I was getting ready to leave for work on Saturday morning. Due at work at 8am I was jogging out the door at around 7:35 or so. As I was tying my shoes Madeleine told me not to go to work, her water had broke.
We waited for reinforcements to arrive (the Paradis clan, Nanny, Grampa and auntie Liz). We headed to the hospital to get checked out. Depending on the results of some tests and the progress of the labor they were either going to send Madeleine home to wait for things to progress or check her in. Round about noon we were in an evaluation room and got the word that her contractions were coming along and we may as well get settled into the delivery room.
Madeleine was put on some oxytocin (after three or four tries to get a good vein) to help things along. If memory serves around 6:30 or so she examined and found to be ~3-4cm dilated. She was getting quite uncomfortable by this point, but the results of the examination meant she could get her epidural. She got her needle in the spine after a few tries (see a theme?). This was eagerly anticipated by this point, as she was having real trouble with the pain from the contractions. By 9pm she was 8 or 9cm dilated, and the doctor was called in for the final stages of delivery.
The pushing phase went MUCH more smoothly than last time around. At 10:20 Lucy was born.
As her head came out it became obvious that the umbilical cord was up around her neck, but there wasn't enough slack for the doctor to pull it up over her head. What this meant was that he had to clamp it and cut it, which of course cuts off the blood supply to the baby. He clamped the cord, cut it, and asked Madeleine for one big push and she came out pretty quickly. They rushed her across the room and huddled over her, clearing fluid out of her mouth. I got nervous when they started using a little mask and bulb to help her breathe. Madeleine asked why Lucy wasn't crying, and I was at a loss for words. Noone had said anything particularly soothing or encouraging after she came out, which worried me. All of a sudden the room seemed like it had filled up with people. I would learn later it was the fetal resuscitation unit. As they filed in though I heard a little cough, then another, then a little cry. Finally someone said that her heart rate was ok and people immediately started to melt away. All in all it was probably about a minute after the cord was clamped, but it seemed like forever. At this point a bell started going off and a page went out calling people to our room. This really drove home how concerned everyone was just a few seconds ago.
Lucy perked up within a minute or two and was moving and looking around, really very alert. Much more so than Rebecca.
A few minutes later things were tidied up and cleared away, and mom and baby had a nice little first feeding session, which went a lot better than last time around. It is really obvious that Lucy had a couple more weeks gestation than her bigger sister.
She's beautiful, and seems healthy, and cute as a button.
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