Clara's Birth

CLARA'S STORY

... by the way... this post isn't 2 weeks late. She was 2 weeks early!

As you may know, Emily has had low platelet problems during this pregnancy as she did with Adelaide. As a result, she was scheduled to be induced on May 11th. Evidently we should have run that plan by Clara first. Emily put in a long, hard day of work this Wednesday 5/4 and stirred Clara up. Around midnight that night Emily started having contractions. Around 3:45 or so, she woke me up... with resistance. Nah, it couldn't be time yet... right? Let's time the contractions. Contractions were about a minutes long, about 2 minutes apart. Oh... Time to call the on-call OB service, call Greta, and yes, time to head to the hospital. Emily had her things packed, but I was scrambling. This was 2 weeks before she was due and a week before she was scheduled for induction. Why should I have been packed? Clothes - check, ipod with Emily's music - check, Texas dirt - check. "Ben! Don't forget the carseat base!" I throw the carseat and base in the car, strip the cover and throw it in the wash. It hadn't been washed since Adelaide used it. Greta arrived around 4:45 and we hit the road. Did we have everything? Oh yes, cameras - check. Thankfully, we wouldn't be making a detour this time to pick one up at Best Buy. Best Buy wouldn't open for a few hours and I think that Emily would have drawn the line this time.

Emily checked in at 4cm, we walked around quite a bit and she progressed to 6cm. She hung around 6cm for a while. The doctor broke the water and added a little pitosin. We waited for lab and anesthesia, and she got an epidural around 8cm - and not a moment too soon. 20 minutes or so later, Emily was pushing. In a slight, but unnoticed panic, I remembered my ziploc bag of dirt, and threw it under the hospital bed. 20 minutes after that, Clara was born at 2:34pm over Texas soil. I had forgotten how blue a baby looks before it takes its first breath, and the few seconds it took for Clara to cry seemed like an eternity. Thankfully, everything about Clara is healthy. She weighed in at an impressive 8 pounds and 6 ounces, and 20.75 inches. Emily had been complaining that Clara would be huge, and at 2 weeks early, 8.6 is pretty big.

We anticipated that Clara would be different from Adelaide since Adelaide is certainly a unique soul. So far, she is very different. Emily looked at infant pictures of Adelaide recently and almost all of them she had her eyes open - even the ones still in the hospital. We hardly know Clara's eye color yet because they're rarely open. Adelaide had a terrible time nursing. Clara can be latched on for 2 hours and still want more. Clara is pretty easy going. She doesn't like getting her diaper changed, but who does? She also has very cute and funny sneezes and yawns. It's not so much the sneeze or yawn itself, but the breath she takes in just before. The inhale seems kind of loud for a baby - more like an adult sneeze. Not quite like my Grampa's loud sneeze, but more like his than one would anticipate. Somehow she seems ladylike. I think maybe it's the way she moves her hands around and snuggles. The constant grunting isn't very ladylike, but I'll let that go. The thing that most people are impressed with the most is her thick black hair. When wrapped up in a white swaddling cloth, she looks like a little eskimo. If I hadn't been present for the birth I would have questioned whether or not she was ours based on her looks. Thankfully she is. Lastly, she is an extremely sweet baby. I know it's hard to give evidence for that in a concrete way, but she is very snuggly. She loves to be held and when she is being held, she often tries to nuzzle up into you. It brings a smile and warms the heart.

Clara, you are a special little girl and loved by many. We are glad you are here!