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Narrated by mama while it was all still fresh in her mind.
WARNING: For those of you who haven't experienced the
miracle of child-birth first-hand, you might find this to be too much
information!
Skip the talk and check out the
baby pictures!
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The weekend I went into labor was crazy busy. On Saturday, we went to
a Sibling Class at Toledo Hospital, and Joseph hated the idea of holding a
baby. That was a little disappointing. But we carried on with
our day, stopping at Wendy's for lunch while we killed time waiting for our
nephew Tarec's 4th b-day party. We helped him celebrate his birthday,
then scurried out to Ann & Jimmy's for Jarret's 1st birthday party.
From there we went over to Papa Walt & Grandmanita's house for an Easter egg
hunt. I was so exhausted by the time we got home!
My
official nesting started early on Sunday, when I cleaned up the house in the
morning. Thelma was in town from California, and we met up for
lunch. The company was great but I was really uncomfortable the whole
time. I also had some not-so-typical nesting on Sunday night,
when I sat for hours on end logged into OC, sending out transition e-mails,
tying some final loose ends, and updating my "out of office
assistant" to say I was out on vacation and maternity leave. I
was determined to have a week off of work before the baby came where I
would not do any OC work, and enjoy my time with Joseph and the last few
days of being pregnant. Or so I thought...
When I finally got up to go to bed, I felt different,
but wasn't having contractions. I almost said something to Greg, but
decided it was just discomfort from sitting for so long. But sure
enough, labor
started at 1:45am on Monday morning, with contractions at 6 minutes apart.
By 3:30am when Grandma Reenie came over to stay with Joseph, they were only 3 minutes apart. I had a contraction while
trying to get into the van... the fun was just beginning!
We
got to the hospital at 4am, and the emergency room lady was brilliant
enough to recognize I was in labor. She let me give her my name and
info from across the waiting room, rather than making me wait my
turn. What an angel! :)
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 The contractions seemed to slow down
when we got situated in triage on the 3rd
floor. I was surprised & almost disappointed when they sent me to the labor room
after being in triage for a couple of hours... I was not mentally
ready for the baby to come a week early. Instead of diagnosing me
with false labor & sending me home to enjoy a week off of work, they told me to get ready,
this was it! They first hooked me up with an IV for antibiotics,
since I carry the Beta Strep virus. Then they tried to break my water but
nothing seemed to happen, they figured the baby was blocking the water from
leaking. |
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 Once
the contractions picked up again, I got loaded up with Nubane, which sent my
head into a spin. It was not worth the
trouble! After patiently controlling myself during the spinal, my friend Epidural came
along and gave me relief! I spent a couple of hours napping, watching
Greg try to nap through his nervousness, talking to family & friends
on the phone, eating Jell-O, listening to the baby's heart beat, and watching the
contractions on the monitor. When it was time to go, I was all rested! |
By the way, it's true what they say about inducing labor - it is much
more intense and painful than natural labor. Since I was not induced
with Jenine, once Greg reminded me
how to breathe, the contractions were much easier to get through.
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Jenine was a very easy delivery...
after the second and successful attempt to break my water, I dilated from 5
to 10cm in less than an hour. When the nurse asked me to push
to see if I was ready, she saw the baby's head right away and told me to
stop! She had to get the doctor and their tools ready! It only took
two or three more
half-pushes for Jenine's delivery into this world. Every time I started to push, Dr.
Okin (Cindy) or the nurse would
stop me, since she was wanting to come out faster than they or I were
ready for.
When they placed Jenine on my tummy, we were so amazed and just
gawked at how perfect she looked, except we had no idea what we were
looking at! It was probably only a few seconds, but the doctor
finally checked the sex of the baby and said, "oh - you have a girl!"
I was personally dumb-founded, I really thought this was going to be baby
Jacob and not Jenine. But how perfect! We now have a beautiful
boy and a gorgeous girl... our family is truly complete!
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| Greg was brave enough again to cut the umbilical cord
and the nurses cleaned up Jenine, did their tests, dressed her in their baby gear, and handed her back to me. She was so
breath-taking! The three of us gazed at each other and baba took
some pictures. I nursed her for a few minutes while baba sent out
the announcement e-mail to friends, family, and co-workers. It might
have been record time - sent only 1 hour and 18 minutes after her birth! |
Standard issue baby gear...
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Up close and personal...
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Gazing at mama...
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First Smile :)
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Greg also video-taped us a little, but I started to get nauseous and had to
quickly hand him Jenine before I puked all over her! That's about when
they took her to the nursery for a few hours of monitoring. I guess
they've modified some of their procedures in dealing with Beta Strep, so
she did not need to go to neonatal ICU like Joseph did.
The baby factory's warehouse:
Stock on-hand = 14 babies
After taking us to our private room, the nurse wished us
the best and gave both Greg and I a big group hug. It was the
perfect personal touch to an already amazing day! |
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Click
on the pictures for larger images...
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Snuggles
with one tired baba...
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With
Sitti Asma...
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Tony
in amazement...
he was the first official guest at the hospital!
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Proud big brother
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Mama and precious babies
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Snuggles with not-so-large Marge
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Huggins from Aunt LeeLee
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Cuddles with a more rested baba |
<<hospital picture>>
Is this
really our baby Jenine???
Why is it that hospital pictures turn out so bad?
More pictures from the hospital and the day we took Jenine home...
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