Haven't had a chance to get on here and get things updated--life got busy. After all the false alarms and the "maybe todays", baby finally decided to arrive on Saturday, July 2. I started having contractions at 3:30 in the afternoon--and they were hard and I knew they were getting more intense. They still weren't exactly regular, so I waited until about 4:30/4:40 to call Susan. She arrived at 5:20, and I spent a few minutes telling her where things were and telling the kids goodbye. I called the hospital on the way to Cherokee so they were expecting us. I also called my parents on the way to let them know we were going. We arrived at the hospital at about 5:50 or so--signed a few things downstairs and then one of the medics gave me a ride up in the wheelchair. Came through the OB doors just before 6:00, right at shift change. After I changed, they got me into bed and hooked up to monitors--checked me and thought I was at about a 7. I told them right away that the baby had been transverse, so they were trying to confirm that they could feel the baby's head. They called right away and put the surgical team on alert in case baby was still transverse. They had called Dr. Veit, and by the time he got there and checked me he said I was at an 8. They also called Mary in to do an ultrasound--she confirmed that baby was head down. By this time the pain was so intense and Dr. Veit said I had a ways to go yet. I thought he meant an hour or so--so I asked for pain relief. By the time Ben Cox got up to the floor, Dr. Veit said I was ready to push!!! Stu said I pushed for less than 6 minutes--and baby was really born all in one contraction. 7:03 I got to see our final baby slip into Dr. Veit's waiting hands--and I was the first to say "It's a girl!!"
I would be remiss if I forgot to mention that Stu had called Amy Letsche when we got to the hospital and she has arrived just in time to take pictures before, during, and right after the birth--so she got to help us welcome our new little girl: Eibhlin Mardell Hogg 6 pounds 7 ounces and 20 inches long. She was so TINY!!!
Stu called Susan right away to let her know we'd had a baby girl--she was astounded at how quickly it had happened, as were my parents when we called them. :) I was astounded. After everything was cleaned up and we were alone in the room with Eibhlin, we looked at each other and it was only about 8:00--we said "now what do we do??" Was so strange. Everything went so quickly and smoothly--just as I had hoped. No complications.
Stu went home that night so he could get a good sleep. He brought the kids in the next morning to meet their new sister--they loved her, even though Eoin wasn't thrilled that she was a girl. I had called them the night before to tell them goodnight, and Eoin kept asking me if I was sure it was really a girl. Poor boy. He's gotten over it now, but he wasn't so sure then. Stu took them home and fed them lunch, then Susan came after lunch so that Stu could come back. We had a little time together in the afternoon, despite all the visitors we had. We got to have supper together before we were interrupted with more visitors. He went home and brought the kids back to tell me goodnight--then took them home for bed.
They all came back the next morning for a bit, left for lunch and to let Eoin nap, then came to pick Eibhlin and I up in the afternoon--Monday, July 4. Her dismissal weight was 6 pounds, which wasn't too bad--but we had been giving her formula. She was just enough smaller that she had trouble nursing at all and I didn't want to mess around with her. As it was, when the nurse came out the next day, we only had a slight increase in her bilirubin--which was good. We went in for a weight check on Wednesday and a bili check, and she had gone from 11.4 to 11.5, which wasn't alarming. Weight check on Thursday and she was up to 6 pounds 4.5 ounces. Friday she was 6 pounds 4 even. Dr. Veit was pleased. Elspeth tried to be very helpful all week--in fact, she tried to help get Eoin buckled into his car seat for me. When I got into the car, she told me that she was able to get the top clip and one of the bottom ones, but wasn't able to get the other clip because "Eoin's penis came up and got in the way." She then announced that sometimes a penis just goes up--I had to work hard not to laugh.
Over the weekend we did take Eibhlin out for her first real outing, to LeAnn Johnson's wedding. Sunday we stayed home, then Monday morning we were at VBS at Oakdale. Monday afternoon we ended up back at the Dr.'s because Elspeth poked Eoin in the eye with the pointed end of a paintbrush marker--had the girls checked also. Eibhlin was up to 6 pounds 10 ounces (she had been on a more concentrated 24-calorie formula mixture). Elspeth was fine. The rest of the week we took the kids to VBS each morning, then to the program on Friday night. Thursday we had gone to the Pizza Ranch--where we had been exactly two weeks before to celebrate Elspeth's 5th birthday supper early (and it was good we had as she had the puking and dry heaves flu all day on her birthday on Friday).
We had an outing to WalMart yesterday (Saturday) and to church today. Uneventful day. Things are actually going quite well, and I'm just trying to really enjoy each change in Eibhlin as this is our last baby. I want to rememember everything.
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