EG's story, part two

So it only took me another few months to finish my birth story.  That sounds about right with a 7 month old, right? 

Where was I?  If you are totally lost,  you can get caught up to speed on the prior post.  Birth story part one.  Oh right, contractions began.  At first I didn't even know I was having them, except for the fact that I was hooked up to a monitor.  The nurse (all of whom were amazing) said "see?  You can see it!" For me (everyone has a different experience) they felt like period cramps.  I've been lucky to have never had very bad ones most of my life, and I was like "oh THIS is a contraction?  EASY!"  At this point, I had to stay in bed for an hour while the cytotec took effect, so that lovely picture from the prior post was taken, and Al ran home to feed the cats realizing it was going to be a long night.  My sister arrived, Jen our angel (aka doula) was en route, and so was Becca.  I chatted with Liz, 7 o'clock came and I was able to get up and move around.  Liz said "let's go for a walk" so we started wandering the halls of the Hotel Martha Jefferson, (which was eerily empty.  So many rooms and maybe two were occupied?)  So we walked and I was like "oh!  A perfect time to use the contraction counter app for my phone!"  Becca arrived and the three of us walked with the contractions coming on more and more strongly.  We went back to the room and Jen arrived, and from then on, I have to admit it was a bit of a blur.  Jen had me on the yoga ball some, Al got back and I was full on in labor/contraction mode (8pm by this point.)  Due to the visitor limit in the room (no more than three ) Becca had to go to the waiting room and it was Liz (my sister), Jen and Al.  Jen had me do the most painful thing I had to experience which was stand with my back to a wall, and when a contraction began, bend at the knees and lift up my belly from beneath gently.  Oh lord have mercy.  It was intense!  But it did good things apparently.

Then next few hours were mostly spent with me in the jacuzzi tub (amazing.)  it was such an odd out of body experience.  I was totally aware of what was going on around me (almost more so than normal) but at the same time my attention was very much in tune with what was happening in my body.  I remember really enjoying sinking down in the tub with my ears under water so I couldn't hear everyone talking because it was really distracting.  Poor Jen kept hitting the jets so they went off, that or the tub would turn them off after a certain amount of time, so that was kind of funny because they'd go off, and I'd be like "PUT THEM BACK ON" and there would be some fumbling and they would go back on.  I remember getting out of the tub was really hard because contractions were pretty intense at this point and I think it took a few rounds of them for me to make it out of the tub.  Going to the bathroom became extremely unpleasant because I couldn't do it without having a contraction which was getting pretty painful.  Then I think I moved onto all fours on the bed with my hips in the air and my head resting in my hands on the bed.  Jen would rock my hips forward and back during contractions (which was incredibly helpful.)  I forgot to mention that as we started to get more and more intense with all of this, Jen would have me say "OOOOOOOPEEEEEEEEN" AND OOOOOOUUUUUUUT" which apparently helps open everything up by saying that because you aren't clinching your jaw.

This is where we started to get really ugly, and I puked.  A.  LOT.  I hadn't eaten since lunch (a good thing) and Jen and Al had been giving me fluids throughout this whole thing (apple juice and water) but all that fluid decided it would be better to hang out in a place that was not my stomach.  In a way, it was a relief to puke, because I thought to myself "Oh, this is a familiar sensation.  I know how to do this".  Jen was so sweet, she had been giving me instructions throughout labor and when she handed me a wet washcloth after I threw up and had a contraction, I said "what do I do with this?"  Then when I heard everyone laughing, I realized how funny this was, because I had spent the last few hours following instructions, I thought I was supposed to do something special with it. 'Um, I thought you may want to wipe your face and mouth with it" she said, and we all laughed.  I will also mention that when Dr. Wolanski came in and checked me around 7pm after I had the cytotec, he said to Al and Jen "She's got a lot of work to do so get ready for a long night, and I'll be back around 7-8am to check in."  It's probably for the best that I didn't know he said this.  Also that he ended up being very wrong.

So, all this fun stuff has happened.  I remember at one point thinking that it had been hours and it was only about 9:30pm.  I also remember thinking "I think I understand why someone would get an epidural" but for some reason the idea that I could have one just never occurred to me.  I wanted to do it natural if possible from the start, and I was lucky to be able to do that.  Also for some reason the nurse who had checked me in, had neglected to weigh me (very uncool) so in the middle of all my contractions they asked me to stand on a scale (186lbs!!  WOOT!  Meaning I had gained 51 lbs over the course of my pregnancy.  Hold your applause, I just don't believe in doing anything part way, when I do something I COMMIT TO IT!) So, I'm chanting "OPEN" and "OUT" and I'm sure that most of the poor nurses are hiding in terror (like they've never seen anyone in labor before) and the one nurse who remains checks me and she says "We need to call Wolanski to get in here ASAP".  I take this as a good thing.  He arrives, checks me again and says "you can start pushing if you want" and I said "okay!" and I start pushing.  And pushing.  At one point, they put me on oxygen since babies heart rate starts to go down a bit, and poor Jen was so focused on what was going on, she kept putting the mask on upside down.  I was like "Jen!  Mask!!  FIX IT!" 

Then Wolanski said "Okay, the baby's heart rate is dropping more than I like.  Alice, I want you to go through three contractions without pushing to get the heart rate back up".  Well, let me tell you, pushing felt good so when you can't push?  The opposite of really good.  I bet I made some awesome sounds and faces at this point.  And that is why I did not video tape my labor.  People were like "But Al (my partner and father of the baby) is a videographer!  Aren't you going to film it?"  As Whitney Houston most eloquently said "HELL TO THE NO, BOBBY!  HELL TO THE NO!"  So, no pushing=unpleasant.  Then Wolanski assigned a different family member to each of my limbs (poor Liz had a leg and got snapped at because she wasn't holding it high enough) Al to my right, Jen to my left.  Wolanski said "You need to push really hard now Alice to get this baby out" and push I did.  Long and as hard as I possibly could.  Guess what?  Did  you know you can burst all the blood vessels in your face and upper body from pushing a baby out?  I didn't either.  You're welcome.  And I pushed.  It was 11:27pm.  5 and 1/2 hours since I had been admitted and 3 and 1/2 hours since major contractions started.  Please don't hate me. And then out came a baby.  I said "Al, what is it?" (Yes I knew it was a baby, but you may not remember we had chosen to not find out the sex.  I wouldn't find out again either.  It was the very best not knowing because of this very moment.)  Al : "*pause*  It's a girl."  Alice: *pause*  "REALLY???????????????????????????????????????"

We had both been so convinced that we were having a boy.  Al swore during our ultrasound he had seen boy junk, and everyone told me that they were sure it was a boy because I didn't have any morning sickness and I carried low.  Baby Groucho was going to be Emmet Lloyd Hoover and that was that.  So when Baby Groucho was a girl, the nurses were like "What's her name?" and Al and I were like "umm.......".  Also a few graphic things. (Skip ahead if you don't want to read it.) No, I didn't experience the ring of fire (I'm super lucky I guess) and the whole placenta thing was such an afterthought I didn't even notice it (I had better things to do, like OHMYGODHOLDMYBABY!).  Only very minor tearing, one stitch and done.  Also despite what the children's book says, not "Everybody poops". There you go. TMI time done. Again, you're welcome. The next two hours were us hanging out with nurses coming and going, and a few friends and family members coming in; my dad, Rick my brother in-law, Becca and Calin (Auntie Mom and Uncle Beard), Robert, Paul and Sarah.  I don't really remember what order, or what happened.  Al held E, I used the restroom, and then they wheeled me to our room.  I thought this was funny because I was totally fine to walk, but I was like "oh yes, please wheel me around."  I felt like Mr. Potter, and in retrospect I should have shaken my fist at everyone I passed.  We got to the room, and the nurses took Baby Groucho to give her a bath while I took an AMAZING shower.  It was around 1:30am and it was the strangest thing.  Al and I just stayed up talking the whole thing over, like after you come home from a party and have to talk over who said what, and what everyone was wearing, except we were like "did you notice how we just had a baby??? How about that?" .  We chose to let her nap in the nursery while we grabbed an hour of sleep, but at 2:30am, we both woke up and felt funny, so I paged the nursed to bring her in.  We tried out a few names on her while she nursed and for the next few hours.  Abigail?  Amelia?  Petunia?  (Okay, that last one was never a contender.)  We decided on one that is perfect.

Check out my face in this last one.  You can totally see my red freckles/burst vessels.  They are a little overshadowed by how amazingly happy I was.  We named her Elinor because I loved the name and it was Al's mom's middle name, but he wanted it to not be a direct tribute to her, so we used the traditional Irish spelling (although someone was like "do they know they spelled the name wrong?"  Yeah.  So anyway.)  Grace was another one of my favorite names, and is a tribute to a family friend Justine who had lost her life at a very young age in a horrible event, but had been a big part of our past few years and she lived life with grace.  Hoover men live forever, so it was no question in my mind what the last name would be.  :)

 Because of Martha Jefferson's policy, you get two nights in the hospital from the birth of the baby, but since Elinor was born at 11:21pm, that meant our clock started then and we only got one other night.  I would have stayed longer, but it was not to be.  The nurses (especially one named Erin, LOVED HER) were all amazing, and I seriously can not imagine going through labor without Jen, Wolanski and the rest of the "team".  Jen gave me a task to do each minute, using our months of prenatal yoga moves in action, and I work well if there is something I have to be doing.  I will never do this again without her, if I can help it.  The same with Wolanski.  He was sweet, and wonderful, and pulled no punches when things got serious.  Again, I will never do it without him again if I can help it. 

And now fast forward 7 months.  Elinor is working on teeth three and four.  She is a horrible sleeper and amazing in every other way I could imagine.  I have a whole new respect for people who choose to not become parents, and I mean that.  It's hard.  The kid is always there.  They don't go away.  But if it's something that you want, and are given the luxury of choosing and you get it, being a parent it kind of the best thing ever.  It helps if you have an amazing partner/best friend/husband who is in on it with you, because you can text each other like 12 year old girls when "OMG she just SAT UP!  Our baby is CLEARLY the best, smartest and most amazing child that has ever been conceived by any two people that walked this planet.  Ever."  Because the average person has been there, has already had that, and doesn't care about your firsts.  But when you have someone to go through it with, it makes it that much better. 

So if my silly story is of any help or interest to anyone, great.  It took me 7 months to get it down in writing, which I think is par for the course for parenthood.  Things take longer than they did when you were just you, with no worries or little people to care for.  And if you accept that, it makes life easier.  I am so lucky I had a short and really wonderful labor and delivery where everyone came out healthy at the end.  I am so lucky to have had an amazing support team for the entire process of pregnancy through my hospital stay.  I am SO FRIGGIN lucky to have an amazing family and a few close friends, including my most awesome mom friends who totally get it when, again with the 12 year old girl texting, you can say "OMG baby slept for 4 HOURS without waking up!" They get it. And they will let you go on and on about vomit on your person, poop up the back, trimming tiny baby nails, how hard/easy it can be to lose the baby weight, how amazing/hellish breastfeeding can be, how awesome it is to have a drink/how awful it is to wake up with a hangover when you have a screaming child and you can't sleep it off like you used to.  And how totally the very best it is to have a little person, who's face lights up when you walk in the room.  Because you are their mom.  For me, it just doesn't get any better than that.