Molly Fay

For all my family far away that are dying for pictures:

She screamed when she was born!

 I started having contractions at about 10:45 on Monday night and even jokingly told Sterling that maybe we'd end up with a baby if I couldn't sleep through them. Sterling promptly fell asleep and I laid awake wishing away my contractions so I could get some sleep too. But I was also kind of happy because that morning at my OB appointment he had done an ultrasound to show that she was currently head down--and I wanted her to stay that way!!! (He acted pretty annoyed that I was so worried, but he was also surprised at how much she still moved...I'm just glad he was willing to do an ultrasound and I could have complete peace of mind on the issue.)

I asked Sterling if it would bother him if I ran a tub, so I soaked for about forty minutes and the contractions were regular but not increasing in intensity or anything. At that point, about midnight, I was just hoping they'd go away so I could get some sleep since they didn't seem to be getting any worse. I tried laying down again but they were strong enough I couldn't sleep through them, so I preregistered at the hospital, put together a bag to take, wrote out instructions for Will and Ruth, and even put on some mascara. When I was putting on mascara I had a couple that were getting much more intense. I sat down and timed them for about ten minutes and decided that maybe they weren't going away, so I woke Sterling up. This was about 1:30. Our friend Ben came over and slept on our couch so we could let our kids sleep and off we drove!

We got to the hospital and I had a couple really painful contractions on the way there, but it wasn't until we got out of the van that I started to think I might be in trouble. It was hard to walk through the contractions and my mind just kept racing thinking "I need an epidural, I need an epidural." It was 2am. The lady at the front asked why we were there and I said I was in labor and she looked me up and down and said I barely looked pregnant. (I was wearing one of Ethan's old tshirts...nightgownish style.) I wasn't amused. They wanted me to pee in a cup and everything and by that time the voice in my head was getting frantic. I knew the feeling of these contractions all too well and I knew I didn't want to experience labor again and I REALLY wanted an epidural ASAP! When we told our admitting nurse this was baby #3 she got a bit more on the ball and decided to check me. She said I was an 8, but she'd call it a 7 so that we could try and get an epidural in. Then they wheeled me into my labor room and had me switch beds. By then I kind of knew an epidural was out of the question because of the pain I was in, but they were super awesome and had my blood drawn, iv in, and saline solution going really quickly-all while asking me to sign forms and answer medical questions for the computer. Oh, and my legs had started to shake. They didn't stop.

About the time everyone was scurrying around the nurse asked if I needed to push and I said I couldn't decide---it felt an awful lot like I did. So I did, even though they told me not to. And my water broke. Sterling said like a 'hose'. It sprayed all across the room. The nurses were great about it, I guess something else had recently happened in another room so they joked that it was the night of spraying fluids and that we'd give the cleanup crew a big job. I felt a little bit better after that, but only for a couple of minutes. My doctor wasn't on call so it was the NP that I had seen once. She walked in, I felt like pushing, they got all annoyed and made me move positions and told me I had to push. I said I really wanted an epidural and my sister Megan and I didn't want to deliver naturally. Apparently I didn't have a choice. Ruff. It's worse the second time--knowing what's coming. Since I didn't know this doctor, right before my first push I had this panic about an episiotomy and told her I didn't want one and I didn't need one. She just looked at me like I was a little crazy and said they don't do those here. A little breath of relief and then I was pushing. A couple minutes later we had a SCREAMING baby girl! They let me do skin-to-skin, let Sterling cut the cord, then they cleaned her up and weighed her and then let me hold her again for about an hour before they took her for a bath and her shot and took me to a recovery room. It really went perfectly. I felt like I had the time I wanted with her before they took her away and I was ready to stand up and move and clean up a bit at that point.

While I didn't want to deliver naturally, a 30 minute delivery is definitely the way to do it. No stitches, no tearing. And NO C-SECTION! Really, I don't know how I got so blessed. I am so, so, so grateful that Molly was head down and I was able to go into labor on my own and have a vaginal delivery. Plus, when you see what an incredibly beautiful little girl you brought into the world, it's worth all the worry.

I am already completely in love with her and during their brief visit it seems like her older sibling are too! Sterling, of course, couldn't be more enthralled and smitten. We are so grateful for all of our blessings with this delivery and for our friends that have given so much support and babysitting hours!

Molly Fay was 7 lbs 7oz, 20 inches long and was born at 3:03am. She has beautiful dark hair and really dark eyes---so I'm happy to report that I think we have another brown-eyed baby.

sneeze!

How do I have three kids?!?!

Practically perfect in every way.