She cried..........

Here I am on Wednesday July 4th, 2012 - Independence Day!  I am 39 weeks and 5 days along in this picture and am smiling in between contractions.  Andy and Beau and I had gone down to Hudson for dinner with my parents and during the drive I was pretty sure I was having fairly consistent contractions, but hey, I wasn't going to miss my mom's homemade strawberry pie!

After dinner I got out of doing dishes by sharing with everyone that I was having contractions!  I called the hospital and we got there around 6:30 PM and so it began......

Yep - that's pain - thanks mom for this flattering shot!

My labor nurse Tina charting away!

We were hoping for a 4th of July firecracker baby!  We figured for the first few years at least we would let her believe the fireworks were for her in honor of her birthday.  I was going to have to labor quite fast if we were to get her to arrive before midnight!  I was finally officially admitted by 7:45 that evening and my mom and dad arrived at the hospital to be an extra support system.



Things were going well.  They were getting strong doses of antibiotics in me (to help with the strep B), the fluids were being pushed into me (to help with my low blood pressure and enable me to get the epidural) and labor was progressing well.  Once I got the epidural I felt great and could have kissed the cute little old Chinese anesthesiologist. 

As midnight approached and I was at 9 cm, 100% effaced and my water had yet to break, we knew we wouldn't have our 4th of July firecracker.  The four of us, dad, mom, Andy and I decided since we now knew she'd be born on July 5th we would place bets about her weight.  My guess was 8 lbs 15 oz, Andy's guess, 8 lbs 2 oz, grandma's guess was 9 lbs 3 oz and grandpas guess was 10 lbs 2 oz.  I immediately told my dad to shut his mouth for saying such a large baby and we all had a good laugh at him and his dumb guess!  How would I deliver such a big girl?  Plus the doctor had guessed that baby girl would weigh around 8 lbs.  I had gained a total of 30 lbs with this pregnancy and hadn't gained any weight the last 3 weeks - she couldn't be too big. 

Shortly after midnight, Tina checked me and during her check the water broke.  Panic started to set in for me as I had flashbacks to Beau's delivery and the meconium.  Tina told me the fluid was clear - blessing!  I told her to get the doctor there quick because I go fast.  I quickly we to 10 cm and was ready to push.  Doc got there and at around 12:45 AM I began to push.  Three contractions and 9 pushes later, at 12:58 AM, Delaney Grace Weichers was born.

And she cried.

It was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard.  Doc's face was quite memorable as he said, "Look at those cheeks", "wow, look at those chins" and then "wow, she's a big baby!".  The nurses response was a quick, "Doc she's huge!".  I laughed and smiled as they laid my crying baby on my chest - something I'd never gotten to experience with Beau.

Pure joy and relief - God's miracle.

Now you understand why Doc talked about her cheeks and chins!

I held her and kissed her and said my thank you to God for a safe delivery and a crying baby.  She looked healthy to me.  Everyone just kept commenting about her size - at the time I just thought she looked healthy, looking back at the pictures - well.....she looks huge!  Next came the moment of truth.....the scale....who would win the bet???

Guessing her weight right on the money - my dad, Delaney's grandpa Ron!  We had teased him and said there was NO WAY I would have that big of a baby.  As they weighed her and said her weight my parents were standing outside the door.  From a distance I hear dad say very matter of fact, "I told you so." Delaney Grace Weichers weighed in at 10 lbs 2 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long.  And no, I didn't have gestational diabetes - she was just big.  When dad and mom came back into the room we all looked at dad and said, "How did you know she would be that big and how did you guess dead on?!"  My father, a retired carpenter gave us a response that was priceless, "I've seen a lot of pregnant women."  What the???  We laughed so hard.  After all these years of doing construction projects on homes who knew you were moonlighting as an OBGYN. 

I had requested from our pediatrician that once Delaney was born we wanted to have an ultrasound done of her head while we were still in the hospital.  I didn't want any surprises down the road.  If she was missing her corpus callosum I wanted to know right away.  They performed the ultrasound and I saw the prettiest brain I'd ever seen with the most complete corpus callosum - a corpus callosum that I'd only seen in books and in internet pictures.  It was all there - praise God. 

The doctors did notice a heart murmur so they did an echo and determined she has a small VSD.  The cardiologist said that it shouldn't be an issue for her and that hopefully by age 5, it will close itself up. 

Big brother Beau was so happy to meet his baby sister.  He is, as I had known he would be, an amazing big brother.  My very special and loving little boy will be Ms. Delaney's best friend and protector.  Below is their first meeting.

I think this picture says it all.  How could I not feel blessed and lucky to have two amazing little beings in my life? 

It has been exactly 8 weeks ago that Delaney entered our family and I am finally feeling like we have some sort of a pattern and new "normal" happening.  Beau continues to be such a wonderful big brother and while we've had some trying days, we are adjusting well and loving our family of four.



Delaney - 8 weeks old

 Above is a recent picture of Delaney - 8 weeks old today.  She now weighs 14 lbs 2 oz and is 24 1/4 inches long.