A quick post to document a day I am both proud and embarrassed about: on Friday, April 22nd I awoke at 7:46 am after a rough night with Aria. I looked at the clock and awoke a startled Samir. "Is it okay if the girls skip school today - its almost 7:50 and neither of us are up!". His response, "Yes that is fine. It is just one day. What happened? Usually Annika comes in our room at 7:15 at the latest?"
(Before Aria we would both be up and dressed before 7am in order to get the girls ready by 8 and leave for school).
I open the door to look for the girls and find them both completely dressed for school in the outfits we laid out (with socks!), with their hair brushed as well as their teeth brushed. They were quietly playing in the upstairs play room.
Astonished and touched are the words that come to mind. Overwhelmed mom and dad were ready to skip school and yet our sweet angels had got themselves ready - what a great and powerful moment. Were able to get to school just 5 minutes late. Good thing I didn't open the door and start talking about staying home from school until after I saw them. : )
Sunday, April 21, 2013
A new dawn...
Aria is here. Our last daughter (at least that is what we believe) came into the world yesterday and our family feels complete. It was a magical process full of many great and new moments. A few of the surprises were:
1) Our delivery was induced, which was very different than I expected. I had to be induced even after having many false labor contractions. We started a little bit of the induction drugs around 7am but I only moved from 2cm to 4cm over 8 hours. However, I progressed from 4 cm to 10cm in an hour. I pushed for about 20 minutes and she was born at 3:33pm. Every child really has their own path and she did not come the two weeks early I expected.
2) We had fantastic labor nurses. They were strong, positive, and healing. Laboring was relaxed and fun with their help. The one that helped me the most snuck me a few sips of diet coke and was 37 weeks pregnant herself!
3) Dads are no longer allowed to be in the room for epidurals. : ( So sad to learn about this because it is always a little scary and I almost had a new nurse who was learning put in my epidural. She had been doing it for less than two weeks. Given I had a history of not-great epidurals, I spoke up and said no but no one even asked me. I kind of just looked over my back and realized what was about to happen. Net - It made me appreciate how great it is to have Samir in the room. I can't imagine the delivery experience of in the old days where Dads were often not there.
4) Another weird thing with the Epi - It mostly went into the right side of me and I could move my left leg and feel on the left side during the delivery. I told the nurse practioner who put it in that I felt it shoot into the right side and not much on the left when they first put it in. It was more discomfort then pain so it really turned out to be a positive as I could feel the contractions pretty well. This helped me push. The epidural started to hit my lungs and cause breathing issues as they usually do but this time I was savvy enough to disagree with the nurses and decide to sit up instead of lie down as they recommend. This kept the medicine mostly in my lower half where it helps with the pain.
5) Dr. Gardner encouraged me to watch the pushing/delivery process and brought the mirror over. I was very scared and said no initially but she was so confident that I would love it so I decied to look. It was probably the most amazing thing I have ever seen with my eyes. I can't find words to explain the miracle of watching a new life emerge, especially one that I have been caring for inside me for 10 months.
6) Aria arrived into the world with the cord wrapped twice around her neck but strong and calm. I knew she would be larger then the others but I didn't expect the almost 8 lbs and the almost 22 inches! She emodies elegance, peace, and strength already. Samir and I both instantly felt that she had always been part of our family. It is an unusual feeling but I believe our family is complete now.
1) Our delivery was induced, which was very different than I expected. I had to be induced even after having many false labor contractions. We started a little bit of the induction drugs around 7am but I only moved from 2cm to 4cm over 8 hours. However, I progressed from 4 cm to 10cm in an hour. I pushed for about 20 minutes and she was born at 3:33pm. Every child really has their own path and she did not come the two weeks early I expected.
2) We had fantastic labor nurses. They were strong, positive, and healing. Laboring was relaxed and fun with their help. The one that helped me the most snuck me a few sips of diet coke and was 37 weeks pregnant herself!
3) Dads are no longer allowed to be in the room for epidurals. : ( So sad to learn about this because it is always a little scary and I almost had a new nurse who was learning put in my epidural. She had been doing it for less than two weeks. Given I had a history of not-great epidurals, I spoke up and said no but no one even asked me. I kind of just looked over my back and realized what was about to happen. Net - It made me appreciate how great it is to have Samir in the room. I can't imagine the delivery experience of in the old days where Dads were often not there.
4) Another weird thing with the Epi - It mostly went into the right side of me and I could move my left leg and feel on the left side during the delivery. I told the nurse practioner who put it in that I felt it shoot into the right side and not much on the left when they first put it in. It was more discomfort then pain so it really turned out to be a positive as I could feel the contractions pretty well. This helped me push. The epidural started to hit my lungs and cause breathing issues as they usually do but this time I was savvy enough to disagree with the nurses and decide to sit up instead of lie down as they recommend. This kept the medicine mostly in my lower half where it helps with the pain.
5) Dr. Gardner encouraged me to watch the pushing/delivery process and brought the mirror over. I was very scared and said no initially but she was so confident that I would love it so I decied to look. It was probably the most amazing thing I have ever seen with my eyes. I can't find words to explain the miracle of watching a new life emerge, especially one that I have been caring for inside me for 10 months.
6) Aria arrived into the world with the cord wrapped twice around her neck but strong and calm. I knew she would be larger then the others but I didn't expect the almost 8 lbs and the almost 22 inches! She emodies elegance, peace, and strength already. Samir and I both instantly felt that she had always been part of our family. It is an unusual feeling but I believe our family is complete now.
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