Meet Maxine {4.9.11}

Would it be strange to say that a day full of pain was one of the best of my life? 'Cause it was.

I will say that my labor officially started on Friday morning (4.8) at 2:30 when I could no longer sleep through contractions that had begun. I knew that the road would be long to actually meet our baby but I was excited. I woke Derek to tell him. Neither of us slept much past this point. I dozed between contractions until Cole woke up around 7. We made phone calls: to Na so she could come pick Cole up and Julie (our doula) to let her know that things were beginning.

Friday was a long day. I used Derek's iphone and an app he had downloaded to time my contractions. I was pretty consistently contracting between 7-10 mintues all day long. Derek used his nervous energy to work in the yard and I napped most of the day between contractions. We walked Rural King too....and ran to the pharmacy to pick up my prenatal vitamins to find (after nearly an hour on the phone with unsurance, human resources, etc.) that my flex spending account was not active during my maternity leave....but oh well.

Derek and I decided to eat dinner at Applebee's - knowing that dining out options would be limited by a three year old AND infant very soon. My contractions picked up when I was on the move all day. We came home to call Julie and check in. She suggested rest until my contractions started to get closer together. So, back to rest/sleep between contractions I went. Derek tried to sleep also.

I kept the iphone close and timed the start and end of each and every pain. I slept and peed in intervals until around 3am Saturday morning when the pain was really picking up with each contraction and the timer told me that I was averaging 3 1/2 minutes between contractions. It was time to go....

Derek grabbed coffee and all of our bags. He kept his cool and got us to the hospital by 4. Julie met us there.  I was thrilled to find that I was dilated to 6 cm when we arrived.  This was a huge accomplishment and gave me confidence, showed me that we were doing the right thing. 

Derek was totally amazing.  He was tuned in to my pain, could see a contraction coming, and responded perfecectly every time!  Julie was great too.  She helped us to find positions that might help move things along and checked in with me frequently to see where my head was. 

We walked, did the "lift and tuck," squatted against the wall, hands and knees, etc....we tried it all!  6 hours after arriving at the hospital my cervix had not done much.  I got very discouraged around 10:30 when Julie and my nurse, Paula, started talking about how we could get things moving.  My doctor had called to see what was going on and why things weren't progressing.  I knew that there would soon be talk of interventions.  Julie and Paula suggested "nipple stimulation" to amp up my oxytocin production.  Julie went down to get breakfast and left me to "wind them like a watch...."

Within 10 minutes of nipple stimulation I had three hard contractions and my water broke.  I have no concept of time at this point, but feel like things moved very fast.  As soon as my water broke Derek called the nurse, I texted Julie, and the nurse made the call to my doctor.  Go time!

I yelled.  

Paula got in my face and made me focus.  I didn't want to focus.  It hurt and I wanted to yell about it.  Eventually I complied and got with the program. 

It took no time to feel pressure and burning.  I started pushing and felt progress quickly.  I could feel the baby go from "up high" (the "high" that had scared me the day before) to down...and out.

This photo makes me so happy for my kids, their daddy loves them so much.

Indescribable.  Derek got to announce "it's a girl!"  There are no words for the joy that we felt in these moments.

Maxine Archer Leigh Albracht was born at 11:21am weighing in at 8lb 6oz and 21 inches long. 

She looked just like her Daddy when she was born (this has already changed!). 

We could not be happier with her presence in our family and the experience we had with her arrival.

Welcome, Maxine.  We love you so much.