i've never written about her birth story so i thought i'd do that this year.
it was january 28, 2008. i went in for my 38 week checkup. my blood pressure was a bit high and i was measuring a little "small." the midwife told me that she wanted me to go to the hospital and get monitored. she said that i would probably be there for a couple of hours and then they would send me home. like maybe i was dehydrated or something. no biggie. i remember that i had forgotten my cell phone at home and had to use the office phone to call norton. he was in a meeting and i don't think he answered the first time i called so i just kept calling until he answered. we met at home so we could just take one car and headed to the labor and delivery. it took a little while to check in but they finally took us to an area where i put on a gown and got hooked up to monitors.
fortunately, i was the only woman there so i got all the attention. the nurse took my blood pressure and sure enough, it was still high. she had me lay on my side for awhile and then started to take the pressure again. she said, "think of a wonderful place you would love to go on vacation. " my blood pressure was even higher! "where did you imagine yourself, for goodness sake???"
at this point they were trying to get someone in there who could do an ultrasound but it was taking awhile. so we waited. i think my blood pressure eventually started to come down. the gal finally got there to do the ultrasound and afterwards she said that i had "low fluid." meaning that the fluid that kept the baby floating around and the cord from being squished was at a low level. about two minutes after she left, the midwife came back in and said, "you aren't going home. you are having a baby tomorrow. we'll induce in the morning." kinda exciting!
we got sent to a room and again, i was hooked up to monitors to make sure baby girl was doing alright. i had packed my bags but i think they were still at home. also, we had townsend and ellory to think about. norton called our friends, steve and bianca, who picked up the kids from preschool and took care of them that night. i still remember wishing i had cleaned our bathroom! we also called norton's parents, who came the next day to take care of the kids while we were in the hospital.
i don't remember alot about being in the hospital that afternoon/evening. i wasn't very comfortable in the hospital bed. and i just kept looking at that monitor praying that baby girl would be safe in there until the next day when she would be born. i call her "baby girl" because we still didn't have a name for her! we finally broke down and started going through a baby names book. i would throw out a name but norton would reject it. then he would throw out a name and i would reject it. i had really wanted something symbolic for her name. like a cool hebrew word for "surprise!" but none of those types of names worked. finally norton just blurted out, "how about marin?" i liked it! done! then we talked about middle names. i wanted to combine our sister's names into one name-susann. but norton didn't like it. then he said, "how about we use your middle name-ann?" sounded good to me. so we had her name. we tried some different spellings and liked it as MARIN ANN.
even though it didn't have a particular story behind it, at least it was unique. there wouldn't be other "marins" in her classes growing up. OR SO WE THOUGHT! that same year a mom from townsend's preschool class had a daughter and named her "marin anne" and last year there were two other marins at her preschool and this year she is in class with a marin. i really find it hard to believe.
but i digress. back to the hospital. i don't think i slept much at all that night. i was so intent on watching that monitor! i continued to be scared that her little heart would just stop beating. not a fun night for me. however, norton took an ambien and had a fabulous sleep. :)
the next morning at 6am, the nurses came in and started getting me ready for the induction. they gave me something to "clean me out" and then i started getting the pitocin injected. i started to have contractions. they hurt! the labor nurse and my midwife were wonderful. they told me that i could have an epidural at any time. just let them know. i decided i would go as long as possible without drugs, just to keep the labor progressing as fast as possible. that lasted about three and a half hours. "epidural, please!" i was still only about 2 centimeters dilated so it really hadn't gotten too far. but the pain was not nice so i got the wonder drug. so nice. weird feeling but no pain. i could still tell when i was contracting but it didn't hurt.
about six hours later i was 10 cm dilated and they said i could start pushing. really strange sensation. the midwife offered a mirror so i could see what was happening but i said no. now, i wish i had looked. oh well. i remember at one point norton saying, " the head is almost out!" then the midwife said, "umm. not really. keep pushing."
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