I had little miss Monkey Juliette at 6:37pm on 05/05/05! She weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. 

We went to my appt yesterday at 9:30 and the Dr. came in and asked me if I’ve been having any contractions and I said that I had three since I’d been sitting there (about 10 minutes) but that they weren’t painful at all, I could barely tell I was having them. She checked me and I was 3-4 cm and she said my bag of waters was totally bulging. She put me on the monitor and sure enough I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes! She sent us straight to the hospital and actually said not to go home first!!

We arrived at the hospital around noon, and the Dr. arrived a little while later. She came in and broke my water (it was most likely going to break very soon anyway) which was around 12:30-1pm. I got an epidural a while after (I think I was at 4cm) and made sure to tell the anesthesiologist that I didn’t want a complete block. He did it PERFECTLY. I felt all the pressure, urge to push and the contractions toward the end. I wasn’t completely paralyzed like I was with Kirby. I could still move my legs and stuff and not long after I was already up and walking to the bathroom on my own. So anyway, by 5pm I was at 7 centimeters.

So anyway, the nurse checked me at 5pm and I was at 7 centimeters. As she was walking out she said to let her know if I feel a LOT of pressure. Less than an hour later I had Daddy tell her I was feeling a LOT OF PRESSURE! I felt like I had to poop actually and while laying in bed about ready to burst, I was actually worried about that. So she came back in to check me and was surprised…I was already at 10cm and they could see the top of the baby’s head! She called the doctor who got there soon after. I was READY TO GO. Holding it was not working out very well!

As they prepped everything I was, of course, just sitting there in a not-so-ladylike position waiting and I started feeling self conscious because everyone (everyone means the doctor, Daddy and the nurse) were looking at me, uh…”down there” with a kind of almost scared look. Not scared in a bad way, but scared like “holy COW!” Monkey wanted to come out VERY soon.

So I started pushing and in one contraction (2 pushes) her head was out! Let me tell you, that was a pretty crazy feeling. Then with the next contraction (2 more pushes) the rest of her body just slid right out! It was so awesome…so much easier and better than my labor and pushing with Kirby. And no pitocin too. She handled labor perfectly. I was just so amazed at the whole thing. It happened so quickly!

They had to suction quite a bit of fluid from her lungs. Because she came out so fast, not all the fluid was squeezed out of her lungs but she was fine in a few minutes. She’s breastfeeding like a champ too which is so fantastic. 

She’s such a sweetie, so petite and feminine! Kirby was short and had real short, chubby feet and hands and she’s the opposite…such long thin fingers, feet and toes! Kirby is curious about her, especially when she cries but otherwise no negative reactions/behavior yet!

Anyway, they said we could go home a day early, so here we are. It’s good to be here! I’ll have to post pictures later, I’m typing one-handed and I don’t think I could load the pictures off the camera with one hand.

I feel pretty good, I did have to have a small episiotomy but I can actually sit without pain! Woo!