What a night! Rebecca has been having contractions all week, and today was especially difficult for her, so I skipped my evening job and went home to help. I got off the freeway and started taking the back roads home (faster due to construction) and at 6:45 my phone rang, with Rebecca calling to tell me her water broke! She was stressed out, but fortunately I was about 20 minutes from home, so I told her to page the midwife on call, and I’d be home soon. When I got home, she was rather miserable (from a low fever, strong contractions and just being tired), but we were able to round up the kids who actually did a good job of putting their own shoes on and getting their backpacks and water jugs together, and get everyone in the van. As luck would have it, the front tire on the van was low, so I had to drag the compressor out of the basement to fill up the tire. Good thing Rebecca’s dad is letting us borrow that. 😉 Then we were on our way!
Driving to the hospital, I called Laurel’s cell and it went to voice mail, so I left a message. I then called their house and got voice mail again, so I called Roine’s cell and he answered. He said I could bring the kids over, but we wanted to get to the hospital first, just because we didn’t know how far Rebecca had progressed.
So, we arrived at the hospital and came up to the Labor and Delivery floor. We went to room 8 and Rebecca put on the gown (they already knew we were coming). She got on the bed and I took the kids out while they checked her (she was at “three plus”). I asked if there was time to get the kids to Laurel’s, and the nurse (Jaclyn) explained that the last time she told someone they had time, the baby arrived while the husband was gone, so she wouldn’t say it either way. I decided to try it anyway, considering if I had the kids, we’d all have to be in the waiting room during the birth. There’s a time and place for the “miracle of life” story to be told, but watching it happen wasn’t our plan!
When I dropped the kids off at the Martinson’s, they didn’t understand what was going on, but I mentioned they were staying the night, and Tyra was thrilled! They ran inside and went downstairs instantly, so I left and filled up the van with gas, then returned to the hospital at 9:15. Rebecca was still in the room, and her contractions were coming pretty regularly. They also put the IV in her, and gave her “gentamicin” for the slight fever she had, since the fever was causing the baby’s heart rate to be too high (up in the 180’s when 140-150 is considered normal) and “penicillin” as the group-B strep antibiotic. They also mentioned that she’ll get more antibiotics, and after we leave, she’ll need to get some probiotics at Wal-Mart or a health food store, to compensate for the lack of bacteria.
The nurses mainly left us alone, with Roberta (the midwife on call) checking in on us a few times. She came in around 10:00 after delivering two other babies back to back, and Diane, one of the other nurses, brought in some paperwork for me to sign, since we didn’t finish the official admitting steps when we first got there. I had been helping Rebecca through the contractions (as much as I can, but we all know how that is!) and Roberta wanted to check the progress while I read over the paperwork. Rebecca mentioned she was feeling pressure with the contractions, and Roberta just said, “that’s normal,” and Rebecca asked if they could see the head, with Roberta answering, “not yet, but it would be there soon,” but the next thing we knew, Rebecca felt an urge to push, and the baby’s head was out! I quickly signed the paperwork and came over, as Roberta said I needed to announce the gender, and out popped a baby girl! They quickly wiped off the baby and placed it on Rebecca’s belly, and Roberta held up her hands explaining the baby came so quick, she didn’t even have time to put gloves on!
We had been discussing names for a while (I’ll blog some of those conversations) but decided this new addition would be called “Chloe Kalika Andelin.” Chloe is Greek for “a profusion of blooms” and Kalika is also Greek for “rosebud,” so basically her name means, “a bunch’a bloomin’ roses!” She was born at 10:14pm on 19 June 2009, weighing 6 pounds, 15.0 ounces, and measuring 18.5 inches in length.
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