Happy Birthday Juliana!

It's about time, right?  So many people have asked me about the day I went into labor, so I guess a week and a half is enough time to wait to post the story of Juliana's birth.  Times mentioned are my best guess; contractions can really mess with your mind that early in the morning!

I should probably start with the night before I went into labor.  Our tiny little town has a new Chinese restaurant that just opened, so we decided to try it out for dinner Thursday night, February 16th.  I'd had some light cramping off and on all afternoon after my midwife appointment that day, but it wasn't painful so I ignored it.  We went to bed at our usual time, and around 2:30 a.m. I woke up with a pretty strong contraction.  For the next couple of hours, I had more strong ones but they weren't regular, so I decided I probably wasn't going to get anymore sleep and got up to walk around the house and put some things together for my hospital bag just in case.  I had installed a contraction timer app on my phone that ended up being pretty useful.

At 5:30 the contractions started coming at regular intervals, so I woke Michael up to let him know I was getting in the shower to get ready and to possibly help deal with the pain, and I was packing a bag for a trip to the hospital.  I guess he didn't realize how quickly things were happening, because he got up and went to the living room for a game of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.  I was ok with it, though....my plan was to labor at home for as long as I could before going in, and I wasn't ready to wake Jericho up just yet.  FYI, a hot shower really helps with labor pains.  I stayed in that shower until the hot water ran out, leaning on the warm tile and rocking my hips.  I think those movements and the hot water helped the most.

At 7:30, Michael caught me leaning on the kitchen counter and breathing heavily, so he turned the game off and woke up Jericho to get him dressed and ready to go.  He called Dawn, our go-to care for Jericho, to let her know we were headed to Post.  I was taking forever to get myself ready - it was impossible to breathe or move during a contraction, so when each one was over I hurried to finish getting dressed.  Around 8:00 we were walking out the door.

Once we got to L&D, a nurse whisked me away to an exam room to see how far I had dilated while Michael and Jericho hung out in the waiting room nearby.  I was at a 6, so we hurried to a delivery room to get set up and changed.  After asking for an epidural, I was told that the anesthesiologist was busy with a c-section patient but would be there "shortly."  That never happened.  By the time the OB on call arrived, I was at 9.5 cm. dilated, which is considered too late for pain medication.  Because that day was a training holiday, the hospital wasn't prepared for us because we only had the number for the OB/GYN office, which was closed.  Things were happening so fast, and  we were all trying to catch up.

What happened after that point is kind of a blur.  The nurses had trouble getting my IV in for fluids and it seemed like forever until they were finally successful.  Michael still wasn't in the room yet, and it'd been an hour and a half since getting to the hospital.  One of the nurses finally asked me where my husband was, and when I told her he came in with me, she sent for him.  We got Jericho set up in a corner chair with the PSP to wait for Dawn to pick him up, and Michael coached me through labor for the next hour.  I honestly believe I could not have gotten through it without him there.

Once Dawn showed up to take Jericho on a few elevator rides through the hospital, we were ready to get down to business.  Dr. Hierigs was good to go, and I was, too.  At that point, I just let my body take over and listened to Michael when it was time to take a breath and push again.  It seemed to take forever to get her out, but in reality, she was born faster than Jericho at a rapid 15 minutes!

At 11:30 a.m., Juliana Marie was born with her mouth wide open and crying already!  She wasn't given to me immediately like Jericho was - that's the only disappointment I have with this delivery.  I wanted a few moments to ourselves, to make eye contact with her, to study her, to talk to her and count her fingers and toes.  Instead, she was lifted briefly so I could see her, then taken to be cleaned up and examined, and I only had to wait a few minutes before she was handed to me in a blanket and hat.  Dr. Heirigs had expressed an eager interest in her weight - he'd guessed 10 lbs. when she first came out, which surprised me.  He was close - she weighed in at 9 lbs. 6 oz., 20.7 in. long.  Everyone kept saying, "That's a big baby!" but I don't see it.  Nine pounds is a little on the big side for a newborn, but she doesn't look like a 9-lb. baby.  I don't know where she puts it!

We got to come home on Sunday afternoon, and so far things are going really well.  I'm getting a little more sleep at night than I expected to, and breastfeeding has been a breeze.  According to Michael, I'm the "talk of the company" because of my natural delivery of a 9-lb. baby.  It's not something I readily talk about, though.  I actually needed convincing that I should be proud of myself, because I felt like it wasn't my plan all along.  But then I realized that I was faced with a mountain of a hurdle, and I dug in my heels and got through it with flying colors.  I found a strength I didn't know I had.  But I also have the best support I could ever ask for.  Michael has exceeded my expectations by far and has taken such good care of me and Jericho and Juliana while I took time to recover.  And I have to say it - she's already got her Daddy wrapped around her finger!  The three of us are so in love!

I'm not quite ready to post photos of her just yet; I've e-mailed some to friends and family and a few that requested one.  I really just don't want them to be shared beyond the folks I send photos to myself.  My camera has just come back from repair, so once I get a new memory card and can take a few good shots, I will post some before long.  If I haven't sent you a photo and you'd like to see her, just let me know.  I'll gladly e-mail them, but for now they're staying off the Internet.