OT Birth Announcement

Congratulations. Big brother sure looks proud! I love the name too.

Maureen

Karlee in Kansas wrote:

Ok, we are home now from the hospital, so I'll post about her arrival. Its
long (as usual) so be prepared.


Thursday at around 1ish, I started having some pretty serious contractions.
I kept an eye on the time, and when they hit 2 minutes(4pm), and painful, I
ordered the boys to pack the car. I *knew* that this time was "THE" time.

We get to the hospital and they check me, I'm dilated to 4, so they decide
to keep me. I get the nicest of all the labor rooms. The doc came in and
we talked about VBAC since I had previously had a c-section, we talked
about pain relief, all kinds of things. I still wanted to try for a vbac.

At around 7, I decided I'd had just about as much fun with the pain as I
could handle, and asked for an epidural. My water still hadn't broken, but
since I was at a 5, they decided to break it after I got the epidural. By
9, labor had stalled and they put me on pitocin to help it along a little.
I didn't dilate between 7 and 9, and they decided to wait another hour. At
10, I hadn't dilated...still at 5, we will wait another hour. At 11 her
heart rate was dropping drastically with every contraction, the
contractions were still 2 minutes apart, and I decided that I'd had enough.
We were going in for a section. Took about an hour for them to get
everything prepped, and they started cutting at 11:58 pm, she was
completely out at 12:05 pm. Daddy was peeking over the curtain the whole
time, and we both cried when she made her first loud protest at loosing her
room at the ritz. Daddy wanted to go take pictures (since he now had
permission to do so by me lmao) and go ooohhh and aaahhhh over his new baby
girl. I shooed him away so that he could go help with her bath and take
pics. Since the doc had me open, he asked me two more times if I was
*sure* about having my tubes tied. YES I was sure, get it done and
overwith so that I could go hold my baby.

I got to hold her one hour and 10 minutes after her entry into this world.
It took so long because of the added time with the tubal. They did bring
her by me several times while I was on the table so that I could see her
and kiss her. After they handed her over to me, I nursed her, and cuddled
her, we napped together...I truly treasure her. I love to rub her tiny
little head that is covered with all that black hair and feel how silky it
is.

Ok, the rest of the stats.

5 pounds 14 oz, 20 inches long, born at 12:05 am (0005 military time), 10
fingers, 10 toes, full head of jet black hair. *Very* much female. G

Yes, we changed her name at the last minute. And I mean *very* last
minute. I was 10 minutes away from being wheeled into the OR when we
decided on Erin Faith. I had been having second thoughts about naming her
after my grandmother and great grandmother because of the intense loss that
I still felt over loosing my grandma. Mike piped up that he always liked
the name "Erin", and pointed out that it was irish (he is full blooded
irish). Ok, had the first name, but Eleanor and Mary just didn't sound
right for middle names. I started in on saying every name that I had ever
heard, and when I hit "Erin Faith" he said
"ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh now THAT I like!!" So Erin Faith
it is.

You can find pics of her (and of daddy, and of big brother, very few of
mom) at www.geocities.com/precious_imari/index.html



Thanks for all the labor vibes and well wishes!!!

Hugs
Karlee in Kansas