Edylene Bennet Goodglass

I am taking advantage of a sleepy beautiful baby and the fact that I was able to shower this morning and feel like a somewhat normal person in order to say "Hello!" from the House at Fellows.  What an experience the past 10 days have been.  As much as you try to prepare for parenthood (!) over the 9 or so months of pregnancy, there is NO WAY (cliche though it may sound) to fully ready yourself for the extravaganza surrounding birth and those first days/weeks back at home.  Our catchphrase for pretty much everything that went on from packing for the hospital, going through all the stages of labor (no, you do not magically arrive at "10 cm dilated!" and then give a few quick pushes like they show in the movies), to the roles played by the amazing Birth Place nurses and doctors, to the PHYSICAL let alone emotional toll of giving birth (for both Jesse and I) was "WE HAD NO IDEA."  As in, (in the words of Momma Woodford) "You don't know what you don't know."  So, without further ado, our Birth Story . . .minus a few of the more graphic details ;)

We checked into Labor and Delivery on Thursday July 29th and 4pm to begin the induction process.  We decided along with our baby doctor (Dr "Mac") that Miss Eddy B had cooked for a bit too long, gotten a bit too cozy inside the womb.  Her last ultrasound had measured her at 8 lbs 12 oz and even though these things can be off by up to 1.5 lbs in either direction (that's a 3 pound spread!), if we waited another full week before inducing we'd have to get another ultrasound, and if she ended up showing up as a 10 lbs baby, then we'd end up having to go the C-section route automatically. I'm sure different hospitals/physicians have different policies about when is too soon/too late to induce, how big is too big - this was the dealyo for our situation. 

Two doses of a "cervical ripener" (ok, I guess we're getting a LITTLE graphic here!) got my contractions going around 11:00pm or so - strong enough that I had to abandon any hope of getting any rest that night.  And so began the long journey on the way towards getting me to "10 cm dilated, fully effaced" before we could even start the pushing part of getting Edylene out into the world!  On this journey, I labored in a bed, I labored in a tub, I labored on my back, on a ball, on my side, in the hall!  Ok, enough Seussical rhyming . . . through it all Jesse was there, holding my hand, breathing with me, patient and encouraging.  We found that one of the best positions for me was with my arms around  his neck, the two of us rocking back and forth like a very painful, very sweet little slow dance.  By 6am I was at 9.5 cm!  We thought the end was near!  Even Dr Mac thought we'd have a baby born in the next hour . . . .fast forward to 11:30am - I was STILL at 9.5 cm even after 5 1/2 hours of contractions and a round of Pitocin!  We were exhausted and the news that we had made zippo progress was very discouraging - it was time to call in the reinforcements in the form of Momma Lo!  As our "back up" labor coach, Mom had come up to the house the night before and when she got the SOS from Jesse at 11:30, she hustled over to the Birth Place.  Having a Mama in the room must have done the trick because Jesse  only got a 15 minute break before it was time to actually start pushing! 

So here is the part where I naively thought that once I started pushing, she'd be out in a few minutes - an hour tops.  At 1.5 hours I was negotiating with Dr Mac to keep going only to 2 hours.  At 2 1/2 hours, I was calling for the surgeon!  But we were so close for so long that even the C-section guy didn't want me to give up.  The last hour was a blur of 2 steps forward, one step back; a roomful of nurses, residents, support people (did I mention that modesty had flown out the window about 15 hours previously??); my body going through contortions I didn't know I could do and tapping into energy reserves I didn't know I had.  Finally, FINALLY at 3:45pm on Friday July 30, 2010, Miss Edylene Bennet Goodglass popped (literally) her head into the world.  About 2 seconds later the rest of her came out too and in a moment she was crying and resting on my chest and Jesse and I had our hands on her, for the first time putting a face to whoever had been inside me for the past 9 months - it was bewildering for her to so suddenly be present and on the scene :) She weighed 7 lbs, 9 oz and measured 20 1/2 inches.  She had decided to come out the hard way, in a "posterior" position which put the widest part of her head through one of the smaller parts of my pelvis - way to give your Mama a work out, Kid!

Throughout the birthing process and our post-partum care, the nurses and physicians at St Jo's - BOTH Labor and Delivery and the Birth Place - were amazing.  They bent over backwards to make us as comfortable as possible, gave us much needed rest our first two nights with Edylene, and packed as many mom, dad, and baby teaching points into our brief stay as possible!  We owe them all a big basket of Morning Glory muffins . . .

Bottom line, all three of us are home, happy, and healthy.  We are also exhausted, hormonal, and slugging it through a steep learning curve.  Every day gets a little better, a little less mystifying, a little more natural.  The whole "sleep when the baby sleeps" only seems to apply if you don't plan on eating, getting dressed, or peeing yourself!  With me physically and emotionally out of commission this past week or so, Jesse has been the ambassador for the House at Fellows: taking calls from relatives, relaying news to the neighbors, not to mention doing all the driving, cooking, laundry, and general house maintenance (not to mention more than his fair share of diapers and baby-crisis-management) while I've been a hermit - it was a big step to leave our bear cave of a bedroom just to get downstairs to the couch for Netflix the other night!

Also bringing a sense of sanity to the past week or so has been the parade of support people - big big thanks to Grandparents Steeves and Woodfords and Auntie Nally for a bounty of food, house cleaning, baby rocking, and loads of love and encouragement.  We love you guys!  All three of us are so lucky to have you all (that means you, dear Readers) in our lives.

Well that's it for now.  This post marks the first of many MANY that will star Miss Eddy B.  We can't wait to share pictures, stories, frustrations and triumphs (who knew we'd be cheering at the sight of a poop-filled diaper!?!).


Love, love, love - Caitlin, Jesse, and Edylene