WOW --- reminiscing... birth story included

Well, what do you do with your little lillie-pie tickler after your baby reaches one year old?

Anyways I am up at midnight on May 7th/8th having just made a bunch of cupcakes and then turned the leftover batter into a mixed chocolate yellow cake. Em & the lil' monkey are both sleeping soundly and have been since around 10:30. So a year ago tonight I was at St. Lukes Hospital getting the magic cervadil along with IV antibiotics because we hadn't gotten back my Strep test since it had only just been done. Labor was helped along with the magic needles of Joey Wyman that she placed around 9pm or so that night. Em went home around midnight I guess and I tried to sleep on the funky little hospital bed.

Woke up at 3 am with cramps... tired & confused it took me awhile to figure out that these were probably contractions - hmm regular cramps coming in rhythmic patterns a few minutes apart... what's going on here? I waited as long as I could before I called Em - it was 4:30 or 5. It's funny when you are induced after you have been prepping for going into labor at home - all the things I thought I was supposed to do were around figuring out when we should contact the midwives and go into the hospital & I realized I had no idea what I was supposed to do since I was already in the hospital - at a loss I looked at the clock and timed my contractions anyway - then I put on my headphones and danced around the room a little bit.

I took a shower around 7 and then got to move to my L&D room from my little holding room - the biggest difference was the size & it has its own bathroom. We put in another cervadil in the morning and had a meeting with Cynthia the midwife and Amy, our Doula. I remember we all had a meeting but I don't remember what anyone said, and I remember taking another shower around 11 am and by this time I totally wanted DRUGS - Amy and Em got ahold of Joey again & she came back and made everything better with those accupuncture needles and some tea ---
I don't know how or why I got it back together but I did & from then on I was able to go with the labor as it happened.

Deb arrived from Seattle some time in the early afternoon - I still had needles in when she got there. Her presence was the most amazing gift & she had the perfect effect on me - helping me stay calm and focused & feel safe. For the next bunch of hours we all just hung out & labor happened - I felt safe & taken care of with Em, Amy, Deb, the midwife & the AMAZING nurses from St. Lukes. Finally they checked me out at some point & said I was 7 cm dilated (YEAH) and we set up the water tub for me to do the last part of labor in. We had a glitch before getting me in the tub though cause we couldn't get a good reading on lil Blastos' heart rate on the monitors ... it seemed like we were trying for hours and I was about ready to jump out the window --- but FINALLY they said I could get into the water.

Water GOOD --- going from 7 to 10 cm's not so good, but better when done in water.

I felt his head - oh my god !!!! His head was right there, where I could feel him with my fingers - oh my god... this kid is going to get born. So we climbed out of the tub, and Em held me & Cynthia climbed underneath me and we pushed like 4 times (I think I nearly knocked Em over - except Amy was behind her holding her up) and he was born. There was cord EVERYWHERE and he was kinda greyish but then they took him over for a quick blast of oxygen and he scored a PERFECT 10 on his second apgar score*

(*Anesthesiologist Virginia Apgar, M.D. (1909-1974) was inducted on October 14, 1995 into the NationaI Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. Dr. Apgar was honored with a U.S. postal stamp for the development of the Apgar Score, which evaluates the transition of newborn babies to extrauterine life. Dr. Apgar is the only anesthesiologist and the third woman physician to be honored with a U.S. stamp)

Then we were cuddling him & feeding him and marvelling at how wonderfully brilliant and gorgeous he is & we haven't stopped yet.

We miss & love you all ----

Happy Birthday Baby Boy - I can't believe what a big guy you are

Mama-Daddie R