Some of you may know that we were in fact in the overtime period of gestation, as Em was due this past Monday (the 5th). We had an appointment scheduled on Monday the 12th for an induction (I still think it should be an inducement, but that's just me), which made me really happy for reasons that make sense only to me. See, the 12th is a good day; I was born on January 12th, Em and I got married on April 12th, Jane was born on September 12th. So 12s obviously are working out for me. Thus when we found that the baby probably wasn't going to come until she was induced on the 12th, my little OCD brain was completely content and at peace.
So it was to my chagrin when Em told me her water broke Saturday afternoon. However, I retained hope that perhaps it hadn't, given that it wasn't a deluge but rather a trickle. Looking back, I guess that the alternative of her water breaking (that being incontinence) wasn't a great option, but it was the heat of the moment.
Since the baby wasn't supposed to come until Monday, we had planned to make Saturday a Jane day, to spend some quality time before her world gets turned upside down by a tiny squeaky encroacher. So when there wasn't a ton of water and the contractions weren't all that strong, Em thought she could just ignore it all and not go to the hospital. I wasn't too keen on this, so we eventually made our way in to the hospital at 6:00-ish.
Because it was a high break in the bag of waters (I'm so impressed by my fetal-speak knowledge), they weren't able to tell if it had in fact broken, so we spent 3 hours playing a comical game of 'Catch That Bodily Fluid' (it's a huge hit in Japan). The game is played by a nurse telling you to call her when you feel some fluid leaking, so she can run in and soak some of it up on a humongous Q-Tip, swab it on a slide, and do some tests. What makes it fun is that, invariably, the nurse doesn't make it in time, so she would get a lackluster sample, take it to the lab, and come back and say they needed a better sample. I kept wanting to point out that I had never known my wife to spontaneously pee her pants for no reason for 2 hours, but I don't think this kind of logic applies to the strange and magical world of medicine. So finally, after 3 hours of C.T.B.F., they got a sample that told them that yes, in fact, her water was broken.
Once this painfully obvious fact was established, they decided to finish the job and puncture the bag, and start Em on a Pitosin® drip. She was a 3 at 9:00, and by 10:30 she was at a 7. By 11:15 she was at a 10 and ready to start pushing. The doctor arrived at 11:30 and we pushed a few times before out popped the baby.
I don't know about you folks, but any time I see a slimy dark blue creature covered in weird fluids, I don't immediately want to hold it. In fact, I tend to look around for Will Smith and the Men in Black to come and whisk it away. But I guess that because it was MY slimy dark blue creature covered in weird fluids, I was able to appreciate the magnitude of the moment and be amazed by the miracle I had witnessed. Suffice it to say I was in awe by it all.So, once they got the little tyke all rosy and happy, they did the measurement thing. Here are the stats I can remember:
7 lbs, 12 oz. (3.52 kg, 0.55 stones, or .0033 2003 Honda Civics)
20.5 inches (.52 meters, 5.13 hands, or 1/4.98 x 10 ^7 the distance between our house and the Mount Rushmore National Monument)
Love,
Jevan, Emily, Jane, and Allison
2 comments:
So exciting! I'm so happy for you guys. Congratulations Emily, on not being pregnant anymore. If you were anything like I was with the second pregnancy, you were hating the last few months. But it's all worth it, as they say, and Allison is here and healthy! And Jevan, your blog was touching and also very informative. Good job. ;)
You guys are great. Awesome. I love the new baby (especially like the name), hope she's as cute as Jane (I don't know, she's got some competition) and look forward to seeing you guys all again soon.
Jemily, good job. Love you guys.
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