Sunday, January 25, 2009

Welcome Larkin Hope


Little Miss Lulu made her appearance Tuesday night, just as I suspected. I suppose the historic Inauguration festivities got her excited to make her own appearance!

We got to the hospital at 4:30pm as I was having medium strength contractions 2 to 5 minutes apart. We were given the option of walking it off and coming back in the morning for a controlled delivery (and taking the chance of needing another speedy trip to the hospital sometime in the intervening hours); or getting set up with an epidural for pain, a pitocin drip to speed up the process, and having a baby within a couple hours.

As many of us know, when you offer a woman in labor an out, she is likely to take it. We looked at each other and thought, well, the kids are taken care of for the next 24 hours, we are already here, and I'm already getting really cranky. We took the second option, and everything jumped into motion.

I had an epidural with my first, but was otherwise out of my mind and thus not terribly impressed with the experience. My second came so fast there was no time, and I just pushed through the burn. That was also an out-of-body experience, followed by an intense adrenaline rush as if I had just survived falling out of a ten-story building.

Boo Bear is giddy about being a big sister

This time I was still in control of myself so I appreciated the difference between pre-and post-epidural states. After I got comfy, I sat back and we waited for the pitocin IV to do its job. It seemed like only 15 minutes later it was time to push. After only a couple minutes of not really hard pushing, Lulu made her entrance into the world. She didn't even cause any tearing, which is my personal highlight of the week.

The whole experience was a bit surreal. As I said, I was fully aware of myself and everything else throughout the whole event. In my opinion, the epidural was a miracle that allowed me to appreciate and enjoy the moment. I am a fan.

Rooster is still a little unsure

The official stats:
January 20, 2009 at 7:02pm
7 lbs, 7 oz
21 inches long


3 comments:

  1. Congratulations!!!! She's beautiful and I love the name. What an awesome choice. I hope you are getting some sleep. :-)

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  2. Awesome. Congratulations. What a beautiful family.

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  3. Woo HOO! She is beautiful. I'm so excited to meet her. Larkin. I love it.YOu look great too!

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