Anna Begins

Okay, let's talk about how Anna got here.

At about 10:30 a.m. on Thursday morning, I got a call from Jeannie while I was shopping for black fabric for Earnest in Joann Fabric.  She was crying (which scared the hell out of me) and said that at her midwife appointment that morning, they had found protein in her urine and were sending her to the hospital to possibly be induced.  Protein in the urine, by the way, is an indicator of preclampsia, which Jeannie had with Samuel and which is life-threatening and  makes the delivery process more dangerous and considerably more shitty. 

So I told her I would meet her at the hospital and about 20 minutes later we met at the hospital (St. Joseph's).  We sat in the triage area of the Labor and Delivery floor while a nice nurse named Catie (I think that's how it was spelled on her nametag) did some tests and filled out a lot of paperwork and chatted us up.  She said our midwife (Bela) would take a look at the test results and decide whether to send us home or to admit us and induce labor.  About 2 and a half hours went by while we waited, and I dozed and Jeannie chilled out a bit, and her blood pressure was going down nicely (dangerously high blood pressure is another fun factor of preclampsia) and we both kinda figured they would just send us home, when at around 2pm we got word that they were going to admit Jeannie and induce.  They figured that since she was already showing signs of preclampsia then there was no point in sending her home and risking the possibility of her seizing at home (seizures come with preclampsia, too). 

So they set us up in Rm 7 of Labor and Delivery, and let us know that they were going to put Jeannie on magnesium sulfate, which is what she was on with Samuel and it really sucked and made the whole thing sucky and all the nurses make grim faces when they talk about magnesium.  It also means she has to be hooked up to all kinds of things and has to stay in bed the whole time and can't eat real food and  can't drink water.  So we kinda dreaded hearing that, but were also kinda half expecting it. 

Despite the contrary advice of the nurses, doctors, and midwife, Jeannie decided she didn't want an epidural. 

And eventually the shitty nurse who wouldn't let Jeannie have ice chips and who talked about "unnatural bed positions" went home and Alicia (Elisha?), the cooler nurse who let Jeannie have ice chips and eventually helped deliver Anna, came on.

To make a long story short, they checked Jeannie out and were going to give Jeannie pitocin to induce labor, but then the midwife decided to wait and see how Jeannie progressed on her own.  Ended up being a good decision,  because things ended up progressing pretty well on their own, and because Jeannie wasn't so drugged up this time with pitocin and epidurals and spinal catheter pain meds the way she was with Sam, she was able to labor much more on her own terms.  Plus, we had a  doula there, Jennifer, who was really good at keeping Jerns calm and focused and less-uncomfortable. 

I generally don't like woo-woo ness, but I'm really kind of in awe of people who can pull off being woo-woo but also normal and who can make it work.  Jennifer is kind of like that.  Little bit woo-woo, but totally grounded and practical and hard work. 

So yeah, then Jeannie labored.  In a pretty straight-forward, labor-y kind of way, with all the shittiness and pain that labor entails.  But there were some moments where she had a total earth-mother-goddess thing going on, which is a part of her that I've never really seen before but which was completely awe inspiring and powerful. 

And she labored for many hours until 1:12 in the morning on Friday and then a baby was born, and when the nurses said the word "girl" we were completely shocked and surprised and happy.  I've always wanted Jeannie to have a girl to bond with.

And after the baby was born there was concern for her lungs, which ended up going away after a few hours as her breathing improved.  And there was concern that Jeannie has lost too much blood (2 liters) so they gave her a blood transfusion.  But those concerns went away, too, as time went by and everything stabilized. 

So --

Where we stand now: 

1.  Jeannie and Anna are at the hospital.

2.  Samuel and I are stuck at home after attempting to visit the hospital this afternoon during a snowstorm (6+ inches of new snow) and taking an hour to just get around the block and barely make it back home.

3.  Samuel's been puking tonight.

4.  Jeannie's at a hospital with reduced nurse and food staff because of the storm. 

5.  Jeannie scheduled to be released  tomorrow (Sunday), hopefully Sam and I can make it to the hospital tomorrow after plowing has taken place.

Welcome, Anna!  Your arrival has been quite an adventure, and we're glad you're here.