It’s a Girl!

Our tie-breaker baby showed up on her due date and girls now outnumber the boys! Of course we are absolutely in love.

Although I was getting antsy for her arrival once we had a working toilet, everything worked out so perfectly. Just the night before she was born, Neil made more progress on the DIY bathroom project and cleared many of the tools out of the bathroom, our bedroom, and the kitchen counter. The vanity drawers and doors went on, and fixtures including shower head and tub faucets were installed. And probably lots more details that I’m unaware of.

I woke up feeling completely normal the next day, hung out at a friends’ house with the kids, and was planning to go to the library for an event my sister-in-law got us tickets too. We were going to go straight there but my daughter soaked her dress playing outside, so we decided to stop home first. As soon as we got there I had a couple early labor symptoms that could mean labor was hours or days away.

I didn’t think this was reason to stay home from the library–it takes a lot to keep me away from the place–but right then my daughter somehow fell down the stairs into the basement (it’s only 6 stairs) holding a full, open canister of peanuts. By the time I comforted her and we cleaned up, we didn’t have time to go to the library.

A little over two hours later I was making dinner and started having contractions. Now, I had experienced weeks of on-and-off early labor contractions, sometimes called prodromal or (inaccurately) “false” labor, which are more intense than the usual pregnancy “practice” contractions, but not as painful like active labor. I had them for up to three hours at a time, and then they would just fizzle out. Considering my first two labors were shorter than average, I was a little nervous that this would make it hard to know when it was the real thing.

But these were different. Not get-me-to-the-hospital-right-now painful, but felt more like I was approaching active labor. I decided to keep cooking because I knew this could go on a while, and they were still five minutes apart. So I can now say I’ve cooked Indian food while in labor. (Neil was grilling the meat.)

After half an hour, we agreed it was time to call Neil’s mom to come be with the kids. As with my last labor, I decided it was not a good idea to eat Indian food, so I stuck with plain rice. I guess turning down Indian food is another sign of labor for me!

It was a little after 5 and she had to come through a congested traffic area on her way to our house. I had two big fears about delivery during the last month: that I would not make it to the hospital in time, or that I would not go into labor on my own and have to be induced at 42 weeks. As we waited for her, I wondered if we called too soon. Obviously we didn’t have to go to the hospital immediately but I didn’t really want to labor with an audience. The kids kept asking if I was okay, so I decided to go in the basement and wait there.

After a few minutes I had a very intense contraction and thought, if they keep up like this I’m going into transition. We need to leave! I told Neil and he called over a friend who was there in minutes and we left. Neil’s mom got there 5 minutes later.

Fortunately we did not hit traffic on the way (we don’t live in a high traffic area, but it was rush hour). And fortunately the contractions were not as intense as that rogue one had been. We got to the hospital around 6:20, got through registration and triage, and were admitted into an L&D room around 7. The nurses and midwife all acted like it was probably going to go fast and they were right. She was born less than 40 minutes later.

I have so much to be grateful for–so much that I do not deserve. I got there in plenty of time, while still having a short and uncomplicated labor. She is very healthy, something I don’t take for granted after a scare surrounding her 20-week anatomy scan. Neil has the month off and has been a huge help both the with baby and the big kids. The kids are in love with her. And the bathroom is totally functional. Neil’s friends came and cleared the tools out of her room, installed the handle on the bathroom door, and mowed the lawn the morning we came home. And left tons of Thai take-out in the fridge. And we’ve had family and friends bring us dinner every night.

I did get a minor infection (mastitis) on the 4th of July and spent a lot of the day in bed with a fever, aches, and chills. It wasn’t fun, but I got into the doctor the next morning, got on antibiotics, and have been feeling fine since.

We’re enjoying our new daughter so much, and I keep thanking God for all the answered prayers and for such supportive and helpful friends and family.

What blessings can you count lately?