It all began on the evening of the 30th of July, a Thursday. Josh and I planned on watching Pink Panther, the new one with Steve Martin (we didn't get the "pink"hint till after she was born). We were invited out to dinner at Ted's but had to say no, we wanted it to be just us that evening. I decided to make chicken, rice, and veggies for dinner. I was feeling a little odd that day sitting on the exercise ball at the desk since the chair was uncomfortable and then while cooking dinner I had to take breaks to sit on the ball. (I didn't realize I was actually in early labor with small contractions) Josh came home we ate and then after we were both hungry for dessert, so we went to Hannaford's and got ice cream. Mmm. As we exited Hannaford, I felt a good contraction, different than I ever had. But didn't think anything of it since I was still 12 days away from our due date. We went home put the movie in and enjoyed the icecream. The entire movie I was contracting. But let them pass since I was still early and didn't think anything of them other than they were a little stronger than previous ones. Josh, noticed them more than I did. He kept asking if I was ok, and I just responded "yes, I'm fine. Do I look not ok?" I thought I was fine. We went to bed around 10:30pm, or I did. Josh was up doing his crossword puzzle he was stuck on. At 11pm I awoke thinking I just had to go to the bathroom and I'd be fine. Little did I know I wasn't going back to bed that evening, or morning even. We started counting the contractions, Josh keeping track on paper (I didn't know that until an hour later). They were 2 minutes, then 7 minutes. Some strong, some easy to pass. But none the less by 12:45am or so I had to call the midwife since we were now seeing the pattern and how this is the real thing. She told us, yup, you're going to have to come in. Thankfully it was 1:30am in the morning when we drove to Beverly. We only saw 3 cars the entire ride. Anyone who knows the route we had to go knows it's not an easy one during the day. God knew what he was doing when he picked that time for me to begin labor. We got to the birthing center around 2:30am. It was a busy place, 2 women were already there after just giving birth, and there were only 2 rooms. So I had to suck it up in the waiting area on a ball and sit and let the now more painful contractions pass. Thankfully I was still in early labor. We got a room about 45 minutes later and moved ourselves into the place where our little one would take her first breaths. I loved our midwife. Susan really kept me relaxed through it all, with Enya muic playing nonstop(I totally recoomend that for labor) and the tub being filled, no monitors, no noises other than what was in the room. It was actually really nice. (well as nice as it could be) I'll skip the true labor part...and she came at 11:02am, July 31st. Yaa! :o) With only 11 hours of labor and 27 minutes of pushing (which felt like eternity) she was here. Born in the tub! I was happy about that, since it was my wish and it doesn't always happen even if you want it. It was a joy when I looked to see if we had a boy or girl. It was nice being the first to know. And Josh cut the cord.
We were suppose to only be at the birthing center about 3 hours after labor and then check into the hospital for 48 hours. However, there was no room in the inn, yet again. I guess there were a LOT of women in labor that day. Must have been the heat wave we had that week, huh? Anways our parents showed up, and some other family. It was really nice having them come. Couldn't wait to show her off. After a bit we noticed the weather was getting really dark out. The rain was coming. And then all the sudden it felt as if were in the movie Wizard of Oz and we thought the house was going to fly away, hehe. After a bit of that crazy wind the electricity went out. And we were all in the room with just a little light that was battery powered. It was getting later and later too so night was coming. Our parents left when the weather cleared. And we were still in the room with only the little light. What a story we will tell our little peanut when she grows up. And to make things worse the little battery powered light also went out. We found out later that a micro burst had pulled huge trees from their roots just down the street. Wow, what a night. And to think it wasn't even over. We were still waiting for a room to open up. We finally had to leave the birthing center when we were told we couldn't be there with no electricity. So they wheeled me over to the hospital and we stayed our first night in Pediactrics. It was a sleepless night with her making all sorts of noises. Guess we weren't used to that, hehe. She did get taken at 3:30am for her check in visit with the pediatrition where they decided it best to keep her for an hour in the warmer, her temp had dropped a bit. I needed that little extra sleep anyhow. The second day the nurses decided it best to move us AGAIN to maternity annex, which is the overflow for maternity. 3 rooms in 3 days. Oh boy. I was glad to be nearer to Maternity though because the second night they look her to the nursery between feedings. What a relief. We were finally discharged at noon on Sunday, and happy to be out of that craziness. Hehe.
So that's her story. I didn't include everything for some is a little tmi. Hope you enjoyed it. We sure think it was basically a comedy, and will never forget any of it.
-Melissa
Her first time with a pacifier. (aug 16)
Her first time at Good Harbor Beach, Gloucester, MA (aug 18)
Her first time on the Cape. (aug 12)
