Birth Story: Part 2

Miah, my daughter, is eight months old now. I haven't blogged as much since she was born, and heard it best when a previous manager of mine said, "you never know how easy one is until you have two!" True dat, D.L. : ) Despite busy times and new happenings, certain memories last longer than others. A true birth day is one of those, and I had better write it down before I am an old man and forget.

Miah's birth was a lot different than Hugh's, and in some ways it was a lot alike. During Jess' final weeks of pregnancy it was determined her amniotic fluid levels were low (which was scary) and labor would have to be induced. We knew a few days ahead of time, so it was not a huge surprise to say, "we are heading to the hospital on Saturday." My parents came up to watch Hugh and we were in the delivery room by 7:30am.

Even though I had not been in a hospital for about twenty three months (since Hugh was born), labor was looking very familiar. The beeping heart rate monitor, the contraction-level printer feed, IV bags, nurse visits, etc. Not that I could replicate it myself, but I doubt the hospital's process changed much since last time. One thing that does not change during labor is the pain. My feet were killing me!  . . . Just kidding, of course ; ) Most of the activities in the room are basically distractions from the contractions, and in a weird twist the more pain Jess was in meant the closer we were to delivery time. We'd walk around the hallway, bounce on a peanut ball (mainly Jess), sit down, lie down, stand up or call the nurse to wonder if it was time yet. Different this go around were the popsicles, a nice mid-labor treat (for both of us!). Nurses were checking vitals, of mom and baby, very often and since everyone was healthy, our time was a big countdown, except the finish line is always unknown.

The final few minutes went by in a hurry. The doctor was not in the hospital during all the waiting time, (could you imagine that bill?!!), so when things were progressing at the end our nurses kept saying, "just wait until the doctor gets here. Hold it in there." Now, after nine plus months of baby-carrying and hours of increasing-frequency contractions, along with drugs to induce labor and whatever hormones are ramped up during child birth, I thought Jess was rather polite to them : ) When the doctor arrived, she had her out in about two pushes. All six pounds, twelve ounces, and twenty inches of her. And the "her" part was a big deal - Himmelberger boys have not produced a girl in generations! 

Oh, and the name. While we were engaged, Jess and I were following the same plan to read the Bible in a Year, and were both encouraged and wowed by Nehemiah (he has his own book in the OT). We decided we could not use that name for any boys we might have, but "Maya"/"Mya" was a nice sounding name and we used the spelling. Her middle name was based on her two grandmothers, who both have the middle name Ann(e). So Miah Anne it is! I got to hold Miah after the weighing and footprints, but the post-delivery recovery was much faster for Jess this time, so I had to share more than with Hugh. Just precious, little babies are amazing. And all the visitors, first being my family and big brother Hugh, thought so too : )