Now that I'm born, I've got a lot of learning and exploring to do, so Dad will be reporting my activities from here on out, rather than hearing them directly from me. Don't worry, he's a pretty good reporter.
The details:
We arrived at the hospital at around 2:30 AM on Friday August 28. At around 7:30 we knew we were here for the big show, as they broke Brianna's water (as reported in an earlier blog, to the haunting crooning of Jimmy James singing Dondante from the Okonokos album - music was a necessity for the laboring process, and our 400+ song playlist called 'Labor Pains' was perfect). At 10:30, things were pretty much the same, so we got a little shot of Pitocin to give the contractions more oomf. And it seemed to work, as an hour later, some eucalyptus spearamint massages (between the massage oil, the iPod playlist, and the eucalyptus spearamint Scent-Fan in the room, the staff said we had the most peaceful and relaxing roon on the floor), and several games of Crazy 8's (to take her mind off the pain) later Brianna was at 6 cm. But the contractions were getting pretty rough at this point, so she took a shot of morphine at noon (with the calming Iron & Wine cover of 'Such Great Heights' to help with the soothing). The contractions, however, made it feel like taking aspirin for a severed limb - too little too late. And by 1:30, with the status the same, it was time to take some other measures. Brianna had powered through some rough water with a smile when she wasn't bearing down on the pain, and with little hope for quick progress, it was time for the big guns.
As they tried giving her the epidural, they were perplexed about how she was still feeling something. So they checked the status and found her at 9 cm! No wonder she was having such a rough time of it - she had dialated 3 cm in less than half an hour! But then the epidural did start to kick in, and she was temporarily dead from the waist down. So we went from one extreme to the other - riptide currents of back-labor pain with little progress to no feeling whatsoever and almost go-time. And we now had to wait for a little feeling to return to start pushing. From 4:30 to 6:00 the nurse, Brianna, and I were a well-oiled laboring machine, pushing to the point of exhaustion. And then the doctor comes in for the big finish. Azja was born at 6:19 PM on August 28 to the sounds of Portishead's ultra-mello "Roads" and Ice Palace's upbeat "Phone Book Pillow". She weighed 7 pounds 12 1/2 ounces and was 20 inches long. She had a beautiful pink color right off the bat and a healthy set of lungs she wasn't afraid to show off.
The rest of the evening was a blur of excitement, exhaustion, and celebration. Brianna's parents Kathy and Randy had arrived during the epidural process, so the first they had seen of Brianna was with a contented smile of relaxation on her face. Then they had to go back out to the waiting room again for the homestretch. Randy thought we'd have a little girl by 5, but Azja wanted us to be a little more patient. Azja took it easy during the whole process, keeping a pretty steady heartrate even to the end. But when she came out, she was ready - wailing before her shoulders even emerged. Jay and Hallie and Kevin and Michelle stopped by later in the evening after everyone had been cleaned up and settled in a new room. We all took turns holding the newest member of our family, and after all the commotion died down, Brianna and I settled in for our first night of parenthood. The sleeping didn't really take until early Saturday morning when the nurses took Azja for a bath and vital check. Then sleep overcame us like Niagra Falls, and I have emerged bright and eager this morning to broadcast the news in this very blog.
We will have more pictures to come, so stay tuned. For now I hope these will suffice:
Until we meet again,Erik
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