Enjoy the rest of the week, the Oscars on Sunday, and the finish of a wonderful first week of March!

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I thought would formally introduce Miss Lena Marie, tell a condensed version of our birth story and then let the photos speak for themselves. I’d share the longer version today as well, but sadly I don’t think I even know exactly everything that happened and need Mr. M and others to fill me on some of the details.
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Lena’s birth story – the condensed version:
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Wednesday, February 24th was a normal day by any measure. The only “special” thing that was going on was a after-work visit by my good friend Michelle, who stayed around late as usual, chatting it up with me. Mr. M gave us some girl time and took a visit to Costco, and had just arrived home around 7:30 to unload his purchases.  I was just taking care of dinner (hello lucky labor chili), when BAM… I felt what I thought was first pregnancy “accident.” Mr. jumped over to the laptop and put his googling skills to work and helped us determine that indeed we did have something to drive to the hospital for, so we packed up all the gear and were checked into the hospital by 10:15pm. When I arrived I was only 1 cm dilated, and they informed me that I was in for quite a long haul. I was allowed to sleep and walk around without the monitors after our initial evaluation, but was put on Pitocin starting at 3:30am by my Dr. to start things moving along. Since my water had broken naturally, I was on the 24-hour clock and needed to try and deliver before I hit 8pm on Wednesday.
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At 4:30am I opted to try some IV pain meds to calm the impending storm, but 2 doses generated a whole lot of sickness and dementia (this is the part I allegedly don’t remember) and I made the decision to go with an epidural. I owe my sanity to my amazing epidural and anesthesiologist, as the rest of my experience was only lovely because of the work that he did. I regained my ability to talk and see stratight around 11am, and enjoyed the rest of the day watching the Olympics on my TV. Mr. M kept wanting me to watch a movie, but I didn’t want to watch anything with a fixed amount of time. Sports were perfect for keeping my mind off the impending event. We also sat there chatting with my parents, and hanging out with DH, who forbade me from making hourly updates on Twitter or Facebook via my Iphone. By 1pm, I was 4 cm dilated and progressed to 8 cm by my next check at 3pm.
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Then, at 4:30pm, I hit 10 cm and just needed to wait around for my Dr. to arrive from the other hospital to begin pushing. The nurses and baby team were excited for our delivery, as we were the only surprise of the day (everyone else knew the gender) and they were all hoping for a girl as 7 boys had been born that day. I started my pushing at 4:55 pm (I’m allegedly an excellent pusher… or else they were really really good cheerleaders) and pushed with each contraction for the next hour. When the head of blonde hair was crowning, I was asked if it was ok to use suction to help her out. With a final series of 7 pushes in a row (instead of the normal 3 per contraction), a little body popped right out at 5:57pm and Mr. M made his declaration! Our unnamed little girl was put directly on my chest for the next hour, and they cleaned us both up while letting us do our amazing skin-to-skin bonding time. I, of course, was bawling during this and Mr. M was just gleaming with happiness and pride. We settled upon a name in the next few minutes between our two choices, and Lena Marie was then bestowed upon our bundle of joy.
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We stayed in the hospital through noon on Saturday and all tests came out clear with flying colors. Our nurses and Dr’s were fabulous, and we even got to enjoy a celebration meal together on Friday night with lots of sparkling cider and cheesecake! And Mr. M even got to play around with a new toy that he went out and purchased just for the occasion… a fancy new video camera. In all, it seemed like forever ago, but the experience was something we’ll never forget. I’ll share a few photos with you just to brag, but my oh my do we have a pretty little girl in our lives.
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Thank you again for all of the well wishes and love along the journey. We all benefited from them over the 9 month journey and can’t wait to share our joy with you when you’ll let us.
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Love, the M family
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The crib and “Lilo and Stitch” artwork (from Mr. M’s collection way back in the day) above the crib.
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The changing table and custom mini surfboards.
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The wall shelves — with the edges painted to match the crib colors.
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The very fun birdie wall mobile — hanging above the hallway door.
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And finally, the closet area… with the hamper, clock, and some old artwork from my first apartment (that also had a Hawaiian theme).
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I’m sure this won’t be the last time you see the nursery… but it may be the cleanest it will be for some time to come! I hope it was worth the wait… and don’t worry… if there’s a girl on the way, I’m sure it’ll easily be infused with many hibiscus flowers!