Introducing Mie Ka'imi Temple

It's been 12 weeks since I fell in love with the newest member of our family, Mie Ka'imi Temple. For nine months I thought about what it would be like to have a daughter, dreaming about holding her tiny, fragile body while also trying not to think about it....just in case. It's a strange thing to love someone you haven't met. Fear and anticipation swirl together and make it difficult to breathe. Though the rib kicking probably has more to do with that. And then the day arrives.

With Iz only having one official week off, I kept coaching my baby girl that she needed to come on Friday evening or Saturday but no later. Considering Keahi was a week late and Jarom was induced on my due date with no dilatation or effacement, some might have been skeptical of my plan. But a friend who'd delivered her baby with hypnobirthing told me she had done the same thing. Successfully. And so did I.

That Friday morning at the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner stretched me to 4cm and asked if I wanted her to break my water. I emphatically declined. A little later sporadic contractions started and I kept telling my sweet baby Not yet, Not yet. Jarom and I enjoyed our regular park day with his class; the other moms were impressed that I was so relaxed while being at a 4. Afterwards, we went home and I cleaned up and did the floors, which seemed to increase the contractions so I lay down to slow it down. But by 4pm I decided it was time to get my husband home.

Of course, he can't just up and leave in the middle of everything but he made pretty good time, arriving home at about 5:30. We dropped off the boys at my visiting teacher's house (thank goodness for good ol vts), and rushed to the hospital--which is thankfully only 5 minutes away. We parked--not all that close to the entrance--and eventually discovered where we were supposed to go to sign in and do triage. After paperwork, urine sample, gown change, and monitors set up we had to wait an hour for them to decide how well I was progressing before they'd admit me. I heard a lot of groaning and grunting around me but I felt pretty comfortable and when they asked me my pain level I said maybe 3 or 4. In retrospect, that was probably a bad idea since at 7pm they sent me home. They said that because I was doing a natural birth there was no reason for me to be here until the contractions lated more than a minute and were 2 minutes apart. Ummmmmm....does that seem fishy to anybody else? My third kid and I'm supposed to wait till when? Ooooookay....So I changed back and we headed home where I lay on my couch doing my hypnobirthing breathing and Iz kept a steady supply of hot towels on me.

For two hours.

That's it. After two hours, I insisted we head back to the hospital. The nurse that had sent me home with a cheerful hope-we-see-you-back-tonight was in for a surprise to see me back so soon. This time around, walking to the car was almost impossible and that five minute drive seemed like an hour. Walking into the (wrong) entrance was unbearable and forget about relaxing breathing techniques. I was barely holding on while Iz ran around searching for a wheelchair to take me back up to triage. Bless him, the only one he found had only one arm rest and no place for my feet so I had to hold them up while he rushed me about. That same nurse ever so calmly instructed me to provide yet another urine sample, change, and get into a bed so she could hook up the monitors again. I tried to tell her I needed a room now but she had to follow procedure. Well, when she finally got around to checking me her tune suddenly changed to one of panic. Now it was all FIND HER A ROOM! CALL THE DOCTOR! And they rushed me out of triage and into a birthing room. Having had epidurals in the past, I had never experienced the need to bear down. Until then. I didn't care that they said to wait. I didn't care that they kept shoving papers in front of me to sign--seriously?now? I didn't care about anything other than I had to push. And ten minutes from the time I was checked at triage, our baby girl was born. The doctor got there just in time to catch her head which was already out and help slide her out. After that I was basically lost to the world. I think Iz said he had to check to make sure I was still breathing. I faintly heard someone say congratulations and what a beautiful baby girl and I felt when they put her on my chest; but I really couldn't move a muscle. I think I was barely conscious. Don't remember ever seeing the doctor at all before he was out the door. My signature on the rest of the paper work was only slightly less shaky than the one I HAD to sign before pushing. But when I did recover my senses, I saw my perfect angel.

Mie Ka'imi Temple was born at 10:30pm on Friday, January 13th, weighing just 6lb 14oz and 19inches long. And she's perfect. No, really.

Because I wasn't in the hospital long enough to receive a full dose of the antibiotics (yet another reason they should have let me stay the first time), we had to stay a full 48 hours so they could watch Mie and make sure she wasn't infected. Melissa and Beth watched the boys all weekend for us while we got acquainted with our newest joy. I think we were pretty sick of hospital (and the food) by the time they let us go late Sunday night. Especially the boys who were brought to us at lunch time and had to hang out in the hospital room for about 8 hours or so. But how can anyone be board with this little one around. Of course, Keahi pretty much played on the iphone the whole time. I guess he's over being a big brother since he's been one for years. But Jarom has been thrilled in his new role and I'm so proud of the way he looks out for her. I love my family.