Betsy's Birth Day...

March 1, 2008

• Baby Betsy is a healthy little girl!
• Labor and Delivery: I couldn’t sleep well that night and had been SO TIRED at work all week. I was lying awake when I felt a funny pop in my belly, like a large bubble in a lava lamp slowly getting smooshed. My water had broken. It was shortly before 12 a.m. (I think the Hudson’s chicken salad sandwich did it!)
• When I woke Justin up he said “You’ve got to be kidding me?” (She was three weeks early-We didn't even have her crib up!) I wasn’t unsure at ALL this time…I knew Betsy was on her way. We didn’t have time to shower…we just packed a few things as we timed contractions. Again, Justin was super calm, keeping me from FREAKING OUT! We hadn’t planned on who would keep Jay when we had to go to the hospital, but we knew just who to call! Big Jay and Auralee!
• Big Jay said he was up anyway playing video games! They gladly agreed and we rushed over with Jay and the things that he would need overnight. When we got to their house, Justin set up the pack-n-play while Auralee talked to me in the car (It’s hard to describe how genuinely excited she was!---SUCH a good friend). We were on our way to the hospital by about 1 am. There was very little traffic since it was after midnight, so that was good.
• I was upset that Julie would not be delivering since she was off that weekend. (Julie delivered Jay. She was amazing. A mother never forgets the doctor that delivered her first child. Think about it. That doctor is the VERY first person to MEET your child. Through tears I told Julie this at our 6-week check-up after having Jay. She agreed that her job is very special to her for that reason.) I called the on-call doctor and she sounded like she was half asleep. I stressed to her that we were on our way and this was my SECOND (I read in a book that you should do that because the second comes so much faster). I discussed with Justin that I thought she went back to sleep-Foreshadowing!
• We got checked in at the hospital at 1:30 a.m. As with Jay’s birth, Justin was amazing we breathed and he rubbed my back and watched the contractions on the monitor. 1.5 hours later…1 hr. 15 min. of holding Betsy in waiting on the slacker doctor and 15 minutes of pushing/clean-up…she was born. (The only thing MORE uncomfortable than pushing in delivery is NOT pushing. They had to give me oxygen several times because the feeling of NOT pushing was making me faint!) The doctor blamed her lateness on me and said that I was too calm on the phone so she thought she had more time and made a big deal about having to bend over low at delivery and how it hurt her back, while I lay in the bed NO MEDS (too late for my wonder drug Nubane this time!) giving birth to a child…I wanted to kick her in the face!
• Born at 3 a.m., she was 6 lbs. 11 oz. and 19 inches long. As with Jay, they couldn't give her to me fast enough! They put Betsy in my arms and I cuddled and kissed my sweet little girl with lots of dark curls and beautiful rosebud lips.