Chloe was born at 3:57am on Monday, February 20, 2012 — 10 days too early! My last official day at work was the previous Friday, but since I had to take a half-day off from work due to Dylan being sick and needing to be picked up early from school, I ended up wrapping up work items on Saturday! Admittedly, I was surprised when I woke up on Sunday with contractions. I thought maybe, just maybe, it was Braxton Hicks, the worst case I’d experienced of the 3 pregnancies. The contractions were about 9 minutes apart and not terribly regular. I reported this all to Tom and told him that if he wanted to go out for a training run, he’d better squeeze it in now just in case I went into labor. I went on to tell him that I didn’t think I would and that I still believed she’d be “on time” rather than early (like Dylan) or late (like Cameron)! Still, he ran loops in the neighborhood so he could easily get back…just in case.
By the time HAT came over at 3pm, the contractions were at about 6 minutes apart. Recalling the last time they were 6 minutes apart, I told everyone that they might space out again. I was still hoping I could make it to Tuesday to give Tom time to recover from his cold (he still had a mild case of laryngitis and a cold) and to give me a chance to get a hair cut, and to give all of us a chance to prepare some more.
Given that the contractions seemed to be more regular, though, Tom went ahead and packed his hospital stuff (mine had been packed for about a week all ready) and he installed the car seat. Then, we set down to play a game with everyone laughing and joking that we’d better get going if we were to finish playing before I gave birth.
I started really tracking contractions around 6pm — they were coming fairly regularly at 3-5 minute intervals and, still wanting to remain in denial but realizing I probably couldn’t, I finally called my sisters to warn them and to tell them to plan on spending the night in case labor dragged on. I also called Sutter to ask them for advice. They said it was up to me, but it still sounded like early labor, so we finished out our game of Blue Moon City with Heather and Assaf.
After the game ended, we decided that it was probably a good idea for the kids to settle in over at Heather’s house since it was pretty close to bedtime already. Heather and Assaf packed up the kids (except for Cameron who we’d decided needed to fall asleep with us before being dropped off) and Tom and I waited for Cindy and Christina to arrive.
I called Sutter again around 11pm and they said that it was still up to me (contractions were still 3-5 minutes apart), but that usually people checked in by this point. I went up to shower (still in denial that I was actually in labor for good) to help “calm and relax” my muscles as suggested by one of the Sutter nurses. It didn’t really help. So, I finally told everyone that I should probably just check in so that when things got really uncomfy, I would already be there. I told Heather, Cindy and Christina I’d call them to let them know when they needed to come and that they should try to nap in the meantime.
By the time we got to Sutter at 12:17am, I was already 5cm dilated. We called in our labor support (sisters and H.) and they arrived sometime around 1am. This time, at our nurse’s suggestion, I tried sitting on an exercise ball, wiggling my hips from side to side and bouncing up and down a little to try to coax my water to break. I asked about drugs, but by the time I’d asked about the possibility of fontanel(?), our nurse said it was a bit late for that and they couldn’t administer it too close to delivery because it would make the baby sleepy. Not having slept yet, I told her I was worried I would be too tired to push when the time came. So, we discussed epidural possibilities and also the possibility of having the doctor break my water to move things along; we went with the latter.
So, at some point, in comes Dr. Van Ooy, she “breaks” my water, contractions really start to feel painful, I whine and complain that I can’t take it, the nurse tells me to try standing up as that might speed things up and when I do, oh…my…gawd. One push and (Tom and team tell me that there was a huge gush of water when I pushed–I had no idea, all I felt was extreme pressure)!! The nurse said try one more push, I whined and complained, but did and the next thing I knew, everyone was saying they could see Chloe’s head and I heard the doc telling everyone to get me back on the bed right away.
I whined and complained that I didn’t know if I could get myself up there. Somehow I did…with help, of course. Then, more screaming and through the haze, I hear the doctor telling me to stop pushing and breathe. The next push (or was it the next one after that), bloooooop…there she was. Chloe tumbled outta me and they put her goopy, little vernix-covered body right on my chest.
I will never forget that moment — she is our last little baby. There will be no more moments like this ever again. They left her there for 2 hours, putting off weighing, measuring, etc. I just held her sticky little baby self and thanked her for coming out so fast. After they finished with the stitches, I tried nursing her and she latched on like a champ.
It’s been 2 weeks now, and we are all of us still in love. Dylan and Cameron constantly want to “pet” her on the head. Cameron giggles when she compares her hands and feet with Chloe’s and Dylan is constantly hovering over her and cooing about how cute she is.
Oh yeah, her stats: 19″ and 7 lbs. 3 oz. You forget just how tiny they are when they’re newborns! I’m savoring every moment!!
Quite by good luck, by the way, we had Chloe in Room 205, the very same room that we had Dylan and Cameron in! With Cameron, it was a coincidence that we got the same room; with Chloe, we requested it and were lucky it was available! Even though she was early, she picked a good time to come; Sutter filled up pretty quickly while we were there…they even had to send someone to Dominican for lack of space there! So, had she waited until Tuesday, as I’d hoped, we may well have had a different room or may have even been sent away!!!
And, here are a few more pics from the 20th…
Oh Cecile, she is beautiful, just like Cameron and Dylan! I really miss you and your sweet family. When you are recovered and back in the swing, let’s find some time to get together! Great Big Hugs!