ThankGivens: February 2016

Well after much anticipation, SHE finally graced us with her appearance! Harper Jo Givens was born!

Harper's original due date was January 21st, which we bumped up a few days to January 17th once her measurements started coming in, so when the 17th came and went, I was convinced this child was never leaving my belly. BUT in the same fashion as her sister, Harper Jo arrived exactly on time on the 21st... two due date babies! Joe had even given me the request to go into labor that day, as it would fit in nicely with his work schedule... what can I say, I aim to please?

Warning: The upcoming labor story is not for the weak of stomach, so continue reading at your own risk...

Wednesday night (the 20th) we went to sleep, and at 10:30pm just as I started to settle into the giant crater my belly and I were carving into the mattress, my water broke. Just to be sure I hadn't peed myself, I got up and walked to the bathroom and sure enough, water was broken! I woke up Joe to let him know his request for labor was accepted... he began to freak out, in true dad-fashion. My mom was called to come over and watch Hailey as we packed up for the Hospital.

Oh yeah, the hospital... Due to a new job and new insurance, this was my first time delivering at Kaiser, but I was fully confident that things would go smoothly because they JUST finished building a brand new hospital one year ago, only a couple miles away! WOO HOO!! So when Joe called to let them know to water-proof the red carpet they were about to roll out for us, we were hit with a giant curve ball... They were FULL. We could not come to the new hospital where I was prepared to deliver. Instead, we were told to drive 30+ miles away to San Francisco, in the middle of the night, to deliver there. WHAT?!?!?!?! Imagine a gigantic, hormonal, leaking pregnant lady being told to divert her plans... I was a mess. Fortunately, Joe and my mom calmed me down and got us packed up for our slightly-re-routed journey.

Once we pulled up to the emergency entrance at Kaiser San Francisco, I was wheeled into labor & delivery and hooked up to all the right monitors and IV's. Things were getting REAL. At first (as with Hailey) I didn't feel any contractions, but I knew they were not far away... A couple hours later they were there... in all their intense glory. Rocking out to Hall & Oates on our jambox in the delivery room, Joe slow danced with me, rubbed my back, and let me crush his hands through every miserable contraction. By about 4am I was 4cm dilated. Not bad, and much better progress than with Hailey so I was feeling optimistic that I might be able to do this epidural-free... Fast forward 4 uterus-wrenching hours later to 8am when I was checked again and I was at... 4 centimeters. WHAAAAAAT!!?! Plan B... flirt my way into the Anesthesiologist's heart for the best Epidural he had ever injected. After explaining that it took 10 hours to get the epidural adjusted for Hailey's delivery, they were able to administer and adjust my epidural this time in only one hour. As we were informed, my spine is likely curved just enough that my right hip doesn't go numb with a normal epidural. But as it turns out, you can numb anything with nerves and I ended up with a VERY strong epidural, sending me into la-la labor land. A healthy dose of Pitocin put me on track to (now pain-free) active labor.

HEYYYYYY Epidural Man!

Oh, I get to push a button for more pain relief? pushpushpushpushpushpush

From 10am to about 3pm I was singing along to more tunes and making small talk with my lovely nurses. The doctors and nurses were all very friendly and helpful women (4 of which were pregnant!) - my infamous Anesthesiologist was the only male I saw! I was in good hands. Joe was looking a little under-nourished so I sent him across the street to Target to get some snacks and such. Bad timing on my part, because while he was there I was checked and the doctor said I was 10 cm and we could start pushing once they got set up. I called Joe and gave him the news that he'd have to leave the dollar section and get back fast so he could help catch this baby. I'd say that rattled him a bit and he ran back in a hurry.

So here we were, doctors and nurses set up and me ready to push. We even had a pediatrician on hand because there was meconium in the amniotic fluid, so baby would have to get checked for that being cleared out of his/her mouth and lungs and such. Funny story about pushing... thank goodness for stirrups because I had NO feeling in my legs. That super strong epidural was in full effect and I didn't feel a thing. The doctor had to tell me when a contraction was happening which was when I could push. About 20 minutes of pushing like that and baby was coming out!!! AHHH!!! Well, sort of...

I was told later that the baby's cord was wrapped twice around her neck and then, a shoulder got caught so baby was stuck... not a good combination. There was some urgency to get the situation remedied, so the doctor had me push no matter what... even when my body wasn't contracting because baby needed to get out and that cord needed to come off. Fortunately the pushing worked (and even more fortunately my epidural kept me unaware of all that was physically going on! yowzahs) Baby was out and Joe got to announce.... IT's A... GIRL!?!? A healthy... BIG... GIRL!

Back story to this - during our 20 week ultrasound, we told the tech that we didn't want to know the gender, but the tech never said to look away... so I looked. And I was 80% sure that I saw... something down there! Then I proceeded to google-image search boy versus girl ultrasounds and I was fairly certain that I saw boy bits... So even though my certainty faded with each week, Joe and I were thinking we had a boy cooking this whole time. So SURPRISE! GIRL!!!! What can I say, I'm not an ultrasound tech. sheesh.

Harper Jo Givens made her way into this world at 3:56pm on Thursday, January 21st, 21" long and weighing in at a whopping 10lbs 3.8oz. That's right, I just delivered a baby larger than the size bowling ball I'm comfortable holding. The nurses were all very impressed, especially after the doctor made prediction of a 9 lb baby only hours earlier. And to all the epidural haters out there.... don't talk to me until you're 10+ lb baby gets their shoulder stuck on the way out...