Bethany Katherine Harrison was born at 8:20 PM on August 30th. She was 5lbs 12oz and 19 inches long.
Apparently she wasn't aware of the schedule! We had a c-section all set for Sept. 13, so we thought we had 2 weeks. But the morning of her birth my water broke. It was so little that I wasn't really sure. After all, this was my first time doing this part! So I called my doctor and they wanted me to go in to the hospital. More and more fluid was coming out so I was becoming pretty sure we were going to have a baby that day. I called John and couldn't get a hold of him. So I called someone to watch Aubrey. And I called my mom. I packed a bag for Aubs and for me. Oh, and I ate the fateful bowl of cereal. I was still waiting for John to call me back and getting kind of stressed. I didn't think it was a good idea for me to drive myself, so I really needed John. Finally I decided to go drop Aubrey off. I knew John would eat lunch soon, so I figured I would hear from him by the time I got back, but I did not leave him a message telling him where I was going. When I got back I saw that John had called but he didn't leave a message. I was silly and thought that he had just gone back to work. So I kept waiting to get a hold of him. Finally I decided I couldn't wait any longer to go to the hospital so I had my neighbor drive me after leaving a tearful message for John to please hurry to the hospital.
My lovely neighbor drove me and dropped me off. I walked up to Labor and Delivery and there was my John. He went straight to the hospital when I didn't answer. He figured I had already left. He had been waiting there for almost an hour. So, we learned a very valuable lesson: Always leave a message!
So there we were. They checked me and said that it was my water breaking. I wasn't having contractions or dilating. So we were getting ready for the c-section when they asked me when I last ate. I told them about the bowl of cereal and they said we had to wait 8 hours. My doctor had said 5 hours after eating so we were confused. After clearing that up (we did have to wait until it was 8 hours. Bummer.) it turned out my doctor had a plane to catch and was passing the surgery off to the on-duty doctor.
So we were supposed to have the delivery at 7. At about 6 I started asking them to get me ready. I was starting to have some pretty painful contractions and they wouldn't let me go to the bathroom, so I was anxious to get started. They were taking a long time and I was getting really uncomfortable. Finally they took me back for the anesthesia. I have to say that going back into an OR and getting that spinal took me back to a pretty bad place. I kept thinking about last time and how hard that delivery was. It seemed like everything was taking forever. Finally they got me all numb and John got to come in. I felt much better after that. Then we heard a sweet little baby cry. And she kept crying. And she sounded strong and healthy. After a minute or two John got to hold her and bring her right over to me. I kissed her and said hello. After a few minutes John carried her to the nursery and they closed me back up.
John met me in recovery and we stayed there until I could move my legs. Then we went to our room and they brought Bethany in. I started trying to nurse her right away. John left to get Aubrey from our friends. It was a long day and a long night, trying to help Bethany learn to nurse. But we all made it through pretty well.
Bethany was born at 36 weeks and 6 days, which is technically one day premature. So she is pretty small and she is definitely struggling with nursing. But she's getting better and stronger each time.
John brought Aubrey to meet her little sister on Saturday morning. She was very sweet with her. Then we got to come home that afternoon, a little sooner than we thought. So that was nice.
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| All ready to go home. |
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| Safe at home. |
