Number Two

If you haven't heard already, kid #2 is here. Evelyn was born November 13 at 4:58 a.m. She was 7.7 pounds and 20 inches long. I couldn't be more excited. The kid already has a distinct personality - she's a LOT like Ragsy so far. Unlike Ragsy, she was born after just over five hours of hard labor. I began having really strong contractions on the night of my birthday. Finally at 11:43, I threw in the towel and called the doctor, who suggested I go in for evaluation, saying it might just be showtime. And it was.

There was actually a very funny part of the whole evening: apparently the bed I was laboring on had a bubble in the lumbar area. I couldn't tell - I was 8 cm dilated and had not yet had an epidural. So, here I am, in just a hospital gown, with two nurses banging on this bubble in the middle of the bed, bouncing me up and down. After a while, they found the janitor, who came in to try to fix it. Then the woman who's in charge of facilities came in and she tried to fix it. So everyone's staring at my naked bum while I'm bouncing up and down because everyone's trying to press the bubble and is moving the bed up and down.

Finally, everyone left, I got some pain medication (which conveniently wore off while I was pushing - that really burned) and managed to get Evelyn out about an hour later after just five minutes of pushing.

This whole experience (despite being seen by an audience and despite the pain meds wearing off) was just awesome. No seizures, minimal elevation in blood pressure, and a fast, fast, fast labor, topped off by the birth of a beautiful and somewhat curmudgeony little girl. You can't get any better than that.