But to start I will write about Miss Rachel. She is now four months old, and she weighed 13 lbs. 10 oz. with her clothes on last Tuesday when she got her shots. I am so glad she's still as little as she is. She's so sweet. She's been sleeping through the night for a very long time and it's been wonderful. Her hair is totally out of control and I don't know if I should get it cut or not. Pictures to follow. I have not written about her birth story yet.
The night before, September 8th, I started to get stronger, non-fake contractions - finally - around 7:30pm. We put Grant to bed, hung out, and I tried to get some sleep. I didn't get much, if any. We decided to go in around 5:30am, but I took my time getting things ready because I was insanely worried that the hospital would send me home. We dropped Grant off at his grandma's and drove to the hospital; we got there around 6:30am. Why is it always early am? We need to time this better. Getting there at shift change is the worst.
Trevor and I thought it would be an all-day affair - we went into the hospital with Grant around 6:30am as well, and he wasn't born until 7:08pm. We were wrong. Once they checked me in (they did all their initial checking and paperwork in a delivery room since the assessment rooms were full), they told me I was 4 cm. Whew. I could already tell it was going to be another terrible back labor, so I was trying all sorts of stuff to get her to turn over - TO NO AVAIL! Why must my children do this to me? It's horrendous. A nurse asked if I wanted anything for pain and I had just been told I was only 4cm, so I said I'd try to wait a little longer.
The back pain worsened, the labor progressed, my doctor visited and told me it would be soon. In fact, when he said "it'll happen this morning", both Trevor and I were quite surprised. Pleasantly. He left around 8:30am, saying I was 5 or 6 cm. The back pain was so bad by then that I wasn't in control of the contractions anymore and I wanted to be dead. I told the nurse I wanted an epidural. When they came to do it, I had a hard time sitting still. She finally got the needle in, went to push the medication through the tube, and the tube was clogged. I was about to leap off the bed by this point, because as soon as she took the tube out to try again, I had to push. Trevor told me "No epidural, you're going to have to do this au naturale." I gritted my teeth and grunted okay. I had no more choice in the matter. I pushed. I also screamed, as I didn't know I could. Nothing quite like feeling it ALL with no pain meds. Trevor started to cry but held himself back, telling himself silently that I needed him to be strong for me. I did. She came before the doctor could get back, at 9:08am. I tried to sit forward and see if it was a boy or girl, but they whisked her away to the newborn station and I had to call across the room "Is it a girl?" When they answered yes, I looked and Trevor and smiled a huge cheesy smile. Then my doctor walked back in. I said, "Thanks for coming." Poor guy. Trevor started taking photo after photo, and the rest is history. Actually, one more thing. Later that day, Trevor was at home with Grant and we finally had her name narrowed down to two names. We couldn't decide, either of us, so Trevor put the names in a bowl and Grant picked out Rachel. And that was that!
Now Rachel is getting to be so much cuter. I know newborns are their own kind of "beautiful", but they're also swollen and wrinkly and not so cute. Check her out now!
Love this girl!!!
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