Emersyn Fiona Malcolm

A view from our delivery room

getting checked out by the pediatricians

first bath

All cleaned up

This morning started off with a bang. At 1am I woke up to contractions. I started timing them and decided to call the hospital at 4:30am. They had us come in to get checked. When we arrived contractions were 5 minutes apart and I was dilated 3cm. They said I was in the early stages and sent us for a walk. So Jim and I went to have breakfast and then took a walk down memory lane. We headed through Cole Valley and the Haight reminiscing about when we first moved to the city 6 years ago. After this we decided it was time to get down to business and started walking the hills.
When we returned to the hospital at 9:30 am we were discouraged to find out that my labor hadn't progressed. We were given the option to go home or be admitted and given a little assistance to get things going. After much debating, we decided to be admitted. We thought it might be a little challenging trying to labor at home with our crazy crew. We also thought that today would be a great birthday since our friend Emalee turned 2 on this day! So at 11am we were admitted to the corner penthouse and I was started on IV pitocin. At 3pm they checked me and I was only 4cm so the midwife decided to break my water. With this they noticed some meconium staining, so the pediatric team was notified. The monitors showed that baby looked fine so we kept going. Meanwhile I progressed into heavy labor and I was ready for the epidural. At 4pm the epidural was in place and I was feeling some relieve. Unfortunately things can not always be perfect and I experienced a window in the epidural. I had no pain from the hips down, but a burning on my left stomach with each contraction. It was still some relief and I was glad to have it.  At 5:30pm they checked me again and it was time to push. After a few short pushes Emersyn Fiona Malcolm was born at 6:04pm. She weighed in at 8lbs 14oz. She came out with very little crying and seemed amazingly relaxed. She was content to lay on the warming table and let everyone check her out. She needed a little suctioning to help with breathing and then was ready to eat. After she was cleaned up and completed all her tests we were moved to a postpartum room. She was very nice to us and slept through most of the night. We woke her up periodically to feed her, but otherwise did not hear a peep from her. We feel blessed to have another beautiful daughter.