And not to mention he just looked after our daughter so I could sleep for an hour after coming back from a walk. Daddy RULES.

Here’s my “mom’s eye” view of our AMAZING labor and delivery yesterday & this morning.

First of all – GO TEAM VIOLET! I cannot say enough about the incredible women who helped us have our baby. At Newton-Wellesley Hospital; to Barbara our antenatal nurse who remembered me from when I was there after being rear ended, our first labor nurse Fran, our next nurse Carole who was there for delivery and took great care of us after, a truly wonderful midwife Dianne Reynolds who cannot be praised enough for her enormously positive attitude and respect for our birth plan, Maria Rader the Most Supportive and helpful Labor Assistant imaginable, and last but not least my Mom, who I am so glad could be there – THANK YOU! Each of you helped make our birth a beautiful and joyful experience that couldn’t have gone any better. I have never felt so supported and cared for, and it was so perfect to experience this with such wonderful women while delivering our daughter.

Here’s the quick-ish version of how it went down. For anyone interested in the (more) gory details either shoot me an email or perhaps eventually I’ll post them – I’m happy to share!

WED. afternoon: Auntie Beth calls and says “I’ve got the next 5 days off anyway, so why don’t I come out even though the baby hasn’t?”. We plan to pick her up Thurs. at Logan.

THURS. am: Nice walk with Mom, Julia and her kids Katherine & Danny!

Lunch: At Blue on Highland in Needham with best friend Sue. Sue jokes she’s sitting far away in case my water breaks…

1:30pm: Driving to Logan, I start to feel some “discomfort”. A sort of need to shift in my seat crampy thing. Then again. Then I think “maybe I should time these?” Yup, every 3 min, lasting only about 30sec. I don’t want to freak out mom, so don’t say anything. Early labor takes FOREVER, right?

2pm: Have Auntie Beth, who sits by me up front instead of mom. As we pull out I need to “shift” again. She immediately looks over and says “Was that an owie, or is something happening?” I admit that something’s been happening every 3 min. since mom and I hit the road.

2:50-3ish: I get us home, & need to lie down a minute. I realize John needs to get home so I call him, and say I’m in labor. He says he’s on the way. I head back to the bathroom at which point my water breaks! Freaking out ensues b/c it’s meconium stained, a lot. From my “throne” I call the Dr. who says wait for Kirby and then go to the hospital. I also call our Doula, Maria, and let her know we’ll meet her soon.

3:20: Kirby gets home. He thought it was “dinner and a movie” time – our classes all said labor progresses slowly. Instead, he arrives to me curled up saying we need this and that, and to LEAVE. Mom and Beth are alternately fetching & hovering. Then I puke and he realizes things aren’t as mellow as he envisioned. As the car pulls out of the drive I say “oh, didn’t I tell you my water broke?”. OOOOoooops.

4pm: Arrive at Newton Wellesley, head up to Antenatal (familiar from the rear-ending episode) for initial monitoring. Sure enough, we’re in labor. Meet the midwife, Diane Reynolds. Maria arrives. During monitoring, baby’s heart rate drops twice, so I get a hep-lock & IV with saline. Head over to the Maternity ward w/ the gang. I hear someone say they got us the biggest room! So nice. As long as there’s a jacuzzi… Diane goes over the game plan, so everyone is clear I’m not to be asked about my pain levels, offered meds, keep positive, lights dim, moving around, etc. She does a quick exam confirming 3cm dilation and 90% effacement.

4pm onward: Walks through the halls, with really lovely encouragement from passing nurses. Nice staff! And let’s just say everything went very, very well!! Surprising things to me were: the “shakes” as the hormones begin to surge early on. Freaky. Puking – not so much a surprise as an annoyance.

FRIDAY 12:37AM: Violet Elizabeth Bowditch Kirby makes her entrance!! To my relief she slipped out with no tearing at all, even though Maria reports Violet was not face-down, but slightly “sunny side up”, and that the cord was a little bit around her neck. Considering how amazingly PINK she was when they put her on my belly, the cord clearly wasn’t an issue. Daddy got to cut the cord an announce that she is, to our surprise, a GIRL! She squawked right away, and had a nice time on my chest as she was rubbed and suctioned a bit b/c of the meconium. Auntie Beth decided the worst was over and came in to meet her niece. I got someone to give me my camera as they took her to be weighed (at my request – I was curious!), and I got a great pic of her coming back to me from the warmer. We toasted to Violet’s arrival with Cava given to us at New Year’s by good friends Ryan & Chema. We thought that special bottle was appropriate, since New Year’s is right around when she became our little spark of life.

I had some issues with blood pressure immediately following the birth, and seemed to be bleeding more than some. I wasn’t able to stand for long, and couldn’t walk without loosing my breath. That passed & by later in the morning I was able to “go places” on my own so to speak. We were placed in another LDR room, as postpartum was full up. We were moved to a regular postpartum room around lunchtime Friday.

OK, Long post, thanks for reading!

Violet

Also, our friend, the talented and beautiful Stephanie Olsen stopped by yesterday to do a photo shoot of Violet and family. There are many great shots but one of my favorites is the vampire pacifier. Too funny. Unfortunately, it’s just a little too big for her but the shot is still great. Can’t wait til she grows into that thing. Auntie Beth gets Violet great gifts…

Slideshow: http://www.stephanieolsen.com/violet/

K

Violet Elizabeth Kirby entered the world at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, weighing in at 7 pounds, 6 ounces (21 inches long too).

Most important is that Ellen and Violet are doing really, really well. As an added bonus, Ellen was able to stick with her birth plan which meant she got through it all with no epi or pain meds. Labor was almost exactly 11 hours long.

We’ll follow up soon with pics and details now that we’ve managed to get the laptop on the hospital’s wireless network. Unfortunately, the wing we were in for labor didn’t have access or we’d have written something much sooner.

Thanks for all the good wishes and love,
K, E & V

K

FMK

Our midwife reports no change in status, after monitoring the BTB for 30 min. All is WELL, and progressing within the normal range of how these things go. Since we can’t predict when or how things will happen, there’s no actual change in status to report. We’ve got an ultrasound scheduled for Monday the 29th if somehow we’re still preggers by then.

Crew members are reminded to stay POSITIVE and look for fun things to do. Suggestions are welcome, & Sue, we’re looking forward to lunch tomorrow!

CONGRATULATIONS & Love to:

Edson & Teresa: Aviva Luna, born Mon. Sept. 15

Joy & George: Max Michael, born Wed. Sept. 17

Nicole & Rob: Madison, born Friday, Sept. 19

Martha & Ron: Tobias Theodore, born Sat., Sept. 20

Thea & Bryan: Kyra Moon Felice, born Sun., Sept. 21

Ben & Toni: Faith, born Mon. Sept. 22 – A NEW COUSIN!