And the Winning Name is...

Charlotte Nichole Millar Born Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 4:06pm
7 lbs 11 oz, 20 1/4 inches long

Its officially going on the birth cert... and it suits her, I think. We choose "Nichole" after Charlotte's aunt (my little sister) Marissa Nichole, with whom she now shares a birthday.

The Birth Story: -- feel free to skip ahead
As you know from the last post, we had a bit of a "surprise" induction on Tuesday. In a nutshell, here's the time log Boz kept of it:

1:30 - break water
1:45 - Start IV
2:50 - Start pitocin
3:35 - ask for drugs (7 cm)
3:40 - 9 cm
///wait for doctor
4:06 - born

My elaboration:
We checked in around 1pm. My doctor came to check me before we did anything at 1:30- I was at a 4 and he "poked" me to break my water. So I was basically very ready to go, so that was good (and expected....like I've said I had PLENTY of pre-labor prep). Due to my history of going fast (with the help of pitocin anyway) I was first started on IV and penicillin to make sure I had that in my system before starting pitocin. The Dr. wanted me to start the epidural early on to avoid a "Jack labor" repeat. -- With Jack I asked for the epidural way to late. I was ready to push before I even had enough IV fluid to allow one, but since my Dr. was 15 minutes away they gave me one anyway. And I was too out of it and freaked out by then to refuse. In order to get it to me faster they got a new guy who had never done one in the position (side lying) I was in with contraction that close together... the result: a NASTY spinal headache from him puncturing me which was only cleared up by a spinal blood patch (where they draw your blood and reinsert it into the epidural spot to patch the hole) over a week later and the blood patch resulted in back pain that kept me flat for days. Needless to say, it sucked and I didn't want that to happen again.

(1 hour before delivery)

By 2:50 they started me on pitocin and I talked "pain relief" with the nurse, because I wasn't so sure about an epidural for obvious reasons. I decided when the time came I'd try IV drugs first. The time came at 3:35 :). I had only had about 5 or 6 contractions since starting the pitocin, but each one was quite a bit stronger than the last, so I wanted to make sure I didn't ask to late again. Before getting the IV drugs the nurse wanted to check me during a contraction... yep still getting a lot stronger with each one, so I was starting to feel a little alarmed, I was at a 6-7ish she said. She left and I had an even stronger one that I felt some "bearing down" with. Ok, so I know how this goes, I was starting to getting very alarmed at this point since no nurse had ever taken us very seriously about this rapid progression thing. Well, thank goodness one finally did: She came back at 3:40 and started prepare my IV drugs and somewhat jokingly asked "no pushing contractions yet, right?". My answer "well actually..."- She got wide eyed and checked me... I was at a 9 and she set off some alarm...

The next contraction sent me over the top with the urge to push and I knew it was too late for anything, but holding on till the end. Back-up came into the room and they called my Dr. (who was much closer than mine with Jack was, thank goodness). After the next contraction I asked if the pitocin was off. It wasn't so we took care of that ASAP, which at least did help with each contraction not being ridiculously stronger than the last. My nurse set about, stretching me (the burning didn't seem that bad compared to everything else) and trying to keep me calm and not "blast" Charlotte out (as she kept saying). Um, yeah, that's hard. I just kept thinking "doctor, doctor, he'll be here soon, hold on" as the nurse called for nursery twice and said "we're having this baby any second". I'm pretty sure I convinced her that she just might be delivering this baby.At 4pm my Dr. walked in. HALLELUJAH! He walked over and just as another contraction began, he started adjusting his stool and I thought "AH! SIT DOWN Doc, she's a comin'!". He did, thank goodness, and gave me some little snips. I was instantly bummed 'cause I thought by your 3rd your chances for not tearing are pretty good, but I guess not with babies that want to "blast" out. It was odd, because while the snips were not at all pleasant, they were almost welcome. Like a distraction from the other pain. After that contraction and before the next the Dr. had me push to ease her out. That felt MUCH better and with the next contraction I had to resist again as he kept saying "take it easy, take it easy", but I just couldn't fully resist and gave in to the urge and POW. I felt the crown of her head "pop" and a HUGE rush of satisfaction and relief came as I felt the rest of her just instantly slither through. It was 4:06pm.
Sorry if that was too graphic, but this whole birthing thing is pretty stinkin' amazing. I expected more pain to come with delivering the placenta and everything, but I didn't notice in comparison and I had my sweet Charlotte on my stomach ( and not in it...ahhh). She hardly made a peep and was just looking around. Just then I got really dizzy and felt like I was on laughing gas. Turns out that was the IV drugs kicking in... hahahaha. Great. Thankfully those wore off in an hour, I got to hold and nurse Charlotte and my dinner came :).... Not a bad afternoon, I'd say.

My favorite thing of all that afternoon was watching Boz. He claims he's not really into the "newborn phase" (understandable) and while he loves his kids, its much better for daddy when they get to a more playful state :), but I'll tell you if you could see the look of pure admiration and love on his face when he peers at his children for the first time, you'd know better. That look can't fool me, he adores his Charlotte. And I'm quite fond of the moments I've been frequently getting that look too.

I had to giggle when I first saw Charlotte, cause already she's proving to want to be just like her big sister :)
Nice crooked noses, eh?

Charlotte's Home:

Since all was well with the two of us, Charlotte and I got the go ahead to go home the next day. We got home around 4pm on Wednesday (would have been more like noon if we could have gotten my non-existent nurse to see us once in a while. Not to bad mouth nurses, I love and appreciate them all, and my nighttime nurse was awesome, but this one just wasn't so much. It was REALLY good to get home and finally get some real rest and see what Charlotte's temperament is really like when she's not getting poked and prodded.

Charlotte, or Charlie as Elyette likes to call her, is a very sweet and calm baby. She doesn't cry a whole lot and when she does she seems to calm herself quite well for a newborn. She's much more patient than her 2 older siblings were :). I hope that doesn't change. She likes to listen to her family's voices and has given her mommy a 5 hour stretch of sleep 2 nights in a row (and from about 12:30pm-5:30am both times). Lets pray that keeps up!
Jack and Elyette couldn't be more pleased with her. Jack just coos at the sight of her "oooo, her cute ... cute ears, cute eyes, crooked nose" (haha). His favorite is to play "she eating me" with her and likes to sit nose to nose just staring at her. He's very sweet with her and I foresee a very protective big brother in Charlotte's future.
Elyette is of course the second mommy we knew she would be for Charlotte. And to an extent I wasn't anticipating. She even pesters me to wake her up to feed her when she thinks Charlotte's hungry. Apparently its "Elyette Mommy" who knows best, not me :). Elyette will even loose sleep to watch her and wait to hold her. Newborn feedings are long and boring I'd say, but Elyette will be there every moment. Supervising probably. Its hard to get her to do much else than just looking at and talking to Charlotte. She also likes to read to her and tell her stories. It was Sleeping Beauty she told her in this pic (she pretended the card was a book)Aside from Jack and Elyette fighting over who gets to sit closer to Charlotte (and what to call her, etc.) its been very fun watching the 3 of them together. I love my sweet little family!

Thank you all for your love and prayers. We're doing GREAT!