One week ago today our new tiny girl arrived. All right...so she wasn't so tiny. Eight pounds nine ounces! No wonder I was so much more uncomfortable this time around. We had a difficult time settling on a name for her, but in the end we choose Amelia. We are just planning to prepare her for a lifetime of Amelia Bedelia references.
I was hoping that the third time would be the charm as far as a quick and easy delivery went, but alas, it just wasn't to be. You'd think that some kind of pattern would be established for me by now. Afterall, don't you often hear people say things like "I always have my babies early" or "My labors are always quick"? I have generalized statements I can make about my experiences other than to say "My babies always get born", which is good. This one was the strangest of all so far. On MOnday night I started having really regular contractions for over an hour, so we got up and got dressed to go to the hospital and...the contractions just stopped. Fine. Back to bed. Three hours later, contractions again. Strong, regular, three hours! Ready to go to the hospital - contractions disappear! I start feeling very unwell. Very hot, headache, just sick. Like I have the flu. Finally I decide to just go into my doctor's office to have them tell me I'm fine or not fine. It turns out I have a fever of 101.6 and they want to check me into the hospital overnight and induce me in the morning. They check me in and do some blood work. They come back and say my white blood cell count is way up and they are going to induce right away due to the risk of the baby and I both having a bacterial infection. At five o'clock they started the pitocin, and at 7:55 (after a very frustrating 20 minutes of pushing and finally resorting to using the vacuum) she was here. I saw her for about 20 seconds before they wisked her away to the NICU. She was there for about 5 hours getting her IV of antibiotics and things. We both had to stay in the hospital for a full 48 hours to complete our rounds of antibiotics and to make sure all the blood cultures came back clear. It was a lovely Thanksgiving holiday in the hospital. We came home Thursday night at about 8:00.
CT and Lily are loving their new little sister and take turns holding her. Lily is still working on learning that the baby needs gentle treatment. She is enthusiastic in her affection. CT is sweet and very protective, just like a big brother should be. My mom is here with us until Saturday morning, when reality will no doubt set in. Wish me luck!
