Greta Marie is officially one week old today and we’ve had her home since Saturday afternoon.
She was born (for those of you who don’t already know) on Thursday, March 8th, 2007 at 11:19 AM. She tipped the scales at 7lbs, 12oz and measured 20.5 inches long! I hope you’ll forgive me if my typing and/or spelling is atrocious – I’m typing with one hand because I’m using the other to support Greta’s head as she eats. I figured, “Eh, it may be slow, but no time like the present to update my journal.”
On Wednesday night (3/7), we dropped Kiddo off at the sitter’s house for an extended sleep-over. Thank God Kiddo loves them, and that they love him, too, or it might have been a disaster. As it was, he didn’t much seem to care that he wouldn’t see us for at least a day; he was already busy playing almost the second we set foot in the door. I tried very hard not to think about leaving him because, for some reason, I was on the verge of tears every time I thought of it. Yup – those pregnancy hormones certainly worked wonders on my emotions!
After we “abandoned” Kiddo, we went home and finalized a few things and went to bed. Our goal was to be at the hospital at 5:30 AM, so an early wake-up call was on the horizon. I spent another night on the couch – but please notice I did not say “slept”. Sleep was the furthest thing from my mind, which was so active that I couldn’t shut it down enough to even come close to resting. Hubby didn’t get much sleep either, for the same reason.
At 4:30 AM on Thursday, March 8th, I was awake and getting ready. (I think I showered. I hope I showered. I don’t really remember if I showered. I wonder why that bugs me so much?) Our stuff had been packed and placed in the living room the night before, so Hubby spent a few minutes loading it into the trunk of our car. By about 5:00 AM (-ish) we were on our way.
The hospital, thank goodness, is only about 4 miles from our house so we were there in no time. Even though we had pre-registered, we were told (or thought we were told) that we had to go in through the Emergency entrance. When we went in and told the only person there why we were standing in his presence (imagine a totally empty emergency room…yeah – tough, isn’t it?) he said “You need to go to registration.” I thought, “Ok” and we followed his directions to the registration desk.
At registration, we told the lady behind the desk why we were standing in her presence and I mentioned that we’d already “pre-registered” – she said, “You can go straight up to the Family Birthing Center”. I though “Ok,” and we followed her directions to the FBC. Suffice it to say, this was a lot more walking than I was up for when we could have gone straight to the FBC to begin with because we’d pre-registered. I wonder where the communication breakdown took place? Whatever.
We arrived in the FBC and they immediately went to work hooking me up to the appropriate torture devices; IV, contraction monitor, baby’s heart rate monitor etc… The IV was in the back of my left hand, and hurt like the dickens when she put it in, but after a while I forgot about it, except that I was “attached” to something (well, several “somethings”) and couldn’t just get up and move around. I was bothered mostly by having to just lay there and wait. I’m not a patient person.
They started the Pitocin drip right around 6AM. At about 8:30, the doctor came in and broke my water. Immediately thereafter, the contractions began to get stronger. My friend happened to come in about 30 seconds after the doctor broke my water so she sat with me through the first relatively painful contractions I’d felt all morning. (Oh…at this point, Hubby had gone home take the dog over to our friend’s house for a few days; a puppy sleep over.)
Not too long after that, the nurse came in (she was FANTASTIC, by the way – everyone who cared for us in the hospital was absolutely wonderful) and said that the anesthesiologist was on the floor and would be in momentarily to do my epidural. My friend started out being my “partner” as the anesthesiologist began to do his job, but Hubby walked in and they switched places. The most painful thing I felt through the entire day was the needle the anesthesiologist used to inject the local anesthetic prior to doing the epidural. It really hurt. I felt weak and shaky afterwards, almost like I was going to pass out. The epidural worked nicely and very shortly thereafter, I was feeling intense pressure, but no pain. The pressure, it turned out, was little Greta saying, “Hey, guys, I’m ready to get outta here! Let’s go already!”
I pushed for just about an hour and she arrived in the world at 11:19 AM.
There were a few things I could complain about, like the jackhammer (yes, really – a jackhammer) that started in at 7:30 on the day we arrived in the hospital. Hubby and I were just about asleep when it started and scared the living you-know-what out of us. After about an hour of solid noise, Hubby went out in the hall to the nurses’ station and said, “Is that going to go on all day?” I don’t remember when it stopped, except that it did. It was on and off for the rest of the day, and then again on Friday, but after a while it was like a sound you don’t hear anymore because you’ve gotten used to it. It was tough to hold conversations, though, because the thing was literally right above our room. Apparently the hospital is remodeling that floor and the 2 foot thick concrete walls have to come down in order to do whatever it is they want to do.
Oh – and something else I thought I’d share. I was starving after the delivery and Hubby kindly went to get me a pepperoni pizza, bread sticks and a Coke from Pizza Hut. It was the only thing that I wanted and was probably the best meal I’d eaten in a long time.
Anyway – that’s the story of how Greta Marie entered the world. Hopefully I’ll be able to do some more regular updating of this journal while I’m home. I really enjoy doing this, and really missed not doing it so it feels good to return to some sense of normalcy after the craziness of the last week.
TTFN
JMS
PS: No - I didn't type this whole thing with one hand. She fell asleep so I gained the use of my left hand! Two hands certainly make typing easier!
She was born (for those of you who don’t already know) on Thursday, March 8th, 2007 at 11:19 AM. She tipped the scales at 7lbs, 12oz and measured 20.5 inches long! I hope you’ll forgive me if my typing and/or spelling is atrocious – I’m typing with one hand because I’m using the other to support Greta’s head as she eats. I figured, “Eh, it may be slow, but no time like the present to update my journal.”
On Wednesday night (3/7), we dropped Kiddo off at the sitter’s house for an extended sleep-over. Thank God Kiddo loves them, and that they love him, too, or it might have been a disaster. As it was, he didn’t much seem to care that he wouldn’t see us for at least a day; he was already busy playing almost the second we set foot in the door. I tried very hard not to think about leaving him because, for some reason, I was on the verge of tears every time I thought of it. Yup – those pregnancy hormones certainly worked wonders on my emotions!
After we “abandoned” Kiddo, we went home and finalized a few things and went to bed. Our goal was to be at the hospital at 5:30 AM, so an early wake-up call was on the horizon. I spent another night on the couch – but please notice I did not say “slept”. Sleep was the furthest thing from my mind, which was so active that I couldn’t shut it down enough to even come close to resting. Hubby didn’t get much sleep either, for the same reason.
At 4:30 AM on Thursday, March 8th, I was awake and getting ready. (I think I showered. I hope I showered. I don’t really remember if I showered. I wonder why that bugs me so much?) Our stuff had been packed and placed in the living room the night before, so Hubby spent a few minutes loading it into the trunk of our car. By about 5:00 AM (-ish) we were on our way.
The hospital, thank goodness, is only about 4 miles from our house so we were there in no time. Even though we had pre-registered, we were told (or thought we were told) that we had to go in through the Emergency entrance. When we went in and told the only person there why we were standing in his presence (imagine a totally empty emergency room…yeah – tough, isn’t it?) he said “You need to go to registration.” I thought, “Ok” and we followed his directions to the registration desk.
At registration, we told the lady behind the desk why we were standing in her presence and I mentioned that we’d already “pre-registered” – she said, “You can go straight up to the Family Birthing Center”. I though “Ok,” and we followed her directions to the FBC. Suffice it to say, this was a lot more walking than I was up for when we could have gone straight to the FBC to begin with because we’d pre-registered. I wonder where the communication breakdown took place? Whatever.
We arrived in the FBC and they immediately went to work hooking me up to the appropriate torture devices; IV, contraction monitor, baby’s heart rate monitor etc… The IV was in the back of my left hand, and hurt like the dickens when she put it in, but after a while I forgot about it, except that I was “attached” to something (well, several “somethings”) and couldn’t just get up and move around. I was bothered mostly by having to just lay there and wait. I’m not a patient person.
They started the Pitocin drip right around 6AM. At about 8:30, the doctor came in and broke my water. Immediately thereafter, the contractions began to get stronger. My friend happened to come in about 30 seconds after the doctor broke my water so she sat with me through the first relatively painful contractions I’d felt all morning. (Oh…at this point, Hubby had gone home take the dog over to our friend’s house for a few days; a puppy sleep over.)
Not too long after that, the nurse came in (she was FANTASTIC, by the way – everyone who cared for us in the hospital was absolutely wonderful) and said that the anesthesiologist was on the floor and would be in momentarily to do my epidural. My friend started out being my “partner” as the anesthesiologist began to do his job, but Hubby walked in and they switched places. The most painful thing I felt through the entire day was the needle the anesthesiologist used to inject the local anesthetic prior to doing the epidural. It really hurt. I felt weak and shaky afterwards, almost like I was going to pass out. The epidural worked nicely and very shortly thereafter, I was feeling intense pressure, but no pain. The pressure, it turned out, was little Greta saying, “Hey, guys, I’m ready to get outta here! Let’s go already!”
I pushed for just about an hour and she arrived in the world at 11:19 AM.
There were a few things I could complain about, like the jackhammer (yes, really – a jackhammer) that started in at 7:30 on the day we arrived in the hospital. Hubby and I were just about asleep when it started and scared the living you-know-what out of us. After about an hour of solid noise, Hubby went out in the hall to the nurses’ station and said, “Is that going to go on all day?” I don’t remember when it stopped, except that it did. It was on and off for the rest of the day, and then again on Friday, but after a while it was like a sound you don’t hear anymore because you’ve gotten used to it. It was tough to hold conversations, though, because the thing was literally right above our room. Apparently the hospital is remodeling that floor and the 2 foot thick concrete walls have to come down in order to do whatever it is they want to do.
Oh – and something else I thought I’d share. I was starving after the delivery and Hubby kindly went to get me a pepperoni pizza, bread sticks and a Coke from Pizza Hut. It was the only thing that I wanted and was probably the best meal I’d eaten in a long time.
Anyway – that’s the story of how Greta Marie entered the world. Hopefully I’ll be able to do some more regular updating of this journal while I’m home. I really enjoy doing this, and really missed not doing it so it feels good to return to some sense of normalcy after the craziness of the last week.
TTFN
JMS
PS: No - I didn't type this whole thing with one hand. She fell asleep so I gained the use of my left hand! Two hands certainly make typing easier!
1 comment:
Interestingly, our very good friends now have a new great grand baby who also was named Greta Marie! January 2009 - nearly 2 years after our Greta Marie was born!
Small world, eh?
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