered so quickly and was able to eat and walk and use the bathroom by myself. We had some trouble nursing initially but figured it out. Husband kept telling me that I was a champion. He reminds me that if it had gone any other way I probably wouldn't have felt so good so quickly. I feel grateful that it was so easy to recover and now that I'm home I feel capable of doing whatever -though I am still a bit weak.

We named our girl Veronica LaVelle Cole. Veronica was my grandmother's name, and LaVelle is the last name of the neighbors I grew up with and basically consider family. They were surprised and so pleased. I wish my grandma could see her. I'm sure she would be so thrilled.

Dinah is obsessed with the baby. She wants to be in the bassinet with her, she wants to watch me nurse; she watches the baby when I change her diaper. Dinah just wants to snuggle and play with her so badly. Other than for this photo, though, we don't let her get too close. Sometimes it is very frustrating for poor little black kitten.

So now I am a stay at home mom. I have a lovely baby girl. She has been such a good sleeper that I wasn't feeding her frequently enough for my body and now I have very sore feeding equipment. Husband is so good with her, and I love her so much. I think she is just darling. She has a little birthmark on her knee and so much long black hair.

We're so happy to have you in our family Veronica. I just can't believe you were inside me!