Baby Harper

I think that most of you know the story of Harps' arrival but here it is again. On Friday night I was having contractions and they were pretty consistently apart and really not much to write home about (but enough to blog about I guess). I told Jonathan to just go to work and that if anything got serious I'd call him. Eventually they stopped so I took a shower, blow dried my hair and called it a night by 12. I was having dreams about contractions but I managed to sleep but woke up at 3am. After 6 minute intervals for an hour I finally called the hospital, Jonathan, and my Mom to come over. At 4:30 we left for the hospital with a breif stop at Safeway so I could get something to eat because they weren't going to feed me once I was there! We drove around looking for a coffee shop for Jonathan but there wasn't one open (much to mine and his chagrin...remember he was on night shift when he was called to action). We got to the hospital at 5:30 where the contractions slowed down and then finally stopped. BOO. I was a 4 cm but because I was only 38 weeks they couldn't do anything so they sent us home. I started having contractions on the drive home, of course, and they continued through out the afternoon. My Mom took a quick break from taking care of the boys but decided to come back since I was contracting. Good thing too! They started to get really intense but were still quite a bit apart. Finally at 2:30 I went in to see if Jonathan would wake up. At 3:00 I sent Thatch in to wake Jonathan up. At this point the boys started to get worried and upset. Thatcher passionately explained to me "Mom, you need to go to the hospital! We DO NOT have babies at home!" He also started to hide under the table during contractions which was definitely my signal to go. Jonathan woke up at 3:30 and decided we should go to the hospital. I still didn't want to go since they were so far apart and I didn't want to get sent home again BUT I didn't want to be home with the monkeys and scaring them either. We left the house at 4:00 and immediately hit Badger Rd traffic, it took eternity to get out onto the main road! Once we were on the highway it was good but Jonathan, Mr. Cautious, wouldn't go over 63 mph so it took for ever to get there. Luckily contractions were still 8 minutes apart...until we pulled into the parking lot. At this point they start coming at 2 minute intervals and I could barely walk in from the -30 weather to the lobby before having another one. By the time the nurse came down I was in a wheelchair because I couldn't walk anymore. As we get up to the room I stand up and take my boots off (woohoo!) and my water breaks. They officially are not sending me home!! Between all the contractions the nurse, aka Jamie-my hero, suggests we check me. He announces that I'm at a 9 cm. HOLD THE PHONE...NO EPIDURAL? Nope, way too late. There's no way to slow it down either. I ask about Stadal but that's a no go either because babies have to be resuscitated afterwards. Well crap, I did not mentally prepare to have a natural birth nor did I ever have the inkling to do it. At this point I'm panicking and barely managing to get through each contraction. Things in the hospital room are busy with preparation for the actual birth. I'm pretty sure I yelled at a lab girl because she was in my focal point (which is one of the ONLY things I remember people saying about laboring naturally, pick a focal point). My breathing was shallow and was borderline hyperventilating during contractions and close to passing out during the breaks between.  The real kicker to all this is that I was tested positive for Group B Strep which if passed from mother to baby in birth bad to say the least. I had to be administered 2 bags of antibiotics before her birth. It wasn't going to happen, but they managed to get one bag in at least! It was finally time to push and I'm fairly sure in between all the hub bub and contractions I begged to just let me die and to just cut her out. I think it was especially awful because i didn't want to do it at all, I love epidurals! It came time to push and I'll just say that it was pretty much the most intense pain I've ever felt and I am completely glad it was the last time I'll ever do it! Harps was born at 5:34 pm after pushing for 4 minutes. Exactly 1 hours after we arrived at the hospital. The girl can make an entrance, and it was fashionably early! While she was relaxing on my chest she decided to pee on me, twice. She weighed in at 7 lbs 5 oz and 20" long with a full head of hair, extremely long fingers and the signature Yarsley pinky toes that curl under her other toes :)

So far she's completely adored by her brothers and constantly receiving kisses and love. I was rubbing her head the other day and her hair was sticky from all their kisses. Even the dogs love being by her and sleeping under her bassinet. She's really starting to uncurl and fill out kind of like a blooming tulip. Her ears are unfolding and her features are plumping up. She sleeps a TON but is starting to stay up for a couple of hours at a time now. Jonathan fed her today and she easily drank 5 oz of milk and formula so she's clearly inherited her mother's appetite. I'll keep posting pics of her of course :)