Clara Haley Hughes B.* was born Saturday morning, February 13th at 6:27am. Her birth weight was 8lbs 1oz and she measured 21.5 inches long. From start to finish, my labour and delivery with her was 49 hours (and 18 or so minutes).
I spent probably an hour or solast night Saturday night starting a post and then another couple of hours finishing it this morning Sunday morning - it was a super long post with lots of details, and just as I went to post it, I did something stupid with blogger and erased the entire thing. Considering how easily and how often I've cried over the past week, it's amazing that I didn't burst into tears right then and there and startle my husband yet again. Pre-Clara, I would have spent the time trying to reconstruct the entire post, right down to every last sentence. But that was then and this is now and these days, I am at the whim of a tiny person that still weighs less than 10lbs.
So here it is, in point form(ish) but still considerably long - some habits die hard, I suppose :).
(Taylor may need to chime in to correct some of the times and progress made as a lot of it's a blur).
Thursday, February 11th:
5:09am
My water breaks, while I'm in bed but not asleep, having just gotten up to pee. Taylor and I both have showers and head to the hospital, arriving there just before 7am. My water breaking is not one big gush, therefore it continues to leak for the remainder of the day. I'm grateful that my water breaks on it's on; apparently this is only the case for about 10% of pregnant women.
9:00am
We're sent home from the hospital after half an hour of electronic monitoring. There are contractions showing up on the monitor, every 6-10 minutes but they're so mild that I can't feel them. We're instructed to return to the hospital when the contractions get more intense and closer together, or at 5pm, whichever happens first. Taylor and I spend the day mostly together, except for when I take a short nap and he finishes up some work. We try many of the things to encourage labour - walking around the block, accupressure, a warm bath, massage/stimulation, breathing etc. I even climb on the elliptical for 10 minutes or so, but with no luck.
6:00pm
Back at the hospital; our doula, Laura arrives. The hospital wants to admit me and start administering Pitocin to augment my labour. I resist, knowing that the Pitocin will make a natural birth that much more difficult to achieve and often leads to medical interventions - mainly an epidural or a c-section. We're told that if I don't go on the Pitocin, we'll have to go home and return at 5am the next morning. At the 24 hour mark of my water breaking, there's a risk of infection - the Pitocin will need to be started. We go for dinner with Laura, stop back into the hospital to meet the new OB on call for the night (someone I had met previously and was happy to see on call), do another 30-45 minutes of monitoring and then head back home, feeling very much now like we are racing the clock.
11:30pm
We try to fall asleep listening to my hypnobirthing cd - it works on Taylor but not on me. At 12:30am I give up on sleep (even though it's now been 19hours or so since I slept) and decide to update my baby blog (to relax me) and then have a warm shower. I fall asleep briefly at 2:30am for about a half an hour or so.
Friday, February 13th:
3:00am
Wake Taylor at 3am. We try more things to get things going - pacing the house, climbing the stairs, more hypnobirthing visualization exercises. The visualization stuff works and gets me to sleep for another 30 minutes or so; I wake shortly after 5 and tell Taylor that I'm not comfortable staying at home anymore (the 24hour water-breaking deadline/risk of infection weighs heavily on my mind).
6:00am
Officially admitted to the hospital and assigned a room. Agree to the Pitocin -even though the new on-call doctor gives me the option to go back home (what happened to the risk of infection?). Have resigned myself to having my labour managed via IV and am impatient and ready to go.
9:00am
An IV is put in shortly after 9am and the Pitocin drip begins. We're assigned a nurse named Annie who proves to be wonderful - not only is she a nurse but is also a doula and a doula trainer, having met and attended some of Ina May's (probably the most well-known midwife in North America) workshops in the US. Annie insists that we try and sleep before things start to get uncomfortable for me - she tucks me into bed, tucks Taylor into the pull out chair/bed, lowers the lights and leaves us alone - for what will prove to be our last time alone as a couple :).
10:15am
Laura arrives, I decide to get up and be as mobile as I can with the IV in my left hand and the electronic monitoring bands on my belly. Baby is doing fine on the Pitocin, her heart rate remains at a steady 130ish and will stay that way for most of my labour.
12:00pm
I'm allowed to be off the monitors for 15 minutes at a time, which allows me to use the bathroom and go for a walk if I want to. We start walking the third floor of the hospital, me in my slippers, with Taylor and Laura alongside me, taking turns dragging my IV for me. We establish a route that takes about 10-12 minutes to walk - the first time we make the walk, I experience 1 contraction that I breathe easily through - the last walk (same route) we take I experience 5 contractions that I need to stop and breathe through.
1:00pm
Annie advises that as she increases the Pitocin, that things are going to begin to get very intense. She predicts that within a couple of hours, I will become very uncomfortable and start to be in a lot more pain. I take advantage of the heads up and suggest to Taylor that he go and get us something to eat. He returns shortly with Druxy sandwhiches and we have a make-shift picnic in the hospital room.
3:00pm
True to Annie's word, the contractions begin to get worse. Annie askes me where my pain level is and I give the pain a score of 4 out of 10. I continue to do all the things I had read about in coping with contractions - deep breathing, sitting on the birthing ball, in the rocking chair, on a stool, leaning against the wall. At one point, I get into a squatting position, resting against the bed. Annie declares me to be a champion squatter, saying she's never seen a labouring mom hold a squat position quite so long. Must be those months and months of Body Pump prior to getting pregnant :). Taylor and Laura help with the contractions where they can - taking turns and sometimes massaging my lower back together, when I crawl onto the bed for a bit, Taylor massages my feet for me.
4:00pm
Annie does an exam; there has been no progress, I am only 1cm dilated.
6:00pm
I created a a few different playlists and put them on my iPhone, thinking that music would be a source of comfort for me while labouring and it in fact is; we mostly listen to a song list 134 of my favorite songs that has everything from Prince to Adele to the Rolling Stones, from the BareNaked Ladies to Radiohead and Beck. I also have a Beatles playlist, with all 50 of my favorite Beatles songs but we don't listen to that until much later - I have it in my head that I want "Here Comes the Sun" to be playing as the baby is born - corny yes, but that particular song reminds me of splashing in the surf at the beach in Santa Monica on our honeymoon 6 years ago. Such a happy time for Taylor and I that it seems only appropriate. My favorite position for labouring ends up with me standing facing the wall, my arm extended up above my head and grasping the ledge of the windowsill overhead, with Taylor standing behind me - either moving in time with me to the music playing or massaging my back. I give the pain a score of 6 at this time.
7:00pm
There is a shift change at 7:30pm and I am forced to say goodbye to the wonderful Annie and hello again to Karen, the overnight nurse I had met the night before. She too is a doula and I like her quite a bit, until much later when she keeps increasing my Pitocin and suddenly I hate her more than anyone else on the planet. I am once again checked to see if I had made any progress and am told that I am 80% effaced and 3cm dilated. I don't here the news about how effaced I am, I just hear the 3cm and with still 7cm to go, I start to sob uncontrollably because I am in so much pain and know that it's only going to get that much worse.
9:00pm
As we close in on 9:30pm, I realize that it's been 12 hours that I've been on Pitocin and I start to watch the clock obsessively even though Taylor pleads with me not too. I have burst into uncontrollable sobbing numerous times in those few hours leading up to this point, and the tears continue to come as I fight the contractions. I begin to question whether or not I will be able to have the baby naturally, which has been my goal all along.
10:30pm
It's more than 13 hours on the Pitocin and I'm finished - I can not do anymore and for the first time that day, I ask if I can still have the epidural. I am disappointed to ask for it and I sob to my husband that I am sorry, that I tried my best, that I can't take it anymore. Karen suggests we wait a half an hour and then she'll check my progress, I tell her that I can't possibly wait a half an hour; I plead with her to check right then. She agrees and reports that I am mostly effaced, and 4-5cm dilated. She tells me that for a lot of women, the remaining 5cm happens really fast, but I can only think that I am still only half way done. I equate the next 5cm to another 13 hours and I ask again for the epidural. I am asked if I am sure, and as disappointed as I am with myself, I say yes.
11:00pm
The Pitocin is turned off, Karen has put in the request for the epidural; we're told that the anesthesiologist is in surgery and another woman is waiting for an epidural - it will be 30 minutes before I get mine. The contractions continue despite the Pitocin being off but I breathe easier, knowing that the end is in sight.
Taylor and Laura do the same, Laura on the pull out chair in the corner of the room, Taylor in a hospital bed in the room next door. Karen offers the bed to him, even though she is not supposed too. Karen is in and out of the room every 15 minutes to monitor the baby's heart rate (which remains consistent) and the contractions, as well as to increase the Pitocin drip. Because the Pitocin has been turned off while I waited for the epidural, they need to start me on it again, bringing me from 0 to 25 again (the Pitocin is increased in increments of 2 until I get to 20, and then by increments of 1).
2:00am
Karen and I chat quietly whenever she comes in the room - my hatred for her has diminished and she is kind to me, in the darkness of the room, telling me that I shouldn't think that I had failed by asking for the epidural, that considering how exhausted I was that it was a smart decision for me to have made. She reminds me that I experienced very intense labour for 13 hours and that experience can never be taken from me - I fight tears as I listen to her and can only nod my head.
2:30am
I had told Karen when I asked for the epidural that I wanted the minimum dose possible so that I can still feel as much as possible. She honors my request; while I can no longer feel the pain of the contractions, I can still feel them moving through my body and I am able to move my toes, my legs and even my hips, assisting her by lifting them when she needs to empty my bladder and examine me again. When I get up to go to the bathroom on my own about an hour and a half after having the baby, Laura tells me later that she's never seen a woman that had an epidrual get up and walk so soon after having a baby. Karen reports that I am dilated 6cm. Taylor returns to the room shortly after, and eventually Laura wakes, and the two of them talk quietly while I continue to sleep.
5:00am
Karen checks me again, and reports that I am fully effaced and 10cm dilated. I can begin pushing soon, she tells me, and we do a few practices pushes before she leaves to get the things she need. When she returns, Taylor stands to one side of me, and Laura stands to the other, and I draw my knees up, with each of them helping me to hold them in place. We begin to time my contractions and when one begins to build, Karen coaches me to push and I do what she says, drawing in a deep breath and letting it out as I push. The three people in the room cheer me on, and tell me that I am a great pusher - having never done it before, I have no choice but to believe them.
6:00am
The baby's head begins to crown, Karen can see it and Laura askes if she can look, peeking when I tell her of course. Karen askes me if I want to see and I hesitate before saying no, but when she invites me to reach down and touch her head, I do. She instructs Taylor to be ready to press the call button for the OB to come and assist and Taylor prepares to do so, all the while holding my hand and cheering me on (plus, at my insistance, has my iPhone handy so that the song I want to be playing is ready for when the time comes).
6:15am
The OB arrives, and we're told we have good timing as she's just about to head to the OR to do a c-section. She positions herself at the end of the bed and joins Karen and Taylor and Laura in coaxing me, telling me to push whenever I feel the need to push. She ignores the staff coming in the room telling her that they are waiting for her in the OR, and I do not feel that she is impatient or rushing me whatsoever. I try to look at Taylor as much as I can whenever I can but when I am pushing, I need to focus my eyes on the wall on the opposite side of the room.
6:27am
There is one final push and I feel her head emerge, followed by the rest of her body. Taylor somehow manages to hit play on the iphone (do I tell him too?) and Clara is all of a sudden there. There is a moment of silence and then there's that cry and everything that I've ever read about that moment when you hear your baby cry is true - it is the best moment of my life and I can't help but cry out as I hear her. The OB askes if Daddy is cutting the cord but Daddy doesn't seem to hear and I (do I?) coax him to answer the doctor. Moments later, she is brought up to me, covered in her waxy vernix and I hold her too me. I see her for the first time and suddenly, everything I wanted, everything I dreamed and longed for, it all comes true.
*Clara after my grandmother, Haley because we like it (but inspired by Hayley Wickenheimer) and Hughes after Clara Hughes, who of course, carried the Canadian flag at the opening ceremony Friday night while I was in labour with Clara :).
I spent probably an hour or so
So here it is, in point form(ish) but still considerably long - some habits die hard, I suppose :).
(Taylor may need to chime in to correct some of the times and progress made as a lot of it's a blur).
Thursday, February 11th:
5:09am
My water breaks, while I'm in bed but not asleep, having just gotten up to pee. Taylor and I both have showers and head to the hospital, arriving there just before 7am. My water breaking is not one big gush, therefore it continues to leak for the remainder of the day. I'm grateful that my water breaks on it's on; apparently this is only the case for about 10% of pregnant women.
9:00am
We're sent home from the hospital after half an hour of electronic monitoring. There are contractions showing up on the monitor, every 6-10 minutes but they're so mild that I can't feel them. We're instructed to return to the hospital when the contractions get more intense and closer together, or at 5pm, whichever happens first. Taylor and I spend the day mostly together, except for when I take a short nap and he finishes up some work. We try many of the things to encourage labour - walking around the block, accupressure, a warm bath, massage/stimulation, breathing etc. I even climb on the elliptical for 10 minutes or so, but with no luck.
6:00pm
Back at the hospital; our doula, Laura arrives. The hospital wants to admit me and start administering Pitocin to augment my labour. I resist, knowing that the Pitocin will make a natural birth that much more difficult to achieve and often leads to medical interventions - mainly an epidural or a c-section. We're told that if I don't go on the Pitocin, we'll have to go home and return at 5am the next morning. At the 24 hour mark of my water breaking, there's a risk of infection - the Pitocin will need to be started. We go for dinner with Laura, stop back into the hospital to meet the new OB on call for the night (someone I had met previously and was happy to see on call), do another 30-45 minutes of monitoring and then head back home, feeling very much now like we are racing the clock.
11:30pm
We try to fall asleep listening to my hypnobirthing cd - it works on Taylor but not on me. At 12:30am I give up on sleep (even though it's now been 19hours or so since I slept) and decide to update my baby blog (to relax me) and then have a warm shower. I fall asleep briefly at 2:30am for about a half an hour or so.
Friday, February 13th:
3:00am
Wake Taylor at 3am. We try more things to get things going - pacing the house, climbing the stairs, more hypnobirthing visualization exercises. The visualization stuff works and gets me to sleep for another 30 minutes or so; I wake shortly after 5 and tell Taylor that I'm not comfortable staying at home anymore (the 24hour water-breaking deadline/risk of infection weighs heavily on my mind).
6:00am
Officially admitted to the hospital and assigned a room. Agree to the Pitocin -even though the new on-call doctor gives me the option to go back home (what happened to the risk of infection?). Have resigned myself to having my labour managed via IV and am impatient and ready to go.
9:00am
An IV is put in shortly after 9am and the Pitocin drip begins. We're assigned a nurse named Annie who proves to be wonderful - not only is she a nurse but is also a doula and a doula trainer, having met and attended some of Ina May's (probably the most well-known midwife in North America) workshops in the US. Annie insists that we try and sleep before things start to get uncomfortable for me - she tucks me into bed, tucks Taylor into the pull out chair/bed, lowers the lights and leaves us alone - for what will prove to be our last time alone as a couple :).
10:15am
Laura arrives, I decide to get up and be as mobile as I can with the IV in my left hand and the electronic monitoring bands on my belly. Baby is doing fine on the Pitocin, her heart rate remains at a steady 130ish and will stay that way for most of my labour.
12:00pm
I'm allowed to be off the monitors for 15 minutes at a time, which allows me to use the bathroom and go for a walk if I want to. We start walking the third floor of the hospital, me in my slippers, with Taylor and Laura alongside me, taking turns dragging my IV for me. We establish a route that takes about 10-12 minutes to walk - the first time we make the walk, I experience 1 contraction that I breathe easily through - the last walk (same route) we take I experience 5 contractions that I need to stop and breathe through.
1:00pm
Annie advises that as she increases the Pitocin, that things are going to begin to get very intense. She predicts that within a couple of hours, I will become very uncomfortable and start to be in a lot more pain. I take advantage of the heads up and suggest to Taylor that he go and get us something to eat. He returns shortly with Druxy sandwhiches and we have a make-shift picnic in the hospital room.
3:00pm
True to Annie's word, the contractions begin to get worse. Annie askes me where my pain level is and I give the pain a score of 4 out of 10. I continue to do all the things I had read about in coping with contractions - deep breathing, sitting on the birthing ball, in the rocking chair, on a stool, leaning against the wall. At one point, I get into a squatting position, resting against the bed. Annie declares me to be a champion squatter, saying she's never seen a labouring mom hold a squat position quite so long. Must be those months and months of Body Pump prior to getting pregnant :). Taylor and Laura help with the contractions where they can - taking turns and sometimes massaging my lower back together, when I crawl onto the bed for a bit, Taylor massages my feet for me.
4:00pm
Annie does an exam; there has been no progress, I am only 1cm dilated.
6:00pm
I created a a few different playlists and put them on my iPhone, thinking that music would be a source of comfort for me while labouring and it in fact is; we mostly listen to a song list 134 of my favorite songs that has everything from Prince to Adele to the Rolling Stones, from the BareNaked Ladies to Radiohead and Beck. I also have a Beatles playlist, with all 50 of my favorite Beatles songs but we don't listen to that until much later - I have it in my head that I want "Here Comes the Sun" to be playing as the baby is born - corny yes, but that particular song reminds me of splashing in the surf at the beach in Santa Monica on our honeymoon 6 years ago. Such a happy time for Taylor and I that it seems only appropriate. My favorite position for labouring ends up with me standing facing the wall, my arm extended up above my head and grasping the ledge of the windowsill overhead, with Taylor standing behind me - either moving in time with me to the music playing or massaging my back. I give the pain a score of 6 at this time.
7:00pm
There is a shift change at 7:30pm and I am forced to say goodbye to the wonderful Annie and hello again to Karen, the overnight nurse I had met the night before. She too is a doula and I like her quite a bit, until much later when she keeps increasing my Pitocin and suddenly I hate her more than anyone else on the planet. I am once again checked to see if I had made any progress and am told that I am 80% effaced and 3cm dilated. I don't here the news about how effaced I am, I just hear the 3cm and with still 7cm to go, I start to sob uncontrollably because I am in so much pain and know that it's only going to get that much worse.
9:00pm
As we close in on 9:30pm, I realize that it's been 12 hours that I've been on Pitocin and I start to watch the clock obsessively even though Taylor pleads with me not too. I have burst into uncontrollable sobbing numerous times in those few hours leading up to this point, and the tears continue to come as I fight the contractions. I begin to question whether or not I will be able to have the baby naturally, which has been my goal all along.
10:30pm
It's more than 13 hours on the Pitocin and I'm finished - I can not do anymore and for the first time that day, I ask if I can still have the epidural. I am disappointed to ask for it and I sob to my husband that I am sorry, that I tried my best, that I can't take it anymore. Karen suggests we wait a half an hour and then she'll check my progress, I tell her that I can't possibly wait a half an hour; I plead with her to check right then. She agrees and reports that I am mostly effaced, and 4-5cm dilated. She tells me that for a lot of women, the remaining 5cm happens really fast, but I can only think that I am still only half way done. I equate the next 5cm to another 13 hours and I ask again for the epidural. I am asked if I am sure, and as disappointed as I am with myself, I say yes.
11:00pm
The Pitocin is turned off, Karen has put in the request for the epidural; we're told that the anesthesiologist is in surgery and another woman is waiting for an epidural - it will be 30 minutes before I get mine. The contractions continue despite the Pitocin being off but I breathe easier, knowing that the end is in sight.
Saturday, February 13th:
12:00am
The anesthesiologist is delayed in surgery and finally comes; Taylor and Laura are asked to leave the room and Karen raises the bed and stands in front of me, coaxing me through the procedure while she fights to help me hold still. It is the scariest few moments of my life as I try not to move - when it's over and done, both women in the room tell me how wonderful I had done, even though I felt like I had moved more that I safely should. The anesthesiologist invites me back for an epidural anytime I like, that's how easy she said it was for her to administer it to me and I laugh (mostly with relief).
1:00am
I sleep, and it is the first real sleep in over 42 hours.
12:00am
The anesthesiologist is delayed in surgery and finally comes; Taylor and Laura are asked to leave the room and Karen raises the bed and stands in front of me, coaxing me through the procedure while she fights to help me hold still. It is the scariest few moments of my life as I try not to move - when it's over and done, both women in the room tell me how wonderful I had done, even though I felt like I had moved more that I safely should. The anesthesiologist invites me back for an epidural anytime I like, that's how easy she said it was for her to administer it to me and I laugh (mostly with relief).
1:00am
I sleep, and it is the first real sleep in over 42 hours.
Taylor and Laura do the same, Laura on the pull out chair in the corner of the room, Taylor in a hospital bed in the room next door. Karen offers the bed to him, even though she is not supposed too. Karen is in and out of the room every 15 minutes to monitor the baby's heart rate (which remains consistent) and the contractions, as well as to increase the Pitocin drip. Because the Pitocin has been turned off while I waited for the epidural, they need to start me on it again, bringing me from 0 to 25 again (the Pitocin is increased in increments of 2 until I get to 20, and then by increments of 1).
2:00am
Karen and I chat quietly whenever she comes in the room - my hatred for her has diminished and she is kind to me, in the darkness of the room, telling me that I shouldn't think that I had failed by asking for the epidural, that considering how exhausted I was that it was a smart decision for me to have made. She reminds me that I experienced very intense labour for 13 hours and that experience can never be taken from me - I fight tears as I listen to her and can only nod my head.
2:30am
I had told Karen when I asked for the epidural that I wanted the minimum dose possible so that I can still feel as much as possible. She honors my request; while I can no longer feel the pain of the contractions, I can still feel them moving through my body and I am able to move my toes, my legs and even my hips, assisting her by lifting them when she needs to empty my bladder and examine me again. When I get up to go to the bathroom on my own about an hour and a half after having the baby, Laura tells me later that she's never seen a woman that had an epidrual get up and walk so soon after having a baby. Karen reports that I am dilated 6cm. Taylor returns to the room shortly after, and eventually Laura wakes, and the two of them talk quietly while I continue to sleep.
5:00am
Karen checks me again, and reports that I am fully effaced and 10cm dilated. I can begin pushing soon, she tells me, and we do a few practices pushes before she leaves to get the things she need. When she returns, Taylor stands to one side of me, and Laura stands to the other, and I draw my knees up, with each of them helping me to hold them in place. We begin to time my contractions and when one begins to build, Karen coaches me to push and I do what she says, drawing in a deep breath and letting it out as I push. The three people in the room cheer me on, and tell me that I am a great pusher - having never done it before, I have no choice but to believe them.
6:00am
The baby's head begins to crown, Karen can see it and Laura askes if she can look, peeking when I tell her of course. Karen askes me if I want to see and I hesitate before saying no, but when she invites me to reach down and touch her head, I do. She instructs Taylor to be ready to press the call button for the OB to come and assist and Taylor prepares to do so, all the while holding my hand and cheering me on (plus, at my insistance, has my iPhone handy so that the song I want to be playing is ready for when the time comes).
6:15am
The OB arrives, and we're told we have good timing as she's just about to head to the OR to do a c-section. She positions herself at the end of the bed and joins Karen and Taylor and Laura in coaxing me, telling me to push whenever I feel the need to push. She ignores the staff coming in the room telling her that they are waiting for her in the OR, and I do not feel that she is impatient or rushing me whatsoever. I try to look at Taylor as much as I can whenever I can but when I am pushing, I need to focus my eyes on the wall on the opposite side of the room.
6:27am
There is one final push and I feel her head emerge, followed by the rest of her body. Taylor somehow manages to hit play on the iphone (do I tell him too?) and Clara is all of a sudden there. There is a moment of silence and then there's that cry and everything that I've ever read about that moment when you hear your baby cry is true - it is the best moment of my life and I can't help but cry out as I hear her. The OB askes if Daddy is cutting the cord but Daddy doesn't seem to hear and I (do I?) coax him to answer the doctor. Moments later, she is brought up to me, covered in her waxy vernix and I hold her too me. I see her for the first time and suddenly, everything I wanted, everything I dreamed and longed for, it all comes true.
*Clara after my grandmother, Haley because we like it (but inspired by Hayley Wickenheimer) and Hughes after Clara Hughes, who of course, carried the Canadian flag at the opening ceremony Friday night while I was in labour with Clara :).
Congrats Tawny & Taylor! :-)
Beautiful. I love this post. I love the pictures, but most of all I love you brave girl. You did so good ;) You all did. Mine and Andy's love to you all.
xoxo
:) You're a strong woman.
xoxo
(I can hear the conversation now, "Listen here, Clara Haley Hughes Barratt! I was in labour 49 hours with you!".... "Ohhhh, Mom..." )
:) You're a strong woman.
xoxo
(I can hear the conversation now, "Listen here, Clara Haley Hughes Barratt! I was in labour 49 hours with you!".... "Ohhhh, Mom..." )
I love all three of you!
Love this post, I loved reading how it all happened! Can't wait to meet my beautiful, amazing niece (and see Mom and Dad too, of course :) xoxox
Great post. So, will there be a new blog? :)
Congrats :) What a pretty name.
Never feel guilty about that epidural. Karen is right.