Isn't she lovely!

There are so many Meredith moments I want to remember that I decided to write them down here. Today, I am remembering the day Meredith was born.

I finished my last day of work on Tuesday September 15th. I had plans with all my clients- homework assignments to do in my absence and reiterations to call/email if needed while I was on leave. I expected to go have Meredith on Friday thinking she would be born 2 days early (due date September 20th), just like Joel. Well, my pregnancy brain forgot that I actually went into labor with Joel 4 days early...but that's another story.

3:00am, Wednesday September 16th, I awoke with pains. I didn't even consider they were labor pains because I was planning to go into labor on Friday. I thought it was heartburn. I got up and went on the computer. When the pains continued, I considered it a possibility it was labor, and began cleaning because Merwyn's parents would be staying with Joel while I gave birth. I took a few Tums, and when nothing got better, I decided it must be labor. That may sound ignorant, but with both Joel and Meredith my contractions never followed a predictable or consistent pattern, even when we were headed to the hospital.

I had a regularly scheduled OB appt at 9:30am, so Merwyn and I headed off. Lisa confirmed that I was dilated to about a 3, and she hesitantly said that she thought it probably would be quicker this time. You'd understand if you knew Joel's birth story! We went home and Merwyn called his parents who live about 50 minutes away. We decided to wait until they arrived since they didn't have a key and they don't have experience with using a keypad to open a garage door.

We got to the hospital around 11:10-11:15am. Merwyn dropped me off while he parked the car. Seemed to take him forever to come back- probably 10 minutes. We went upstairs and were ushered into triage after a short wait. Throughout the morning, the pains were intense. It was never like this when I was in labor with Joel. Probably why he took so long to be born. The nurse in triage checked me and said I was at a 5. She asked if I wanted an epideral and, despite my desire to go natural, I said yes right away! Two minutes later, Meredith was coming!

The nurse began to rush around, other people came in, lots of energy! A woman came in...I call her the cheerleader. "Hi, my name is Shelly! What's your name?" Seriously?! Turns out, she is an OB and the 2 mom's she was working with weren't progressing. She saw all the action in the hallway and came rushing it. Good thing too. The doc on call was on another floor and didn't make it to triage until Meredith was already born. I call him the chatter. From the time I arrived in triage to the time Meredith was born they told me was 10 minutes. Yup. Lisa was right- this one was quicker! Lisa did finally arrive...right after they wheeled Meredith out.

Meredith had blue hands and feet when she was born. I didn't even see her before they wheeled her to the NICU. They assured me she was good though. It was about 3 hours later that I was able to see her. We walked into the NICU, were directed to her bed, and I looked upon a very familiar face...it was Joel's baby face. I expected her to look completely different because of her Down syndrome. Merwyn wasn't so sure, so I asked him to bring Joel's baby book to the hospital. He had to agree then. Then I asked the NICU nurse, Marie, what was going on and what they were doing for Meredith. It was time for Meredith's mommy to start taking care of her!