My last post bemoaned a weird stage where we were ready for a baby but she wasn't ready to join us yet. Well, to our relief, our little bundle of joy arrived shortly afterward. I thought, maybe, I could provide an update on how that went and what we've been up to.
As is probably typical, the labor went very differently for all three of our children. Our oldest made my wife labor at home all day long, with contractions beginning in the early morning and us opting to go to the hospital around midnight. Luckily her water broke in triage as they were about to send us home, though he wasn't born for 12 more hours. It was about 30 hours of labor total. Our second son water broke at home overnight, very early in the morning, and it was hectic while we tried to get someone out to watch our older son and to get to the hospital in time. That boy was in a rush and labor was, altogether, like 10 hours. He's been in a hurry ever since.
This time contractions finally started a few days after the due date, with some consistency and acceleration developing through the afternoon and early evening. The procedure was to call the hospital directly, where my wife had pre-registered and her midwives always have a presence. Apparently that night was a busy one for deliveries across the metro (there was a cold front and some storms if you're into old wive's tales). Both hospitals where we thought we could go were on divert, meaning we were sent elsewhere based on capacity. (For you Minnesotans we were supposed to go to Woodwinds in Woodbury but ended up at Southdale.) We got there a little before 10pm and were admitted pretty quickly, though they had to get our information transferred and get my wife's name sorted (her maiden name was still in the system from a visit during college). The hospital, at least the birthplace area, seemed very quiet and we got in a labor/delivery room before long, maybe an hour. Up to this point we had no idea who would actually deliver (catch) the baby as we had no way to contact the midwives in the middle of the night. Fortunately for us the hospital had a midwife of their own on duty and we met her during the window before labor really ramped up. It was nice to have that piece of it sorted and known.
In my head this labor was progressing more like the first than the second, so I thought I had time to get some sleep. I'm not sure how much I got, if any, as it was soon go time. When transition started there was a bit of a scramble to get the nurses and midwife to the room and everything ready. And they got there just in time. Pushing took only 20 minutes or so, maybe less. Our daughter (it was, in the end, truly a girl) cruised through that part, I think to the relief of my wife. Afterward, with how quickly active labor went and how well my wife handled it all (this was an all-natural birth, no epidural), the labor/delivery nurse said we should have ten kids. We laughed and said this was almost certainly the end for us, though the compliment was well taken and a valid point. My wife is awesome at making babies. Total labor this time was around 12 hours, with the most challenging part passing incredibly quickly.
It was the wee morning hours, and time to move rooms. Remember when I said the hospital felt quiet? That was never more true than when we moved to recovery. Our labor/delivery nurse, due to staffing issues I assume, moved with us and continued to be our caregiver overnight. We didn't see another soul en route. Once it hit 6am and shift change we were fully transitioned to the new team. We all got a little bit of sleep during that stretch, more than expected certainly. I kinda felt bad I didn't get to say thanks to our first nurse, who left when I was zonked out. That's kinda how it goes at hospitals.
From then on our stay went as well as could be hoped. The baby passed all her tests and my wife was doing great. I actually enjoyed being in Edina and made a couple trips up to 50th and France (Red Cow ftw). Southdale mall and some other shopping centers were walking distance too and I discovered Patrick's, a French bakery and cafe, a place I'll want to return. Another aspect we enjoyed about the hospital stay was our overnight nurse in recovery was very hands-off and let us sleep. Part of it was the reality of this being our third child and we rarely called for help. But this was a nice change from the Frederick hospital (which was a great place, don't get me wrong) where there were frequent nighttime checks.
Originally we were told that it'd be two full nights at the hospital. The baby was born very early Saturday, so we didn't expect to leave until Monday. This was primarily because my wife tested positive for group B strep (3 for 3!) and didn't get enough antibiotics prior to the birth. For whatever reason there never seems to be urgency getting that started, but I digress. Anyway there was eventually some chatter about getting us out Sunday. This happened due to something entirely out of our control. That next day, Monday, was the start of an expected nurses strike, supposedly the largest ever. Everyone there, from our nurses to the pediatrician to the support staff, was eager to clear out as many people as possible. While we didn't, and don't, envy anyone involved in that mess, we were excited at the result of a chance to go home early. So we took it and brought our daughter home Sunday afternoon. It was fun both our boys were excited about seeing her as soon as we got home.
Now more than a week has already gone by. My parents were handy to have around but they've gone back home. My sister and her family were here for a couple days too, something that worked out because she had a separate gathering in town. We've figured out how to change diapers on a girl instead of a boy and in the process of sorting how to handle three children. So far I have a couple comments on our daughter. Her cry is absolutely awful to listen to, far worse than either our boys was. And she wants to be held nearly all the time, which is nice insofar that I can help with that. It's amusing, once again, that we can just leave her somewhere and she can't move, a jarring comparison to her all over the place brothers. For now, life is pretty good. I'm not going to post any pictures here, but if you haven't seen any yet and want to, shoot me a text or whatever.
Hope you enjoyed the update. Until next time!
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