after thoughts

What I don't want to forget:

Quotes from Gene on delivery day:

"Waiting for you to go into labor is like watching paint dry."

"You know what the best part of having a newborn is? Looking forward to changing those black, tar-like diapers. Fun."

"Fintan was pretty ugly when he came out. I was worried. His head was all squished weird. I wanted to squish it back just to make sure we didn't end up with an ugly duckling for Baby #3."

Quotes from our delivery nurses and Dr.:

"I put your pitocin up to 30 now.  We usually don't ever put it past 20 for our patients.  Usually all our pregnant women go intensely into labor after beginning pitocin.  I've read about patients like you in my nursing textbooks.  The pitocin must block your pain receptors.  That is very rare." --Nurse Natalie

"I've never had a patient ask so nicely for an epidural before.  You're still smiling.  Usually my patients are in such pain that they can barely talk when asking for an epidural." --Nurse Treacy

"You're still smiling.  Sorry to say this but we don't want to see you smiling.  We want you to be in pain.  When Dr. Apgar comes in don't smile."  --Nurse Traecy

"We're all rubbing our heads as to why you're taking so long, Renee.  We don't know why you've been stuck at 4cm all day.  I'm starting to run through things in my mind so I'm prepared for what could happen, like extensive bleeding after giving birth.  We should be prepared for hemorraging."  --Dr. Apgar

"Completion.  Thank goodness. Let's get ready to start pushing."  --Dr. Apgar  (He didn't really say that I was at 10cm....just "completion."  Ahhh...music to my ears!)

Funny moments:

When the baby came out, Gene and I immediately saw the male parts and knew our baby was a boy...except for the fact that Dr. Apgar exclaimed, "It's a girl!"  We exchanged confused looks while Dr. Apgar said again, "I mean it's a boy!  Oh, man!  I'm so sorry!  That's a horrible mistake for me to make!  I didn't look carefully enough.  I really did get an "A" in Health class."

Dr. Apgar had talked to us earlier in the day about what a HUGE baseball fan he is.  During delivery, Gene had on ESPN and there were baseball updates.  Gene and Dr. Apgar were catching glimpses of the games in between pushes.  We (nurse, Dr., Gene, me) were just all standing around waiting for the next contraction so I could try pushing again and I said...

Renee: See Dr. Apgar.  We are just trying to accomodate you by having this on TV for you to watch.  (Right then an e-harmony commercial came on)

Dr. Apgar:  You mean the e-harmony or ESPN?

Renee: No, the ESPN baseball highlights.

Dr. Apgar: Yeah!  It's a great distraction for me so that we're not just standing around here staring at you and making you feel uncomfortable inbetween contractions.

After-birth conversation:

Gene: Renee made a shirt that has August 9th on it for the baby's birthday.  It figures that the baby came on August 10th.  We didn't expect that one!

Dr. Apgar: You know, that will be even funnier to see the baby wearing a shirt with a big "X" mark over the 9th and the 10th circled with a marker.

Renee:  Yeah, it's called The Big Prank.  We're used to it.