Hello, hello! Here is Rachel Aileen!
August 29th, 5:12AM.
6lbs 1oz, 18in
Chris has the girls out at the mall, Rachel is snoozing, and there is an empty candy bar wrapper next to the computer (and an ice cream sandwich wrapper in the trash bin...yes) so I'm feeling pretty peachy. =)
We are just thrilled with Rachel. She surprised us a bit, arriving at 37 1/2wks, but we were hoping she would come early. If you'd like to hear the story, read on. If not, squinty up your eyes and scroll down for some pictures.
So, Monday last week, my blood pressure went up and I had proteinuria. My ob scheduled a non-stress test for Friday, checked my cervix to try to get things moving, and said to take it really easy. Cancel upcoming beach trip...
On Friday, my bp was pretty high and they said I wasn't going home unless it came down. Cancel any fifth anniversary plans??? The NST showed baby was doing great, my bp came down, the doc swept the membranes and I came home. No contractions or anything so Chris and I left the girls with his parents that night and drove up to the outlets in Lancaster, PA. Contractions started on the drive up, but were not getting any more intense, so we continued to drive away from the hospital. We walked around the PB outlet to the rhythm of ctx every five minutes, found nothing to buy, and decided to make for home. I felt bad about dragging Chris all the way up there, not finding any furniture and heading home, but I felt even worse about possibly delivering a baby in an Amish barn somewhere north of the MD border. So, for our fifth anniversary dinner, we had Panera in the car and talked of ctx.
Once we were within 40 min of the hospital, the ctx petered out and stopped. We stopped by C's parents' house to check in on the girls and I walked the neighborhood, but all was calm. I was a little bit bummed, but then I remembered that NOTHING was ready for baby. So, we went home, just we two and I resolved to get my mama act together the next morning.
Next day, random ctx in the morning to keep me on task preparing for baby. Chris and I went to the post office and mailed out my last, and biggest, sewing obligation and I felt free as a bird, light as a pregnant feather. I told Chris that NOW, we could have the baby whenever... We went to Chipotle, sat outside and chatted...discussed if we would still name her Rachel if the baby had red hair, etc. Came home, did all the laundry, including baby's first load, organized everything including my purse(?), put all in its rightful place, nested my little heart out. Chris finished putting up new doors in the house.
That evening, C's parents brought the girls over and some dinner. It was a very nice dinner, but I didn't want to eat at all, which I figured was because of Chipotle's five pound burrito. Anyway, at 9PM, a very strange feeling came over me. I was irritable, which is not really that strange, but for no reason I felt like I was going to die if I heard the football announcer say one more word. (Chris had earlier asked if I could kindly wait to have the baby until after the Raven's pre-season game 3. I was not having ctx then and said sure, but I was taking that back, swiftly.) So, I shut myself in the bathroom with the lights off and plugged my ears so I wouldn't hear anything or yell, or die. Ctx started right then, every three minutes. I filled in the mister, who turned off the tv and started getting things ready, just in case this was it.
Ctx continued and increased in intensity for a couple hours. I finished packing a few things and laid around, hoping each ctx would be stronger so we really would be in labor. C's mom came back over around midnight and we got into the hospital around 1AM. Ctx were completely tolerable, but I've never gone into labor on my own, so we didn't know how fast or slow things would go.
I went into triage, they monitored ctx for awhile and checked me- I was at 3cm. We went over to labor and delivery at 2AM. Ctx were still manageable, I just needed to really focus on relaxing and thanking God that I actually did go into labor on my own. At 3AM, my ob came in, I was 4/5cm and we decided to break my water. That ramped things up and ctx were getting pretty intense. Chris used a hot pad to apply counter pressure to my back at each ctx, but even that was losing its appeal. As with Anna, Rachel was prone with the back of her head against my back so it was all back labor. At 4AM, I was ready to be done getting through ctx and asked the nurse to check me. I was at 5/6cm, which is not 10cm. I was more than a little discouraged and said so, emphatically. C and the nurse pointed out that I was almost to 7cm and things would go much faster then. It wasn't that helpful to hear, but I had nothing better to do than continue so we went on. 15 more brutal ctx later, I was overwhelmed by the urge to push and made it known to the greater Annapolis area. The doc and nurses came flying in and I shrunk when I realized it was really time to push her out. As the first ctx came, I held my breath and pretended to try but did not push because I didn't want to. The doc looked at me and said, "Okay, you need to try." So, I took another breath and did push, and out came Rachel. Also, a small explosion of amniotic fluid which soaked Chris alone. And there we were. Rachel, and Chris, were cleaned up and we praised God for bringing us through.
We came home Monday and have just been hanging out. The girls love fawning over their new sister and Rachel has been a tolerant child, except when she was sat on momentarily.
Okay, here are the pictures of our little lovely:
(The above may or may not have contributed to a dramatically increased blood pressure resulting in Rachel's early delivery...)
