She's here!

Natalie Claire LaPlante

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

5:01pm, 10 lbs., 1 oz.,

21 1/2 inches long.


So I am not going to write about all of the gruesome details, however for the sake of my journal keeping, feel free to not read and just peruse pictures if you are squeamish! :)

Last picture before she was born.
I was scheduled to be at the hospital at 8 am on Tuesday, and at 6:05am the nurse called and told me that it had been a busy night, and there were not any beds available. The first thought in my foggy mind was that I was going to have to wait another day.... But luckily she told me to call back after 9:30, and they would let me know what time to come in. When I called back she told me to be there at noon, and we would be good to go. So after being prepared to be there and get started early, I had a little extra time to sleep in, and got a couple things done before we had to be there.

When we arrived at the hospital, they got us going, and apparently I was a bit dehydrated, they gave me two liters of fluid, and I still did not need to use the bathroom. The nurse started pitocin at 1:00pm, and unlike with Carson, she kept turning it up every 15 min. until I was having a contraction every 2-3 min. By 2:30, I was getting quite uncomfortable, and by 3:00 I told Garry that I changed my mind on the no epidural goal, that I didn't think I could do it.


My perspective was a little skewed because even though I had read about how quickly pitocin worked to induce labor, and brought on intense contractions immediately, when I had pitocin with Carson, it took more than 12 hours to really get things moving. Had I known that I was going to go through the process so much quicker, I probably could have made it, but at that point I was not willing to risk it!


At 3:30, they finally gave me an epidural, which made my feet very numb, but didn't really work on the underside of my belly. By the time I had the last contraction, I felt a bit of relief, and then it was all over. By 3:45 they were on the phone with my dr. who was delivering another baby at a neighboring hospital, and told him that I was ready to go now! He said he would be there as soon as he could, but to call the on call dr. just in case. The on call guy showed up in shorts and a t-shirt because he had been working in his yard, he told me to hold on momentarily, and he would be right back, he just wanted to clean up a bit... Okay, hold on, riiiiiight! As he was getting cleaned up, my regular dr. waltzes in, as he checks me, my water breaks, and he asks, are you ready to push?? I told him I was, I pushed two times, then on the third push she was born.

She was definitely ready to be born! This entire pregnancy, I have been trying to tell my dr. that I have big babies, but he just didn't quite believe me. The last three weeks, I only measured at 37, so he thought I was just trying to pull his leg or something. When they put her on the scale and weighed her. I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head when he saw 10 lbs. 0.7oz. He looks at me, and says, I'm sorry. Not much consolation at that point!

Really though, and especially in retrospect, she was bigger than Carson 9lbs 12oz., but the whole process was so much quicker and easier this time around. By 8pm, I felt so much better than I have the last 3-4 weeks, that it made the whole labor process totally bearable.


Carson, was so excited to come see his new sister, Garry met him getting off the elevator and explained that he couldn't jump on mommy on the bed. He come into the room, and he stands by my bed, and I asked him if he wanted to get up and see his sister. He looks somewhat disappointed and says, dad told me no. We then explained to him that he could climb up on the bed, he just couldn't jump on mom or the baby. He was thrilled to hold his new little sister, and it was sweet to watch him cuddle and talk to her. Everyone who has asked him what her name is, he tells them, Natalie Claire. Not just Natalie, it's the whole deal! We explained that it was kind of like Carson Drake, but we just call him Carson, but he informed me that her name is Natalie Claire! It's been pretty funny.

First Bath. She was quite content, she very much enjoyed basking in the heat!

When the nurses were doing her footprints and Garry told them Carson was excited to come see his sister, they asked if he wanted a baby tattoo. So they imprinted her little tootsies on his arm, and Carson did think it was pretty cool.

We had quite the view in our recovery room. We could see all of downtown Spokane, and it was quite beautiful.

On our departure, Carson was not thrilled to have to sit on the side of the car, but we made it. And we are all doing well!