Thursday, December 10, 2009

Emiko Leila Ayer, Age 20 hrs


Emiko is here!

The following is a pretty detailed description of her birth. Not for the squeamish. :-)

We decided to induce labor so that she could be born well before my parents needed to return home. I knew it would be a lengthy process; it wasn't a short one by any means last time around, and I was definitely 'in labor' when I showed up at GWU Hostpital to deliver Mayumi.

So, we checked in at 7am and by about 1pm I was experiencing quite painful contractions. I was advanced enough to make me think that I could hold on and have a 'natural' birth (although why I thought of doing that after having been induced I have no idea...). But by the time I was 'at a seven' I was in agony. If the doctor thought it could be any minute then I may have held on longer. But the positioning of Emiko's head suggested that I had some ways to go. We ordered the epidural but had it turned on 'light'--allowing me to still feel the peak of the contractions. I was still in pain but it was do-able.
Finally it was time to push. This was (by far) the worst part for me last time; I had no idea that it could take so long (it took well over an hour last time...much longer than the three pushes they show in the movies). I had been discouraged and even angered by everyone's instructions (push harder!) or encouragement (just one more like that, good job!) because it JUST DIDN'T SEEM TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Well--I ended up feeling the same way this time. Once again, I started to cry when tons of pushing seemed to yield no results and just further instructions.

But alas--it WAS faster this time. I started once, took a break, and then she was born after 25 additional minutes of pushing. Last time, Mayumi was crowing for many minutes and many pushes....but Emiko came right out more or less after she crowned. That is, she came out and got a little stuck (V. PAINFUL), but eventually made her way through.
She weighed in at 7lbs6ozs, almost one pound heavier than Mayumi! Wow. I knew she'd be larger...she felt heavier. She is 20 inches. Dark, short hair (not as much as Mayumi had) and that glorious natural suntan.

And now we have her! I feel just fine--more or less back to normal. She is sleeping, nursing, etc. We are authorized to stay in the hostpital for two nights but I'd like to go home today. It isn't very restful having someone barging in every five minutes, and I can't WAIT for Mayumi to meet her baby sister.

There you have it! We have a few pictures and a video for you to enjoy. Naturally, more will come! (But not necessarily soon...I may not have ANY time now for blogging...we'll see).


12 comments:

moneek said...

ADORABLE! xoxo

Rob, Adrienne, Sam, Ada and Tony said...

That's great news! Congrats on the arrival of your beautiful girl.

Meg said...

oh! she is BEAUTIFUL. gotta love childbirth!

Lindsay said...

I love her!

rosalieayer@hotmail.com said...

Emi is absolutely perfect! ...just like our other precious little girl =)

Cristi Johnson said...

you two certainly have beautiful children. omedetou!

Andrew said...

Hil, Emiko is beautiful, and you are amazing. Congratulations!

Also, it says Andrew said this, but it's really Johanna.

Nancy said...

Congratulations!

Good pushing! ;) I agree about the coaching part. I actually screamed, "I AM PUSHING!" to my doctor this time around. I was getting soooo annoyed with him. :)

Emiko's beautiful and I'm sure her big sister will love and adore her!

Perry Family said...

I love the video, she is so sweet yawning and rooting! Congratulations! I am so glad it went a smidge easier this time around! Labor & delivery is NO fun (I can't believe I have to do it a third time come Spring....ugh!)

Our Pratt Pack said...

Oh she's beautiful!! And you cut all your hair off it's really cute!

Unknown said...

oh man, isnt it just incredible how darn cute they are!! congrats, im so glad it went well. and well done on waiting so long for drugs and taking light dosage. im thoroughly impressed.

Lindy said...

congrats, Hil! She's precious!