"You're having a baby today." "%&$^."

So here's the longer update on what happened on the 14th for those who are into birth stories and all that jazz.

I had been going to NST's (non-stress tests, basically they monitor my contractions and the baby's heartrate for 20-30 minutes while I hang out reading in a recliner, it ain't all bad) twice a week since I hit 36 weeks. It's something the hospital does with all cardiac babies, as some of them are at a risk for being stillborn (not really a risk in our case but they still made me do it). I had an appointment for one of those, as well as a visit with my OB on Tuesday the 14th to determine what the plan for my induction on the 16th would be (what time should I get to the hospital, what are they going to do, how "ready" I was, etc).

I had full blown pre-eclampsia with My Big Guy, and was induced for high blood pressure with My Little Guy. Luckily, with Helena, my BP had been great well past the point of the high BP with both the boys. However, I will be the first to admit I was a bit nervous at the NST and my OB appointment since you know, we were figuring out what was going to happen. It had been a week of anxiety and fear for me and my husband and I'm sure that contributed to my BP being higher than expected.

They took my BP at the start of the NST. It was high. They told me they'd take it again at the end after I had been resting for awhile. It was still high. They sent me over to the OB. It was high when they took it. Then my wonderful, delicate OB says to me, "We're gonna take it one more time, if it doesn't come down you're having a baby today."

Well thanks assface, what do you think my BP is going to do after you say that? Of course it was the highest it had been all morning at that point. He tells me, "You're having a baby today." I replied, "Fuck."

I had none of my shit. I stupidly hadn't even packed a bag because I was being induced Thursday, I'd pack Wednesday night, right? Wrong. I asked if I could go home and get my crap. They said no, I was being admitted immediately. They sat me down in a wheelchair and took me over to Labor and Delivery. The boys were supposed to get haircuts that afternoon (man do they need them!). We had our babysitter coming that evening so my husband and I could go out to a nice dinner one more time before things got crazy. I had grand plans of grocery shopping Wednesday morning while the boys were at camp. My husband thought he had two more days to get shit done at work. Not so much for any of it.

All this time I'm calling and calling my husband and he's not answering. I'm calling his cell, I'm calling his work number and neither him nor his secretary are picking up. Of course.

I ended up texting one of our friends who works with my husband, asking if he knew my husband's whereabouts (it was lunchtime, so I thought maybe they were out to lunch or something). He replied that yes, both he and my husband were teaching a class right now and how wonderful my husband was.

I replied something like, "Oh that's great, I'm being admitted and induced now, so can you tell him to you know, call me back?"

Two minutes later my husband called me, asking me, "Are you serious?" to which I replied, "No, I fucking joke about being induced and pull you out of a class for it. Yes I'm serious."

I emailed him a list of shit to pack for me, and he left work early and came to the hospital. It was an impressively fast trip from downtown to our house (via cab) to the hospital for him.

They started pitocin around 1:30ish. I got my epidural around 4:00 (praise be to the anesthesiologist).

Around 6:45ish they came in and said they were going to break my water since I was only at 6 cm. I said cool, things are gonna go really fast now so be ready (with My Little Guy, they started pitocin and broke my water at the same time and he was born 3 hours later). I think they don't really take you seriously when you say these things, but dude I know what's up. I went from 6 cm to 10 cm in about 30 minutes (which felt great as my epidural was starting to wear off) telling them the whole time that we were getting close. Sure enough, Helena was born at 8:00 after about 3-4 pushes. It hurt like hell, which was a great motivator to get her out. They kept telling me to catch my breath but I was all, hellz no, this hurts like a bitch, I am pushing this baby out and getting this pain over with. And I did.

We had what felt like 50 people in the room with us (the OB team, the neonatologists, the pediatric cardiac team, and then at the last minute they asked if a dude training to be an EMT can watch too and when your epidural is wearing off and there's already 35 people in the room, what's one more? Sure! Invite strangers off the street in for all I care at that point) ready to take care of Helena .She was born nice and pink and cried right away. They took her, wrapped her up and whisked her off to the NICU right away.

Helena has obviously been in the NICU since then, and even though it's only been 6 days we've had our ups and downs and are working with all her doctors to figure out what the best plan for her is. She's on oxygen (they did take her off the ventilator and she's now just on the nosey oxygen) and not much else, and she's stable and comfortable which is good. We're all following her schedule and her lead and letting her tell us what she needs and what she will and will not tolerate well and we're going from there.

We're doing ok. It's hard, it's emotional, but we also know that she's in the best place with the best people caring for her and we trust their judgement and recommendations for care. We appreciate all the love and support everyone is sending our way, and are very grateful for it.