November's Gift -- the story

So Simone and Julie decided to take their time throughout the labor & delivery process... they had several days of getting used to each other before Simone finally made her appearance!

Julie started some pretty intense Braxton-Hicks contractions on Sunday evening, 11/8. Try 3-6 contractions an hour for oh, almost three days... During this period, Julie finished up a few projects for work, relaxed in the hot tub and tried to get some sleep.

On the evening of Tues, 11/10, her contractions started for real. She labored at home that evening and into Wednesday afternoon, with the contractions picking up a bit after 11am.

She was admitted into the Birthing Inn around 1:30pm on Wed, 11/11. Julie was 3-4 centimeters dilated and the contractions were coming every 3-5 minutes.

By 3pm, she was dilated to 5cm but her contractions were starting to slow, so she had her bag of waters broken. She was dilated at 7cm after a couple of hours but, alas, she got stuck!

After laboring at 7cm for waaaaay too long, our midwife discussed the possibility of an epidural & then some pitocin, to help move things along. There had been some meconium in the amniotic fluid and Julie's blood pressure was getting funky, so the baby needed to come out sooner rather than later. Plus, Julie was just plain old tired -- it had been a long week!

So in went the epidural around 9pm on Wed, 11/11 and Julie's relief was immediate. She and Diana* were both able to get some sleep for a few hours while the epi helped to relax Julie's pelvic muscles and the pitocin helped to strengthen the contractions.

By 2am on Thu, 11/12, Julie was dilated to 10cm and completely effaced -- it was time to push! After a bit of coaching on how to push when one's lower body is a bit on the numb side, Julie was ready.

Less than half an hour int0 pushing, Simone was borne -- our beautiful baby girl! And in case anyone missed the detail on the pictures page, Julie delivered a baby that was over nine pounds in weight & she didn't tear & she was only pushing for about half an hour. She was *amazing*!

And of course, Simone is yet another gorgeous, perfect child to join the world. She's also a trooper, hanging in for several days worth of contractions and having her cord wrapped around her neck a couple of times. We're happy to have both of them home!


*Side note on Diana & Koen -- Diana was able to accompany Julie to the hospital and be her support person during her labor process. She has pumped some breast milk to tide over the little guy while she was gone and Grandmere Fulchiron provided the needed care throughout the night. Diane Shelton also helped shuttle some additional milk between the hospital and home when the process went on longer than anticipated.