Meeting the Family

The Announcement

We Think We'll Keep Her ;-)

You'd think Derek has been holding babies his whole life. And of course, there's no doubt Grandma's had some practice :-)

Welcome to the Family! She's Perfect!

We would like you all to meet the newest member of our family.

Darcie Ann Emmert
September 2nd, 2008, 10:35 am
8 lb., 20.5 in.
APGAR score a perfect 10!

She can't wait to meet you!

Jenni and Darcie are both doing great!

Wow!

She's Beautiful!!!

Everyone is wonderful!!!

Getting There

We're ready to push!

Moving Along

Jenni is dilated 8 cm now. I guess she starts pushing once she gets to 10 cm.

Epidural Is In

The epidural is in, which apparently went fine. They made me leave the room for that. I headed to the cafeteria, of course.

Contractions Getting Stronger

The contractions are definitely getting more intense now, which they said would happen after breaking the water. We'll probably start the epidural soon.

Water Broken

The doctor just arrived and she just broke the water to get things moving along a bit more quickly and naturally. That went very well, nice clear fluid. They said she had a nice thick water bag which protected the baby very well. She is dilated about 4 cm. They said the baby looks very good on the monitor.

So, stuff is oozing, now. I guess in this game, oozing is progress.

The Pain Scale

I think they should have a chart like this at the aid stations in some of my races.

I remember when Jenni was in labor with Derek and the contractions started to get pretty uncomfortable, they asked her where she was on the scale. She said something like "4". I looked at the chart and looked at her, and said, "your face doesn't look like that". I think she has a pretty high threshold for pain.

If men had to go through labor, I think the species would have gone extinct long ago.

Food

Jenni tells me I'm obsessed about food. It's not about food to me, it's about energy. It would seem to me she's in a race of sorts, which is something I can relate to. And when I'm racing, I need energy.

When Derek was born, before we left for the hospital, I insisted we make a sandwich for Jenni to eat on the way since she probably would not be able to eat once we got there and I knew she'd need her energy. Of course, I made one for me, too :-)

She had her typical toast with peanut butter this morning, which she ate most of, although her nervous tummy did not feel hungry. I just tried to get her a snack, but the nurse said, sorry, no food until after delivery.

Good thing she had that toast ;-)

Names?

Oh, and by the way, yes we do have a name picked out.

No, we're not telling :-) I can say that it is NOT one of Derek's suggestions, such as "Shaggy Dog".

The Fancy Contractions Gadget

Since I don't really know what I'm supposed to be doing during this labor thing, I find myself studying all the fancy gadgets. I make it my job to let Jenni know when she's having a contraction by looking at the graph on the monitor (as if she needs me to tell her). They're about 3.5 to 4 minutes apart now.

Approaching a New Finish Line

Today's the day! We arrived at the hospital at a dark and early 5 am this morning to induce labor. All is looking great. According to the fancy monitor, Jenni's actually having contractions about every 5 minutes, although she hardly feels them. I think this thing might have happened today anyway :-) I'll try to keep posting when I get a chance.