welcome Philippa Emma Sabine
January 24th, 2010
Pippa made her appearance on December 30, 2009 @ 10:07pm.
She weighed in at 7lbs 14oz — much heftier then I had thought she would be. 19″.
Philippa is because we like the name. Even more, I like her nicknames: Pippa, Pips, Pipster.
Emma was my great-grandmother’s name; it’s also my mother’s middle name.
Sabine is my older sister’s middle name.
My labour was… well, FAST. I thought Maddy’s labour was fast? HA! Try this: 1 hr. One. Hour. Quite frankly, I think it’s a small miracle I a) didn’t have the baby at home or b) have the baby in the ER or c) have the baby in the PEC (Perinatal Evaluation Center).
So, on the 30th I had an OB appointment. I was already annoyed that Pips had not made an appearance as now my entire family had left after the holidays — she was LATE and I was DONE being pregnant. The midwife that I saw that afternoon told me that I was at 4cm and about 80% effaced. WOHOO. I quietly asked if I should try the castor oil “trick”… and I got a very sotto voce answer: yes. 4oz in a chocolate shake. But then the midwife said I should wait until the morning of the 31st to do this; if I did it after my appointment I would be in labour all night and tired by the time the baby arrived. The look on my face then caused her to say: You’re not waiting are you? You have the look of a woman who is desperate.
Damn straight. Hello? The drugstore and the chocolate milk shake place are rightnexttoeachother. There was no way I wasn’t going to do the castor oil right away. So, by 3pm I had downed the concoction and probably within an hour I was having some moderate contractions. And it stayed that was for the rest of the afternoon and evening — definitely having contractions but nothing painful. I entertained my in-laws, we had Chinese take-out for dinner, I put the kids to bed at 8pm.
Shortly past 8pm I lay down in bed and prepared myself to do some Sudoku puzzles and fall asleep. I also started writing down some times of contractions. Not that they were painful, but just in case… between 8 and 9pm I had contractions that ranged from 3 min. apart to 8 min. apart. So: Not regular. Not increasingly painful. Not “progressing”.
At 9:10pm I had a contraction that was accompanied by a “pop”. My water broke. I rounded up the troops (Richard and my mom), Richard called our neighbour down the street to be in the house for M&M (who were asleep) and we headed to the hospital. I was checked in by 9:29pm and WALKED over to the PEC. At the PEC things got interesting. I joked that they were going to send me home! I mentioned that if possible I would like an epidural — at which point I believe the PEC nurse started laughing at me. Then all hell broke loose. She checked me — 8cm. No time for an IV. She called in the doctor and the two of them wheeled me down the hall from the PEC into a labour room. Yes, the DOCTOR wheeled the gurney.
Someone in the labour room (I swear there were like 5 nurses and the doctor, plus of course Richard and my mom were in there — a regular party) then mentioned my request for an epidural. Hello??? I’m done with the hard part — I know how this works, so I responded by yelling “THERE’S NO TIME FOR THAT!!!!” and I promptly started pushing… while I was still on the gurney. Someone asked me while I was pushing if I could move over to the other bed! Right. Don’t know how, but I slid over and immediately pushed 2 more times in the space of about a minute (taking a pause to yell at Richard to get the hell over to the bed and hold my hand! dammit) before Pippa made her arrival at 10:07pm.
Fast.
And there she was:
13 Responses to “welcome Philippa Emma Sabine”
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Hurray! Great story! And so glad you had such an easy time of it after a not-a-walk-in-the-park pregnancy!
She’s adorable.
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Amazing labour story Katia!
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Congratulations! Glad everything worked out for the best in the end. The 3 girls are bound to cause no end of trouble in the future. Take care
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All I know, is that when I ran into you in the hall at the hospital a few days later, you looked *remarkably* fresh for a woman who had just had a baby. Oh, and once she found out that I knew you, the postpartum nurse kept gushing about what a great mom you were.
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freeformkatia Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
@Ann, ha! Which nurse? Hannah? I liked her. BTW, I thought your co-worker Rose was a fabulous nurse!
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Lovely baby! So glad it was quick – must be the best kind.
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Hooray! Welcome Pippa. Beautiful girl & great name.
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Wow – we all thought P would be quick to arrive but this account really brings home how QUICK!! Looking forward to hearing more great tales of all three gals for years to come!
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Congratulations! She’s beautiful.
I particularly love the matching profile shots in the most recent photo grouping.
She’s your girl!
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got my feet back on the ground and miss the three girls terribly! Still ’swaying’ when standing still but, no Baby to rock, sniff. I am amazed how quickly you amended the ‘Musings of an urban Mom’ to include the newcomer – does that mean you have free time on your hands?
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Congratulations!
I just loved your birth story. I completely understand your need to get her out then and there. I am at wits end being this late myself.
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she’s perfect. I can’t wait to get my hands on her. let me know if I can come over and wash windows or something. I know that when there is a newborn in the house and you are staring out a dirty window and you can’t wash it because you don’t have a chance to put your shirt on, tears will come.
I know that for a fact.
Learned it the hard way.
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I never did get a chance to thank you for the name. That’s awesome of you. Love ya, Kir
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