...in the pink outfit weighing 7 lbs 8oz, with a height of 20 inches, Abigail Victoria McCoppin!! For those with a short attention span, we had the baby this morning at 0932 (yes Laurie, I figure the military time helps clarify!) and mother and baby are doing well. Pictures will be forthcoming soon...hopefully tomorrow.
For those that want a little more substance, here are some more details. Last night was agonizingly long for the both of us. Between the Dr, the nurse, the anesthesiologist, the epidural monitor, the blood pressure machine, and various other machines that that go "bing"...nevermind some nervous anticipation, we got next to zero sleep. We did ofcourse get some rest, which is better than nothing. Stephanie had bouts of pain and needed some extra pain meds a couple of times over the course of the evening, but was otherwise quiet. The night was pretty much a blur, but I can tell you that she went from 3 cm to 8 cm from the last update till about 0630 this morning. I woke up around 0615 to the mother-in-law asking if we were there yet! While nothing was going on when she called, I soon decided to get up because there was more traffic in and out of the room. Things were progressing and I got the word out to our parental units. The nurse had Stephanie switch from side to side to get the final portions of the cervix dilated. In fact it took less than 10 minutes to get the left(?) and final portion dilated. Thus the pushing began around 0800.
Now I will cut in here to mention how this all played out. Stephanie had made various moaning sounds and whimpers over the previous 18 hours as she lay in bed dealing with labor. But when it came time to start pushing, her game face came out. She was one focused lady! When it was time to push, she was Scotty from Enterprise saying "I'm given 'er all she's got!" With everything that was going on, this didn't hit me till later at how downright impressive she really was. She was pushing so hard she even gave herself a nosebleed! There were NEVER any moments of doubt, complaints, and no noises other than sheer determination to push that baby out! At 0932 her job was complete as a wonderfully active and alert little girl lay on her mommy's tummy. And when I saw her little eyes open and that first little cry...yep I lost it! OK not pass out lose it, but I started crying with tears of utter pride and joy at this little miracle I had witnessed.
It's amazing how the mind comprehends all this stuff. For instance, it basically looked like a crime scene down there. I mean I thought CSI was gonna show up and handcuff me. But with it being my wife and a result of my child, it was truly more fascinating than...well disturbing. The birth process is truly amazing.
So Sue (the mother-in-law) was there for the birth, while Fred (father-in-law) waited...not in the labor and delivery room waiting room, but got nice and comfy at the front entrance of the building 6 floors below where we were at! Good thing he didn't witness the crime scene... My mom is currently sick with a fever, so she isn't around yet. And my dad and Liz came up just in time to see the baby arrive in the nursery for the initial clean-up.
There are so many more details I could discuss, but I will wrap it up by saying things are going pretty well overall. We are hoping we can get the baby to latch-on for breastfeeding soon. Stephanie should be released to the ante-partum room tomorrow. She stayed an extra day at labor and delivery due to her needing the magnesium. She will either be released Thursday or Friday to go home. She is sacked out at the moment and I get to enjoy another night here on the couch beside her. Tonight will be much better though I'm sure. And little Abigail is upstairs in the nursery.
Sleep tight little Abigail.
Love,
Daddy
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