Oh yeah, speaking of Abby, we've had our baby! Abigail Elise Philpot was born just before 11pm on October 4th, and weighed in at precisely 7 lbs, which was quite the relief since my doctor warned me at the last 3 prenatal checkups (and while I was pushing, which was just SO encouraging) that she would be a "big baby". She is now 10 days old, perfect in every way (except for the whole gas thing which I'm totally over), and is sleeping/stretching in her boppy next to me on the couch as I type. Madison is completely in love with her. She calls her "Baby Abby", "my friend Baby Abby", and "my baby sister." She loves to hold Abby (with lots of help and hand sanitizer), and gives her lots of kisses (only on the back of her head).
Having Abby when we did was a bit of a surprise. Her due date was 10/7, and I was SOOOO ready for her to come. One week before she was due, around noon, I started having strong, but not too painful, contractions about 6 to 7 minutes apart. This lasted for about four hours. After calling my OB, we decided to head into labor and delivery just in case. Sure enough, no progress. I wasn't dilated at all, or even effaced. We consoled ourselves with some Carl's Jr, I vowed not to go back to the hospital again until I was DANG sure it was time, and headed back home. Four days later, at my weekly checkup, my OB confirmed that I hadn't made any progress towards going into labor. So when I started having contractions around noon the next day (sound familiar?), I was sure it was another false alarm. I took a nap and decided to wait it out. I was awoken by a painful contraction about thirty minutes later.
You'd think at this point I'd have started considering that I might be in labor, but the false alarm earlier in the week had really jacked with my confidence. So I decided to be productive. I packed our hospital bag, cleaned the house, balanced our checkbook and paid the bills, and made a grocery list, taking breaks during contractions. By the time Madison woke up, the contractions were all painful and were about 6 minutes apart. I noticed around 4:30 that I was having a hard time interacting normally with Madi during contractions and finally decided to call Pat at work. "Hey honey, how much longer will you be at work?" (Probably at least two hours.) "Hmm. Well, I don't think I'm in labor or anything (dope), but I'm having painful contractions that are making it hard for me to take care of Madison. Could you maybe try to get off a little sooner?" (He tells me I'm in labor.) "No, I'm sure it's another false alarm, but I could use some help. OH! I'llcallyoubackbye." (He finally convinces me to call the doctor while he asks his mom to head our way to watch Madi.)
We didn't leave for the hospital until close to 7 that night. Even between my insanely painful contractions during the almost 2 hour ride, I was telling Patrick that I was afraid they would send me home. By the time we checked into labor and delivery and they checked me, I had dilated to 6 cm. What a relief/shock! Everything from that point to delivery felt like a race. Four attempts (with one vein blowout and one success) at an IV line, one glorious epidural that didn't quite last long enough, thirty minutes of paperwork and forty minutes of pushing later, we were here:
In the meantime, I'm just enjoying the sweet interaction between our two girls. I love that Madison isn't phased by Abby's cries. She's sympathetic (Oh! Poor sweet baby Abby is crying!), but not alarmed or annoyed (yet).
Well, I'm off to enjoy my last cup of decaf before Madison wakes up. Happy Wednesday!
-Kelli
