| Well, these are a lot of pictures of me, but they go along with Sophie's birth story, which began Sunday. January 5th at 6:30 PM---water broke just as the pizza delivery guy arrived! The baby wasn't due until January 9th and I had been convinced that she'd be born a few days after the due date. Murphy's Law: the hospital is located more than an hour's drive from our home, and it was a snowy night. |
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| After two days of pain and severe lack of energy, I was suddenly feeling much better. Having no clue that I was about to go into labor, I asked Sean to take "one last late-pregnancy photo." Late that afternoon, I called my parents (who were by then on a daily update schedule) to report that nothing was happening. About two hours later, I was calling them again to let them know that we were on our way to the hospital! |
Yes, Sean took a picture midway through packing the car! |
Here I am, about half an hour after my water broke, sending emails to friends, family and work. Sean was amazed (not really in a good way), hence the photo. |
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| Very nice labor and delivery suite at Howard County General Hospital. Sean was able to get some sleep (in between coaching labor and cutting the cord) on a little pull-out sofabed. |
I'm smiling. Clearly, this was before the pitocin, epidural, the oxygen... |
After 12.5 hours of labor, Sophie was born at 6:56 AM. (Much relieved, it was an easy delivery despite some unpromising factors.) I tried hard not to cry as I held her for the first time. She was so much tinier than I had expected, and of course she was beautiful! |
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