The Fourth Week

Day 22, March 15
Maya is three weeks old today.  Time has flown by.  She is starting to look different these days.  She's really grown.  Last night, Maya slept about 4.5 hours again for the second night in a row.  She then went back down for 3.5 hours.  Hopefully, writing this won't jinx it and this trend will continue.  Maya had her first tub bath today.  She seemed to like it.

Day 23, March 16
Apparently I jinxed the sleeping.  She didn't want to go down last night and she didn't sleep very long between feedings.  It was really nice today so we put Maya in the carrier and went for a walk.  Once she got settled, she slept the whole time.  My back and abdominal muscles are still not what the were prepregnancy.  Next time, I'll let Derek wear her.  TMI warning: pregnancy and birth is the gift that keeps giving in regards to your body, 3 weeks postpartum and I seem to now have hemorrhoids.  And my nipples are crazy sore.

Day 24, March 17
Last night was ok.  Since I was sore it was not the most pleasant.  When she was awake at 5 am, I told her she better be glad she was so cute and she gave me a big smile.  I know the smiles are still involuntary at this point but still too cute.  Today we had our first outing other than to the hospital or doctors office.  My advisor took all three of us to lunch.  Maya was awake and looking around for most of it.  My advisor and his mom both held Maya.  She wasn't too sure about them and cried most of the time.  When she was passed back to me she immediately fell asleep.  Then in the evening, Maya and I went to our monthly ladies meeting with the women from church.  My mom, aunt, and cousins arrived last night.  They went with us.  There were a lot more people there than I expected.  It was nice to see people, I'm not sure if I would have gone had I known there would be so many.  I only let a few people hold her but it still stressed me out.  Tonight was the last night of our church friends bringing us food.  It's been really great not having to worry about grocery shopping and cooking.

Day 25, March 18
Today my mom spent the day with us while my aunt and cousins were in and out.  Maya was pretty happy with her grandma as long as I didn't talk.  Often if she heard me, she'd wake up and cry.  My cousin cooked dinner for us tonight.  I haven't cooked in almost a month.

Day 26, March 19
We went out to lunch with my family before they left.  Maya screamed all the way there.  Her eyes even started tearing up.  I tried giving her a paci for the first time, other than during her hearing test at the hospital.  She sucked on it a few times and then seemed annoyed that it wasn't giving her any milk.  We got to the restaurant and I got her out of her seat to calm her down.  I noticed that she had pooped and it leaked everywhere.  So after a quick snack, diaper and clothes change, she was ready to go in.  I put her in the carrier and she slept the entire time.  Then screamed when she went back in the car seat.  We tried the paci again with a little better result.  Maya has finally grown into newborn clothes.


Day 27, March 20
Last night, Maya slept well.  However, she had poop in her hair this morning when she woke up.  I'm not sure how it got there.  Perhaps it was leftover from the middle of the night diaper change fiasco.  It's kind of crazy that my water broke one month ago today but I didn't realize it until the following day.  I went to church today for the first time since that day.  We finally got Maya's hand prints in her baby book.  It's not as easy to get hand prints as it is foot prints on an infant.  We also had our second attempt at a tub bath tonight.  She pooped in the water so it turned into a sponge bath.  Then, she pooped all over the towel, twice.  After I got her cleaned up, she peed.

Day 28, March 21
One month ago today, we started the induction process.  Tomorrow our little peanut will be one month old.  She has officially grown out of her preemie clothes and into newborn.  Even the newborn sleepers fit.  It's kind of funny that she seems so big to us now.  Maya was unusually cranky today.  Usually she doesn't cry unless she's hungry or has tummy issues.  Today, it seemed like she was crying every time she was awake.

From the beginning, Early pregnancy

June 25
4 weeks
first + pregnancy test
(I had a dream that I was pregnant and, despite the fact that I wasn't late, couldn't shake the feeling that it was in fact true.  When Derek went to work I walked to the nearest drug store to pick up some tests.  I didn't tell him I was doing it, because I thought I was just being paranoid.  Needless to say he was quite shocked when he came home and I handed him a positive test.  I wish I had a picture of his face.  I think he handled the surprise better than I did though.)

July 27
8wk4d

crown-rump length:  0.73 inches
(The doctor called her a gummy bear.)

August 1
9wk1d
broke the news to family

August 17
11wk4d
crown-rump length: 1.85 inches
(In this ultrasound, she was upgraded from gummy bear to sea horse.)

October 14

19wk6d

crown-rump length: 6.5 inches

weight: 11 ounces
(The baby looks healthy and perfect.  It's a girl and it looks like she might have her mother's monkey toes.  I wasn't sure I wanted to find out what the sex was.  Derek wanted to.  The ultrasound technician said that she would write it on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope for us to open later when we had decided.  When she wrote on the paper, she had it on top of the envelope leaving an impression in the envelop.  After the ultrasound, we went to the lobby to wait for my doctor's appointment.  I went to put the envelope in my purse and the light hit it just right show It's a girl!.  I showed Derek and we got a good laugh out of it.  Derek opened the envelop at lunch after the appointment and indeed that's what the paper said.)

February 22
38wk4d
length: 18 inches
weight 6 lbs 1 oz
(Labor and delivery didn't quite go as I had envisioned but she's here and healthy.  She is tiny but does in fact have my monkey toes.  She looks a lot like the ultrasound profile.  Look at that cute little nose.)

March 4
10 days old (due date, would have been 40 wk)
weight 5 lbs 14 oz (up from her lowest recorded 5 lbs 7 oz on February 28)

The Third Week

Day 15, March 8

Maya is two weeks old today.  This morning at 7:47, Maya, Derek, and I were up "celebrating" this milestone.  Derek and I tried our own photography session this evening.  I wanted to get some pictures of her sleeping.  Some of them turned out pretty well, I think.

Day 16, March 9

Maya slept had a long stretch of sleep last night.  I woke up more than she did.  She still has times when she is wide awake in the middle of the night.  She doesn't really cry when she's awake in the middle of the night.  She fusses until you turn on the light and then she's happy just looking around.  Derek has been great about taking her then and letting me get some more sleep.  My sleeping issues are getting better.  I still can't really sleep during the day though.  Today was an uneventful day.  Derek went into school for a while.  Maya and I just snuggled while he was gone.  I took a nap in the evening.  Then Derek and I tried to get Maya's foot and hand print to frame.  We succeeded in getting one acceptable foot and hand so we called it a night.  I still need to get her hand prints for her baby book.  I also finally made birth announcements.

Day 17, March 10

Maya and I ventured out on our own today for the first time.  We went to a breastfeeding support group at the hospital.  It's a way to talk to the lactation consultant for free and talk with other mom's in a similar situation.  Maya was wide awake for pretty much the whole time we were there.  The lactation consultant commented on how bright eyed she was and told me that we would have our hands full.  Maya was the youngest one there.  After that, Maya and I both took a nap.  We then called the nurse to ask about Maya's umbilical cord stump.  It was oozing brown gunk and blood.  We were a little concerned about infection.  The nurse had us come in, just to be safe.  It's a bad sign that the nurses recognize us and comment on the frequency of our visits when she's just over two weeks old.  We met with the nurse practitioner who said everything looks normal.  She was a little surprised that we weren't instructed to clean it with alcohol.  We plan to do that a couple times a day now to hopefully get things dried up.  On the plus side of going in, we got to weigh her again.  She is up to 6 lbs 12 oz from 5 lbs 14 oz 6 days ago.  Derek and I were discussing this morning how she looked a little fuller.  She's getting cute little chubby cheeks.  She's still a little peanut though.

Day 18, March 11

Maya didn't eat very well last night.  She thus didn't sleep very well either.  Not very fun for any of us.  Her umbilical cord stump fell off this morning.  I guess that's what all the gunk and blood was about yesterday.  We gave her another sponge bath today.  She peed and pooped on us this time.  Maya continued to not eat very well until late this evening.  I'm not sure what the problem was but I'm thankful to have my happy eater back.

Day 19, March 12

Maya slept decent last night.  We put her down at 12:30 and she slept until 2.  She ate and went down again until 5:20.  After that feeding she decided it was awake time.  As cute as she is when she's awake, I'd rather it be later in the morning.  This morning, I ran to my office today to pick up some more clothes my advisor bought for us.  Maya now has a few more sleepers that fit.  In the afternoon, a friend from church W and her daughter M brought us food.  W was holding Maya, and like a proper dainty little lady Maya loudly filled her diaper.  M thought it was hilarious.  I'm proud of my little peanut.  Now we have to work on burping.

Day 20, March 13
As of last night, we still seem to have our days and nights confused.  She was always more active at night in the womb so I was concerned that this might be a problem.  Maya was super hungry today.  We had a lot of feedings only 1 to 2 hours apart.  Hopefully this won't continue over night.

Day 21, March 14
Hooray, Maya slept for 4 hours and 20 minutes last night.  Then went down for another 3, then 3 hours and 20 minutes.  I could get use to this.  Hopefully we will start having more of these nights.  I woke up with a backache though.  Not sure if I slept funny or if its just from all the extra lifting and bending these last few weeks.  Maya got me, the carpet, and our bed today when I was changing her diaper.  Then she peed while I was trying to get her cleaned up and it when all over her.  We've had a lot more poop and pee on us and a lot less spit up than I expected.  She spit up on Derek for the first time today and it was barely any spit up at all.  Not that I'm complaining.  Maya has really started grunting and squeaking in the last few days any time that you move her. I really love to hear her do it.  Today I was sitting on the couch with her and I tried to get up and she was grunting.  I told her I should be the one grunting not her and that she was worse than a pregnant lady.

The Second Week

Day 8, March 1

Maya is one week old today.  Today was the first day we didn't have to go to the hospital for a blood draw.  Maya wasn't on the biliblanket today so we gave her her first sponge bath at home.  She peed on me during it.  When her hair is wet, it curls.  It's very cute.  I wouldn't be surprised if she has curly hair in the future, given mine and Derek's hair.  We had another rough day with feedings.  I called the lactation consultant and she gave me a few tips.  If tonight doesn't go any better I may schedule an appointment with her tomorrow (even though I wasn't very impressed with her in the hospital).  Our friend J brought over some cute clothes for Maya while I was on the phone.  He held Maya again.  His wife called later and offered to come over and sit with Maya for a few hours if we needed a break.  Their little one is a little over five weeks older than Maya and sleeping pretty well at night.  My friend T came over later in the evening.  She let me borrow her nursing pillow and gave me a few pointers on breast feeding.  Maya latched on and nursed for a long time while she was here.  Hoping that this continues through the night and coming days.

Day 9, March 2

Feedings are still going well.  Many thanks to my friend T.  We had what will hopefully be the last heel stick this morning.  Hooray, when they called with the results in the afternoon, her number was way down.  We are done with blood draw and the biliblanket.  Derek was changing her diaper today and the pooped on him.  It was everywhere.  Pretty impressive.

Day 10, March 3

I don't want to jinx it, but I think we may be getting the hang of nursing.  It is still going well.  Today would have been my 40 week appointment with the ob had Maya not come early.

Day 11, March 4

Today was our due date (at least in IN.  The doctor in CA had our due date as March 5).  I expected to be giving birth sometime today or tomorrow based on my slow progress and doctor not wanting to let me go past my due date.  Instead we have a 10 day old.  Maya had an appointment with her pediatrician again today to check her weight.  The improvement in nursing was evident.  She was up to 5 lbs 14 oz, that is up 7 oz in five days.  The doctor said he likes to see at least 0.5 to 1 oz per day and anything over that is gangbusters.  He took care of all her two week visit stuff, even though it was a little early.  He said that we didn't have to worry about waking her up to feed her every 2 to 3 hours now.  I went to the doctor in the afternoon.  I'd had a low grade fever since we'd come home and I called to talk to the nurse about it.  She suggested I come in and see someone.  I saw the midwife for the first time.  She poked around and prescribed some antibiotics.  She said the antibiotics I had during labor probably took care of any uterine infection but with the fever and soreness she'd rather be safe than sorry.  Now we are on the lookout for thrush.  

Maya's grandparents and two of her uncles came to visit today.  It was the first time any of them had been here since her birth.  Unfortunately, Derek's dad was sick and didn't get to hold her. 

Day 12, March 5

Maya wasn't sure if she liked having so many strange visitors.  She was a little cranky in the morning and wanted to nurse more than usual.  When everyone left to get lunch, Maya and I snuggled and took a nap.  She was a little less cranky in the afternoon.

Day 13, March 6

All of our visitors left today.  It was nice to see everyone but it was a lot more stressful than I had anticipated.  It's nice for things to be settling back into our new normal.  

Day 14, March 7

Maya had her professional newborn photo shoot this evening.  Despite the fact that I fed her before we left, she was wide awake for the whole thing.  Hopefully she got some good photos though.

The First Week

Day1, February 22
We stayed in the labor and delivery room for around three hours after the birth.  Maya got cleaned up.  After her bath, her hair in the middle was sticking straight up.  The nurse said she tried to do something with it but she still had a mohawk.  I got to hold her again and feed her for the first time.  Derek got to hold her.  We called our parents.  I forgot to tell my mom her name.  Our nurse brought in all the labor and delivery nurses to show off how beautiful she was.  I got disconnected from all my tubes and wires and was finally able to get out of bed.  My blood pressure almost immediately returned to normal after delivery.  My hip pain also went away surprisingly.  When we left labor and delivery, we moved into postpartum room 322.  We spent most of the day holding and staring at Maya in a daze.  We all napped briefly in the afternoon.  My pregnancy insomnia still hadn't gone away so I didn't sleep long.  It was really weird to have an outside baby.  It was a surprisingly empty feeling to no longer be pregnant and I didn't want her far from me.  It was also eerily silent not hearing her heart beat on the monitor after having heard it all afternoon and night.  I think I snuggled her most of the day and night.  The nurses were in every 4 hours to take Maya and my vitals.  That got old pretty fast but beat the every 15 minutes all night in labor and delivery.   The little shirts the hospital provided were huge on Maya.  She would always seem to work her arms out the neck.

Day 2, February 23
This was a busy day.  At midnight, Maya's weight was down to 6 lbs.  We had or first visitors J and J in the morning.  I then took a nap and D and T and their little one visited in the afternoon.  After that H, J, and O stopped by before church.  They all said Maya was tiny and beautiful.  That evening, Derek and i ordered our celebration meal at the hospital, lobster tail, filet mignon, roasted potatoes, veggies, and cheesecake.  Maya slept in her bassinet for about the first time while we ate.

Day 3, February 24
Maya had her weight check and hearing test a little after midnight.  Her weight was down to 5 lbs 12 oz.  Her hearing was good.  This didn't surprise us, given her response to noise in the womb.  My doctor came in around 7:30 to check me.  I was cleared for discharge.  Maya had her heal stuck for the usual blood test and bilirubin test.  The pediatrician came in and cleared Maya.  But her bilirubin was medium high so she wanted us to come back to the hospital the next morning and then meet with the nurse practitioner at the pediatricians office.  (This was somewhat of a surprise because her earlier numbers were ok and everyone commented on how good her color was.)  This was all set up.  Derek and I got Maya dressed.  Like the hospital clothes, the ones we brought were way too big for our little peanut as well.  She wore a dress that my mom made.  We covered her up with the blanket I came home from the hospital using and a quilt my mom made.  We were planning to use a blanket that Derek's mom made, but Maya came before the blanket arrived.  Derek started loading our car.  Our car seat was inspected and we completed all the discharge paperwork around noon.  Our hospital bracelets and security devices were removed.  They kept my bracelet and one of Maya's to make sure that we had the right baby.  We got to keep her other bracelet and Derek's.  While Derek went to get the car, the nurse carried Maya in her seat along with a neon sign that said ok.  I carried the diaper bag and few remaining random items.  They let me walk out, unlike on the way in.  Our first visitors at home, two of my labmates, brought us food that evening around 10.  They were afraid to hold Maya because she's so small.  We didn't sleep much this night.  Maya didn't like her packnplay so one of us held her pretty much all night.  Also, our heater broke so it was a little chilly.  We were concerned about keeping her warm.  Holding her helped with this as well.

Day 4, February 25
This was a crazy day.  We had to go to the hospital in the morning for Maya's repeat bilirubin test and then to the doctor for the results.  There was a little boy getting his blood drawn ahead of us.  The lab lady, said that you can only stick so many babies a day and still feel good about yourself.  She also said that Maya's cry with the lip quiver was too cute.  Maya's weight went down to 5 lbs 9 oz.  They didn't have the results when we were in the office. We came home and called about our heat.  The doctor's office called us in the afternoon.  Her number had gone up significantly and they wanted her on a biliblanket.  The repair guy came and fixed the heater.  Then the biliblanket was delivered.  We all slept in the living room.  Derek and I took turns holding her.

 

Day 5, February 26
We had to go back to the hospital for a blood draw and back to the doctor.  We had the same lab lady sticking her heal.  Maya's weight up to 5 lbs 10 oz.  Her number went up slightly so they wanted us to keep her on the blanket.  The doctor thought with my milk coming in, her weight increasing, and her number stabilizing we were headed in the right direction.  Both the lab tech and the doctor commented on how strong Maya is.  Derek took a nap during the day and helped a lot with the night time.  I was still having trouble sleeping.  When I would sleep, I'd wake up in panic.  Ah, hormones are great.  Also, I was always afraid I wouldn't wake up to a baby, but every little grunt and squeak wakes me up.  Maybe this will change when I start sleeping a little better.

Day 6, February 27
We went back to the hospital for another blood draw.  It's a bad sign when the hospital receptionist start to recognize you.  We didn't have to go to the doctor today.  The called us with the results.  Her number didn't really change, 16.2 to 16.  Maya and I had a rough day with feedings.  When we would try she would scream, a horrible high pitched cry and stick her tongue to the roof of her mouth.  I couldn't really calm her down or get her to latch on.  We would both sit there and cry.  This got worse in the evening.  Derek called the oncall doctor that evening for help.  She suggested trying to feed her more often as she might be too hungry and thus too frustrated.  She also suggested we try a bottle at the end of a feed if she didn't eat well.  The would help make her less frustrated at the next feed.  We tried all of this and it seemed to help a little.  My advisor brought over some preemie sleepers, her first clothes that fit.  As soon as she is off of the billiblanket she will be able wear them.  We again spent the night in the living room.

Day 7, February 28
Again we went to the hospital and doctor's appointment.  We finally met our pediatrician.  Maya's weight was down to 5 lbs 7 oz.  I was upset by the weight loss because of the horrible day of feedings the day before.  Her bilirubin number had gone down a little to 14 something.  Her doctor wanted us to keep her on the light for the rest of today and then off for a day before redoing the blood work so it is hopefully Maya's last day on the biliblanket.  Following the on call doctor's advice, we had better day with feedings.  Friends from church started bringing us food this afternoon.  We will probably get food from someone almost everyday for a couple of weeks.  It's really nice not to have to worry about what to eat.  We are thankful for our church here.  I'm really going to miss everyone when we move.

She Who Was Finally Named in the Delivery Room (Birth Story)

As I'm sure many of you have heard, Derek and I welcomed our little girl on February 22 at 7:47 am.  She was 6 lbs 1 oz and 18 inches long and beautiful of course.  

Here's her birth story.  TMI warning, it includes information on the status of my cervix and the discussion of other nasty pregnancy related things down below.  

Background: At my 36 weeks appointment, my cervix was long and  closed.  At my 37 weeks one, I had progressed to 80% effaced but still no dilation.  At 38 weeks I was 1 cm dilated still 80% effaced.  On Sunday, February 20, at 38 weeks and 2 days, I woke up at around 3 am to a little gush of something.  I really had to go so figured it was just lovely pregnancy induced incontinence setting in or just an increase in discharge.  Pregnancy is gross.  It happened again once or twice that morning in bed.  I still didn't think much of it since the volume was so small and it was intermittent and since I wasn't dilated very much on Thursday.  Nothing else happened that day until late in the evening when again the same thing.  And then twice Monday morning.  At this point I became a little concerned.  However, because of my blood pressure and She Who Must Not Be Named being lazy, I was scheduled for an extra appointment at 1:50 on Monday afternoon.  

At Monday's appointment, I asked the doctor about the discharge/leakage and he decided to do two tests, pooling and ferning, to see if it was amniotic fluid I was leaking.  He didn't seem to think that it was.  We did the usual check.  I had progressed slightly to 1-2 cm.  Then, I went back for the fetal nonstress test.  She Who Must Not Be Named got the hiccups at some point and we got to hear it on the monitor.  This was neat since she got them all the time in there but we'd never heard them.  We discussed whether she would have them as often on the outside.  After a while, the doctor comes back, and said that the pooling test for amniotic fluid was negative but the ferning was positive so he wanted us to go to the hospital for a third test.  

We got to the hospital around 4 pm.  We checked in through the er and the labor and delivery unit sent a wheel chair down for me.  They forced me to ride up.  We skipped triage and got settled in labor and delivery room 3.  I was hooked up to the monitors and the tie breaker exam, amnisure, was performed.  It was positive as well.  As a side note, the test stick results looked exactly like a pregnancy test and the nurse was joking that I might be pregnant.  She also commented that usually my doctor relies on the ferning test and that he can do the amnisure in the office.  After the third test, the doctor still wasn't convinced that my membranes had indeed ruptured so he wanted to wait a while and redo the exam.  While waiting for the repeat test, we completed all the admissions paper work.  After probably 2ish hours, the next amnisure was performed and it also positive.  The labor and delivery unit was hopping during this time.  There was a bit of a nurses shortage and they were shifting people around trying to get everything covered.  I'm not sure how many nurses I had in a short period of time until everything got settled.

The doctor came in around 7 pm.  Because of the risk of infection with prolonged ruptured membranes, he felt it was better to induce immediately.  My nurse tried to get the iv started.  She tried both hands with no luck.  She then got another nurse who tried my arm and failed.  They finally decided, after discussing how horrible my veins are, to get the anesthesiologist to do the iv.  He also wasn't impressed with what he had to work with.  Fortunately though he succeeded on his second try with a smaller gage needle.  He told me not to move my wrist or I might occlude the line.  And usually they draw blood directly from the iv port but were unable to from mine.  I thus had the pleasure of a sixth stick.  (I have plenty of bruises from all of this.  And also from the blood pressure cuff.) Once the iv was in, I was hooked up to pitocin, fluids, and antibiotics.  The pitocin was started at a low dose just to see what would happen, as I had been having mild contractions for weeks.  After the iv was finally in, Derek ran home to get our bags and the car seat.  He got back to the hospital at about 9:30.  We made calls to our parents and close friends and then just hung out for a while.

She Who Must Not Be Named decided to be lazy during this time.  She wasn't having a satisfactory number of accelerations in her heart rate.  To try to wake her up they were pushing fluids into me like crazy.  (I was more swollen post delivery than before).  Because of her laziness and my high blood pressure, I was stuck in bed and preferred to be on my side.  However, if I was completely on my side, the contraction monitor wouldn't pick up my contractions.  Since they needed to know how I was responding to the pitocin, I had to stay propped up in a mostly on my side position.  At some point during this period, I felt a pop followed by a gush of fluid.  Interestingly, what I had been feeling on Sunday and Monday morning felt very similar to this, only less volume.  I feel bad for not going in to get checked out sooner.

The contractions were starting to be more painful.  And my hips were killing me from staying in bed in one position too long.  My doctor checked me and I had only progressed to 2 cm (or 2-3 cm, I can't remember exactly) from 1-2 cm in his office Monday afternoon and her head still had not descended.  There was discussion of her head being too large to fit into my pelvis requiring a c section.  At this point, I decided that this was going to be a long night and I should just go ahead with the epidural since I couldn't get out of bed anyway.  The anesthesiologist came in shortly after this and my nurse was giving him a hard time about using the smaller needle for my iv.  I told him I'd give him one try this time.  The epidural really wasn't that bad for me.  It made me supper itchy and added another tube from the iv pole and a blood oxygen meter, in addition to my two original iv lines, blood pressure cuff, and two monitoring leads.  (Getting up to pee pre epidural was a feat in and of itself.)  She Who Must Not Be Named was not impressed with the epidural though.  She started experiencing decelerations in her heart rate.  After the decels started, I was confined to my left side in the propped up angled position, the pitocin was turned down, and I added an oxygen mask to my accessories.  The epidural is at least partly dependent upon gravity so because of my position my left side was way numb but my right was just barely numb.  With the stress on the baby, there was again talk of a c section.  The nurse said that if I did not progress quickly, that would be the end result.  When the nurse was trying to monitor her heart rate and she get got the hiccups again.

Around 4 am Tuesday morning, my doctor checked me.  I was 4 cm and 100% effaced.  I then fell asleep until around 5:30 am.  I was really, really uncomfortable when I woke up and I couldn't stop shaking.  I called the nurse.  Conveniently, the doctor came in right around this time.  I was shocked to learn I was fully dilated and ready to push.

The pushing and delivery part was surprisingly painful even with the epidural.  Fortunately, it went pretty quick.  I started pushing a little after 6 and She Who Must Not Be Named was born at 7:47 am.  When she came out, the nurse remarked that she was a little peanut.  For a bit more excitement, she had an unusually long umbilical cord which was wrapped around her arm, chest, and neck.  This prevented her from being moved to my chest.  (and also likely contributed to her lack of movement in the womb)  There was a definite pause in the room as the doctor and nurses tried to decide what to do.  After some acrobatics on the nurses part, they quickly cut the cord and placed her on my chest.  She didn't pink up as fast as they liked to they soon took her over to the heat lamp.  At this point she started screaming.  Quite a loud cry for such a little peanut.  Sometime during this, some asked what it was.  I answered a girl I hope.  Someone also asked what her name was.  Derek and I looked at each other, and Derek asked how about Maya.  And I think I said sure.

Oh, and she does get the hiccups all the time now, just like in the womb.  It's the cutest thing.

Also, my doctor is the greatest.  He wasn't on call that day, but was still the one to check on me all night and deliver me in the morning before heading to the office.  We had a nursing students there for the pushing and birth.  She told Derek it was her first delivery experience.  Hopefully I didn't freak her out too much.