what a night!

I've been reading Hospital by Julie Salamon, a year in the life of Brooklyn's Maimonides Hospital. It is an interesting story of both the small scale local personalities and large scale American health issues at work. Apparently, Maimonides, which was started for the Orthodox Jewish community delivers the most babies of any hospital in the nation: 6230 in 2003. One interview with an ER resident just made me laugh,

"I did a month in labor and delivery," he said. "It was funny, 'cause a young girl...would come in and say, 'I'm having a baby, I'm having a baby.' You say, 'Yeah, yeah, sit down. I'll have a look.' Then you examine them. They're having a baby? They're not having a baby. They'll have a baby in about 12 hours. But when an Orthodox Jewish woman comes in and says, I'm having a baby,' the red flag goes up. You say, 'What number is this?' They say, 'Eleven.' You say, 'Let's go!' I'm not kidding... When the Orthodox women say they're having a baby, the baby is right there ready to drop out."

Friday morning I had another false alarm with contractions all night, but once I got hooked up to the monitor in L&D they disappeared. We made another OB appt. for next week and went home. That night at 2 am I woke up with awful contractions, I sat through 3 of them before hopping in the shower. When I literally crawled out from more intense ones, Tim said, "Do you want to go to the hospital?"

What followed was a mad race through town, me howling in pain, Tim running 3 red lights and screeching to a halt in front of the ER doors. The closest corpsman threw me in a wheelchair and ran clattering over the tile floors and upstairs to L&D. Within 5 minutes of opening the elevator doors I was on the table and pushing. "I want someone to do this for me!" Of course no one could and within a few moments Baby Julia Ellen was born. We came home today and the children couldn't be more pleased with her. They have made her cards, taken umpteen turns holding her, read her stories in the car and on the sofa, and kissed her pretty little head.

As for me, I'm very grateful all the waiting and anxiety is over and can't wait to steal her away to nuzzle all that soft hair and those fat cheeks myself.

Stats:

7lbs 11oz

20.5"

8/9 Apgar