The Nielsons

I was induced Monday, July 15th at 38 weeks. The specialist said I could go at 38 or 39 weeks, my choice. Um, yeah. Who would wait to 39 weeks if they can go at 38!? Anyway, this was my fifth delivery. I'd been induced twice and my water broke twice, starting labor. So, each time when the pain started I knew it was a contraction not Braxton Hicks or some other nonsense. Towards the end of this pregnancy I started to get nervous that I would start having contractions and not know it and then not get to the hospital until it was too late for my beloved epidural (I think this was from watching too many episodes of "I didn't know I was pregnant").

My mother came out to watch the girls so that Drew could stay with me at the hospital (a huge relief since my other two back-ups were out of town). I got my induction date Friday (4/12) afternoon and that evening Dad booked Mom's ticket. She arrived Sunday evening. When I called Drew, presumably on the way from picking her up at the airport, he announced that my mom missed her flight. I started freaking out, but luckily I was not too verbal with my frustration because it turned out to be joke and I was on speaker phone.

Here's the delivery play-by-play:

They told us to arrive at 7 a.m. We did, slipping out before anyone was awake at our house.

9:25 a.m. Pitocin administered, dilated to a 4
11:15 a.m. Epidural. Let me just say that I don't remember the epidural shot hurting/"burning" with previous deliveries. I suppose that's because I usually waited until I was in actual pain before I requested it. Not this time--feels like menstrual cramps? Yup, I'm ready for the painkillers! This time around I also knew to not distinguish between "pain" and "pressure" because they give you more painkillers for the former, not the latter.

2:42 p.m. - Water broken, dilated to a 5.
3:20 p.m. (approx) - I noticed the epidural wasn't really cutting it anymore, but decided to hold off clicking my additional epidural button just in case it had a finite amount of medication (didn't want to run out before I was actually pushing).
3:30 p.m. - I started clicking the special button to give myself additional epidural for the additional pain. It is designed to release a bolus every 15 minutes, but I clicked it more frequently "just in case." No effect.

A little before 4 p.m. - I told the nurse and the midwife that I needed more epidural medication. They put in a request, but the midwife also checked me and insisted that with just "a couple pushes" I could have the baby out and then the pain would stop. Nope, I insisted on waiting for the anesthesiologist. The nurse asked why I didn't tell her sooner that I was in pain. I cried/whimpered/whined that I thought the stupid epidural button would help and was waiting for it to take effect. Then I complained to Drew that I jinxed myself by watching all those stupid episodes of "I didn't know I was pregnant" and now I was going to have to give birth naturally just like all the poor women on the show. The nurse kindly told me that I was not actually experiencing full contractions because the epidural was at least "taking the edge off."

4:10 p.m. (approx) - Anesthesiology to the rescue! I swear it worked almost immediately.

Delivery: I pushed a few times through one contraction then the midwife told me that I didn't need to push anymore because the baby was just coming out on her own. I'm not sure how many more contractions we just waited through (since I didn't feel them--hooray!), but it did seem a little weird that we were all just hanging out, all chill, with Drew, the midwife, and the nurse all just watching my nether regions. Later I asked Andrew if that's what it was like during the other deliveries (everyone just standing there watching my crotch). He said it was, but I suppose I wasn't aware of it because I was either in pain from the "pressure" or focusing on pushing.

At one point they had me put my hand down to feel the baby's head (first time doing this ever) and I thought, that's it!? This is going to take forever! When they said "head" I thought I would be feeling a face, not just the top of the head.

Eventually, though, she came out. 4:24 p.m. to be exact.

Weight: 8 lbs 1 oz

Height: 20"

We'd known for awhile that we were going to name this baby Emmaline. Emma is after one of Drew's sisters and his maternal grandmother. I changed it to Emmaline because I like longer first names. Drew wanted to use Emma for Ellie, but I vetoed it because it's been top 10 for so long. With daughter #4 I'd warmed up to the name and assumed Drew still wanted it, so I was just focusing on the middle name. I wanted it to be Edna after my paternal grandmother.

Then, Drew informed me that he wasn't sure he wanted to use the name Emma. So, I compiled a list of 50+ names for us to go over and as I was turning on the computer to access my name list, Andrew said, "No need, I have a name: Aden Emma." Since I had gone to the trouble of compiling a name list I insisted we go over. My favorite names that Drew vetoed: Lydia, Laila, and Malia.

I actually really like the name Aden (Edna letters rearranged) for a girl and we were set on it for awhile, but then we started thinking about how Aiden is top 10 for boys and we didn't want our daughter to have the same name as a bunch of the boys in her homeroom class and so on, and it was back to Emma with an undetermined middle name.

We went back and forth on the middle name for weeks. I really wanted Edna. Drew refused ("there is no way I'm going to do that to my daughter!"). He said Emmaline Aden would work. I felt that while Edna is an unpleasant first name it would be fine for a middle name. We shared our debate with other people and almost everyone sided with Drew. My mom told me that Grandma Edna had actually made all her children and their spouses promise not to name any of their children after her because she hated her name. I just said, "Well I didn't make any such promise."

About a week before the delivery Andrew told me that he'd been thinking about it and if it was really that important to me to use Edna as a middle name he'd support me. He also said that he probably wouldn't regularly call her by both names and we do regularly use our children's first and middle names (not just when they are in trouble).

Now that I had the go ahead, I had second thoughts about Edna. I had hoped Drew would warm up to the idea, but it was more like he conceded. I didn't want him to hate our daughter's name.

I knew I wanted Emma's middle name to be after my side of the family because she's our last child and it was my last chance to honor someone from my side. I considered using Amelia, after a great grandmother from my father's side, but I don't know much about her and all our other girls are named after someone we know personally and can tell them about from our own experience. Then, I looked up the names Emmaline and Amelia and found that they mean the same thing and actually came from the same root name, so Amelia was out.

The second day in the hospital we came up with Laurel for a middle name. Drew's middle name is Lawrence which means laurel-crowned, so it's after him. I love it.

While looking up names I also discovered that Emmaline is actually pronounced Emma-leen. Yeah, we're sticking with our original pronunciation. Still, not long after that Andrew started calling Emma, Emma Bean because it rhymes with Emma-leen and I thought, ahhh, that's kind of after me since my nickname is Bean (from JillyBean).

Our time in the hospital wasn't too bad. I got a bit bored because Drew was gone for a huge chunk of time one day (he stayed with the little girls so Nana could take Liz out for lunch and a shopping spree) and there really isn't much on t.v. during the day on a Tuesday to keep someone entertained. I kind of wish I'd packed a book instead of Phase 10 cards (though it was fun playing cards). Also, I was disappointed that the Alexandria Hospital no longer allows parents to send their babies to the nursery at night (not sure what they use it for now). I did that with all my other girls and it was definitely my plan so I could start off with at least two decent nights sleep. The second day I asked for a pacifier, because Emma would only sleep while suckling and I needed a break. The nurse informed me that they no longer distribute Binkys. Argh! No!

We really enjoyed having my brother's family in town for the summer. The girls liked playing with their cousins, and Drew and I enjoyed visiting with the parents. Plus, my sister-in-law, Lisa, saved my butt a few times by babysitting the girls during a couple of my weekly non-stress tests and sonograms. She also watched the girls one evening so Drew and I could go out on one last pre-baby date. We saw one of our favorite comedians, Tom Papa, at the DC Improv.

While our family was in town we enjoyed multiple dinners together, during one of which the kids found some caterpillars on our hanging plant. The named them Fluffy (Lainey's bug) and Captain Crunch (Logan's bug). Liz put the caterpillars in a bug house and watched over them for a couple weeks, cleaning their cages and refreshing their food multiple times a day. Luckily Rob and Lisa were visiting with the boys while the first butterfly emerged so the kids were able to experience it's release together.

Rob's boys and my girls played well together (they are born within months of Alaina and Ellie), but we noticed that Gabrielle and Logan (Lainey's age) seemed to particuarly enjoy each other's company.

Other fun things we did with Rob and Lisa's family: cousins slumber party, Yards Park (first time there for us), swimming pool, spray park, National Children's Museum, and Great Waves water park.