Claire's birth story
Our beautiful new daughter arrived punctually on her due date, Aug. 17, at 2:16 a.m. Here's the story of my L&D experience bringing Claire Elise into the world.

On Thursday Joel and I went to the mall and walked our legs off, got the contractions faster, only to have them stop completely as soon as we got in the car. Most discouraging. We hung out with a friend that evening, relaxed, played Scrabble and figured the timing of labor was all in God's hands. After all, I wouldn't be pregnant forever, even if it was beginning to feel that way.

At around 2 a.m. Friday, I was awakened by a contraction worse than any before. I went and grabbed Joel's watch that lights up and started timing contractions, but tried to sleep as I was able. The contractions were 10 minutes apart. By 6:30 they were 7 minutes apart. I got up and tried to keep moving--showered, walked the dog, did some light house cleaning. They slowed down more than once, then I ate a little lunch. Powie! The contractions got much harder and were 5 minutes apart. I could barely stand they hurt so much. I made Joel eat lunch, then we headed for the hospital, arriving at around 2:15 p.m.

Check in was slow, and the monitoring process was like an episode of the Three Stooges--I seemed to have all the clueless residents tripping in and out. Once they got the monitor working, the contractions were 3 mintues apart and excruciating. They finally checked me at 3:30, I was 5 centimeters. Pretty cool! I thought it would take far longer to dilate that much.

Because monitoring had been so slow, I asked them to send the anesthesiologist over as soon as I got to a L&D room. They got my IV going, and he arrived to do the epidural once enough fluids were in.

I must say, epidurals are AWESOME! I felt fantastic as soon as it kicked in. The next few hours, the contractions slowed down only a little bit (from 3 min apart to 4), but I could barely feel them. :) The doctor examined me and said I was now 7 cm and 90% effaced.

While I was in transition, I actually napped a little. (Did I mention that epidurals were awesome??) I sent Joel to go eat dinner while my mother-in-law and the nurse stayed with me. During this time, my blood pressure was making folks a bit nervous. It got as low as 98/34. Apparently my pressure had been only 110/54 before the epidural though. I had no symptoms like light headedness, but they put me on oxygen for a while anyway.

The next thing I knew, the doctor examined me and said, "You're 10 cm, it's time to start pushing." (I had been asleep when he first came in the room. No kidding). "One problem though," he said. "The baby is face up. We will have to try to turn her through the pushing." That explains why my contractions had been so excruciating without drugs--I'd been in back labor all along.

We started pushing at 8:40. This lasted a very long time. I was put in 4 different positions along the way to turn the baby. I got some breaks when I needed to rest out a few contractions. We watched Friday slowly tick away, and we all joked that this baby wanted to be born ON her due date (Saturday), not one day sooner. By midnight, I was exhausted. We had succeeded in turning the baby face down, but the doctor decided I needed help to finish. My epidural was also wearing off on one side.

The anesthesiologist came to give me a booster dose of anesthesia, and the doctor told me to rest while he finished another delivery. We would proceed with the help of foreceps when he returned.

Over an hour passed, and I was able to recover some strength. A huge cast of characters arrived to help--the doctor, several residents, two nurses and the anesthesiologist. I joked "Party in my room!"

Six more sets of pushing and some deft turns and pulls by the doctor, and she was out at 2:16 am! The foreceps left no marks, and I didn't even have an episiotomy, just some tearing (2nd degree). It took quite a while for him to stitch me up, so I'm still very sore. We were all surprised that an average sized baby (7 lb. 5 oz.) could be so hard to get out.

Claire Elise is named in honor of her great-great grandmother, Clara Elizabeth. She looks like my family facially, but has Joel's long hands and feet. Joel took some film to be developed, and he hopes to scan and post some photos Tuesday or Wednesday.