Because my baby is six weeks old I guess I can manage to update my blog. :) My goodness, there are so many things to mention it all sounded too daunting so I just didn't do it. But now, as Noelle lays in her crib trying to figure out how to keep her binky in, and Chiara is in her bed occasionally bringing me hurt fingers to kiss, I will attempt an update on this delightful life of mine.
Seriously, I'm so in love with my life.
***
I was the only one having a baby in the hospital on December 29th, so I had the entire staff to myself. That was lovely. Eldon and I laughed so much I thought they might not take me seriously. I let my body do almost 24 hours of induced labor before getting my epidural. What an idiot! I hadn't realized, I guess, that the timing was up to me, and I put up with 12 hours of pitocin before asking for the shot. What a lot of useless pain and anguish. I just wasn't thinking about that, I was thinking about Chiara being at a friend's house, and Noelle still being face up (which was part of our problem with Chiara's birth), and how I didn't want to tear or have another blood transfusion, and a million other things. The contractions were almost an afterthought. And those pitocin ones are nasty. And it hurts even worse when your husband is making you laugh through them. When the contractions came I'd clutch the bed rails and gasp through my laughter, "You're ... so ... mean!"
He was dancing in the room when the nurses turned their backs ... he stole my chicken strips while I was in the jetted tub, poking his head around the corner with a smile full of my food ... he yelped "She's all puffed up like a toad!" when we saw how swollen my legs and feet were getting ... he told me to "take a load off your cankles" and crossed them for me when I couldn't move them myself ... he fed me jello at warp speed just to be silly ... he made the most awful face when my OB broke my water, and I laughed and told him, "get that look off your face!" which is what my mom always had to tell me when I was growing up, since I could never manage to keep negative thoughts from registering in my facial expressions ... he is just so funny and delightful in ways words can't describe. It was so helpful, since I'd much rather laugh than cry. :)
When I finally asked for my epidural and the doctor came in I was in tremendous pain. Kind of frantic, make-it-stop kind of pain. Pitocin was doing something that made my insides feel like they were being twisted up and slowly yanked out of me. Terrible, terrible things. But let me tell you for those of you who don't know: when your husband is a med student your doctors only pay attention to him ... not to you. Eldon and the anesthesiologist chatted about classes and rotations while I sat up on the side of the bed, panting, listening to the doctor get all his supplies ready and situated behind me. I had tears streaming down my face as the one nurse I didn't like held onto me and said quiet words I didn't listen to. All I could think of is that huge needle going into my back. The first needle with the numbing stuff burned like acid and I was feeling a little light-headed from the fear of the next one. Weird, because needles don't usually bother me. All the while, Eldon and Dr. Patton are chatting like old friends, and then the doctor pulls out the big needle and I hear Eldon exclaim, "Holy smokes!"
That, dear reader, is when my patience snapped.
"Eldon,
stop talking about it." I growled.
Silence. Eldon and Dr. Patton were truly chagrined.
And I felt immediate guilt.
"I do love you though, Honey." I managed to say.
The staff chuckled at that and the doctor finished quickly, even including me in his friendly chatter this time. After everything was all over and I was blissfully numb Eldon pouted at me.
"You could have said it nicely," he said. He was only half teasing.
Cry me a big long river.
***
We have laughed about that so many times since then. We got especially silly after Noelle was born all safe and sound. Once at dinner time we were blessing the food when a nurse came in, interrupting our prayer. Eldon was saying it, and he whispered, "We're gonna wait for the nurse, Lord." (My grandpa said something similar years earlier at a family reunion, and ever since it has been a joke between us. Only that time it was a raucous cukoo clock that interrupted the prayer and Grandpa had said, "We're gonna wait for the music, Lord.") So of course, then I was laughing hysterically and trying to hide my laughter from the nurse who needed to adjust my monitor and take my blood pressure and all that other stuff they do.
Another time, Chiara dropped a cracker on the floor and just as Eldon and I were both telling her it was yucky and she needed to throw it away she popped it right back in her mouth. Gross. Hospital floor cracker.
"Ugh, she just ate some other woman's placenta." Eldon groaned. I held my tummy and laughed.
Speaking of placentas, when mine came out Eldon's face was priceless. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to take a picture of his expression. "Holy smokes!" he said. Then looking quickly at me with fear in his eyes he said, "Sorry." I laughed. He can say holy smokes whenever he wants, just not when a six-inch needle is going into my back. :)
When the nurses handed Noelle to me, still slick and filmy but perfect and beautiful, I kissed her and cooed to her and then I turned to Eldon.
"Do you want to hold her?" I asked in a reverent voice.
He gave me a hesitant look and said, "She has yuck." Another inside joke that meant he would hold her after her bath. :) It was only funny because he didn't mean it. In fact, the doctor had let Eldon catch her, and then Eldon cut the cord. It was neat how involved they let him be. I was so happy and grateful that she was safe and healthy I wept joyful tears and snuggled her on my chest. I had been so scared that it would be like Chiara's delivery ... but everything went perfectly. I had to have a gazillion stitches again, but Noelle was perfect so nothing else mattered.
Chiara said it best when she cooed, "She's so born. That's so sweet."
Yes, it is.
