My Sweet Frances Clementine

So, the inevitable and glorious has happened. I gave birth to my wonderful little girl. Even though I'm sleep deprived, I couldn't be happier. I will let you all know how this came about.

On Frances's due date, the 3rd, I thought it would be a good idea to do some walking. My mom told me on the day of delivery she walked around Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis. It sounded like a good idea to me, but we don't have any lakes. (We have lakes. -ed.) So, we all took a walk around Loose Park. We walked around the whole thing and Henry got to play at the play ground. I honestly felt pretty good walking, not really any true contractions, just a little low belly achiness that always happened during pregnancy.  After Loose Park, we went to Costco. I guess there was a fair bit of walking around Costco too due to it's size. After getting home, I noticed my normal contractions were a little more painful then before and that they were coming pretty regularly. I started timing around 4pm or so, and they were pretty much coming every 20 minutes. I kept timing and timing, and for the first 4-5 hours, they were consistently 20 minutes apart. Even though they weren't too painful, I felt this was real.  5 hours is a long time for things to stay so regular.  We called Aaron's mom to give her a heads up just in case we needed her to take care of Henry. We gave her an option to come over soon or take Henry to her house right away just to make it more convenient for her. She chose to come over to our house. At this point I started to doubt myself. I hoped I didn't just make Mary sleep on our couch for nothing. She graciously said she didn't hold me accountable if I wasn't really in labor.

We all got to read a bedtime story to Henry and then put him to bed. Aaron and I went upstairs while Mary read on the couch and then went to bed. The whole time upstairs, the contractions were about 15-20 minutes apart, really nothing special. I was told to call my doctor when the contractions were 5-7 minutes apart for a whole hour. I figured we had a long way. We decided to try to get some sleep. Once we got in bed, around 11 PM, my contractions seemed to get closer, but also more irregular. For the next hour they were every 2-14 minutes apart with an average time of every 7 minutes. About halfway into this I might have started breathing through them or made a noise and Aaron was saying we should go to the hospital. I still wanted to wait for the designated time. After an hour of that I gave in and was ready to go. I called my doctor's office and they said to come into the hospital. This was at 12:30 am.  I guess we missed her due date.

While we were in the car, I had about 4 contractions. It was then I really felt it was the right decision. Things were starting to intensify and I wanted to be in the hospital for the delivery (and an epidural). I kept hearing stories of second babies coming fast, so I thought our timing was perfect. At the hospital, they put us in a triage room and set me up on the monitors. Then they checked me. At my last doctor's appointment about 1 week ago I was 1+ cm dilated and 40% effaced. I thought maybe I was 3 or 4. Nope, she checked me and I was 2cm dilated and 50% effaced. Only small progress. The nurse said that they would keep us in this room for an hour and then recheck me. If I made progress, I would stay, otherwise I would get the boot (she didn't really say it that way). While I was in the triage room, I kept having contractions, and they were getting worse.  About half way through I had a doozy of one and all I kept thinking was that I didn't want to go home. I could have taken the epidural right then. The nurse noticed that my contractions were getting more painful and when it was time to check me, she said that if I didn't make any progress that she would observe me for another hour because she believed my labor was progressing. Luckily we didn't need the extra hour, because I had dilated to a whopping 3! The nurse said, "Let's get you a room!" She asked if I wanted an epidural and said I could after we got to the delivery room and had all our paper work done. We got into our room at about 2:30 and the epidural happened around 4:00.  That last 1 1/2 hours was not fun. The contractions were pretty painful and I was doing everything I could to keep it together. I believe during a contraction, my legs would writhe and I would make quiet, high pitched moans while squeezing Aaron's hand.  What ever works, right?

Well the epidural worked smashingly and on the first try. Aaron was in the room during the epidural and did perfect. (Laura kept checking to make sure I was OK. I tried to remind her she was the one having a baby. I guess that's what I get for puking during Henry's delivery. -ed.) For some reason, sitting up (for the epidural) and having a contraction was the worst thing ever. At about 4:30 I was feeling pretty good. My doctor came in to try to break my water, but was unable to. He asked if my water had broke, and I was pretty sure it had not. I was confused by this and hoped it wouldn't lead to prolonged rupture of membranes causing an infection. Then, my doctor started me on Pitocin to move everything along quicker. After that both Aaron and I took a nap for about 1 1/2 hours. During this time I definitely felt the baby move lower and lower down. I started feeling pressure and a little pain. I talked to my nurse and she advised me to not push as long as possible. It was at this time Aaron got up and realized that he forgot to move our car from the drop off point in a circle drive to a real parking spot. As soon as he said that I started getting nervous. I could just picture everything going too quickly and Aaron missing everything because he was in the car. I had the nurse check me to make sure Aaron had time. I was at a 9, so there wasn't much time, but a little. Aaron was off, and I am happy to say he returned in time. By the time he got back, the urge to push was very strong. I was also feeling more pain during the contractions. My nurse called for my doctor and set up the room. This seemed like an incredibly long time. She was very meticulous about all the instruments and sterile things, and, well, my doctor took his sweet time. My nurse didn't want me to push at all in case she came out quickly, like a lot of second babies do. It was really really hard, and caused me to do a lot of whimpering and breathing, but I listened and did not push until it was time. We ended up having the same nurse all night, from the triage room to delivery, and she was great.

When my doctor came in, I finally got to push. Such a relief. It is hard work fighting your body. After I started pushing, my doctor told me that her face was up which causes longer, harder pushing sessions. Last time we checked she was facing back like a good little baby should. My doctor was trying to turn her around every time I pushed. I'm sure it would have hurt terribly if I didn't have the epidural. I could feel her legs kicking me while he turned her.  It took a little time, but with me pushing and him turning, she came out the right way after 30 minutes, at exactly 6:53 am. When she came out there was a little bit of silence, but for me it wasn't too scary. My doctor suctioned her mouth a little, and she cried. Aaron got to cut the umbilical cord and she was placed on my chest. She was perfect.

She was still a little gurgley with her breathing, so they took her to the warmer and got her to breath a little better. They didn't need to give her oxygen or anything. Her APGARs were 7 and 9. After she was deemed perfect, they brought her to me all wrapped up. She was awake and alert, and so beautiful.

The next hour we were left alone. No poking, no prodding, just bonding. She fed for the first time and I got to take a good look at every inch of her. Again, she was perfect.

After that hour the nurses came in and fully examined Frances. 7 lbs, 8 ounces and 20 inches long. It was at this time my body realized how exhausted it was. All the adrenaline was gone and I realized how much I had just done. Still, it was a good tiredness and totally worth it.