Welcome, Sweet Baby!

Our beautiful Andelynn Rei Forbes is here at last!  Warning: the next few paragraphs contain details of the birth, so if you're squeamish, scroll down to BABY PICTURES.

I had woken up Saturday morning around 4am with some noteworthy contractions, but they were easily slept through.  For me anyway.  Drew couldn't get his brain to calm down that night, so he didn't go to sleep till 5am.  I'm afraid I did not do a very good job being sympathetic about his insomnia--labor doesn't really predispose one to selflessness, and I knew I was going to need his support for whatever the day had in store.  But, I also knew that when our baby arrived I wanted to feel like a team, so when the kids were released from their room by their sheep alarm clock, I made breakfast burritos with hash browns, because Drew likes hash browns.  "Act yourself into a new way of feeling!"  We spent the rest of the morning looking at the album of funny pictures my sisters made for me (to promote laughter and relaxation!), pretending to go about our normal business, and trying to find a babysitter.  

Too bad this one wasn't around.  She looks like a good babysitter.

Most of our branch was in Fukuoka on a temple trip and a few of my best friends were out of town, so I had to go quite a ways down my list of people who said they would help to find someone available.  By about 10:30 the contractions that had been easily managed with squatting and deep breathing were getting hard to talk through (and Drew's jokes suddenly didn't seem so funny anymore . . . a good measure of the seriousness of the situation, cause Drew's dad jokes are hilarious), so we grabbed our stuff, dropped off the kids upstairs to play with the Halls, and headed to the hospital.  Since it was Saturday and Golden Week, the hospital was nearly deserted.  We went in through the side door at about 11:15 and then wandered around for awhile (pausing for contractions) until we found some nurses.  I told them in Japanese that I had come to be admitted and that I was in labor.  They laughed, so I'm not sure if I said it incorrectly or if they just thought it was funny that I felt like I had to say why I was there, but they told us to wait in the hall for the nurse.  At this point my contractions were taking a lot of concentration to relax through, and while we were sitting there in the hall I felt something slip and was suddenly uneasy, thinking that we might not make it into a room at all before the baby came.  I ducked into the bathroom for a second, just to make sure we were ok; Drew was very worried I was going to have the baby in the little Japanese toilet.  

I didn't take this picture (I was otherwise occupied) but this is what the toilets look like at the hospital, pink tile and all.

Gladly, I did not have the baby in the toilet, and the nurse showed up when I came out and took us to a room to drop off all our stuff.  She put the pink, polka-dot birthing ensemble down on the bed so I could get changed, then while I was working through a contraction she acted out where we were supposed to go next.  Then she left.  This turned out to be the theme of the day.  I think the only two delivery rooms at the hospital were occupied when we arrived, so the staff was stretched a little thin.  Once dressed we wandered over to where we thought she had said to go, but were greeted by the closed doors of occupied patient rooms and empty halls.  We waited around in the hallway for awhile; I was needing Drew to push on my low back while I braced my hands against the wall to get me through the contractions so we were taking up a LOT of the hallway, but anyone who walked by us just squeezed past without offering any further instruction.  We were starting to be concerned that we had been deserted when our nurse poked her head out from one of the rooms and ushered us in to the tatami "laboring" room.  Then she left.

I took this picture 5 months ago during the hospital tour.  It is NOT set up as a delivery room.

I had probably three more contractions (hands on the wall, Drew applying admirable counter pressure) before she came back to hook me up to the fetal monitor.  I was hoping I'd be able to stand with the monitor because the thought of laying down made me want to jump out of my skin, but she couldn't find the baby's heartbeat, so to the bed we went.  It did not feel good, and when she lifted the head of the bed up a little bit to try to make me more comfortable, it felt even worse, so I asked her to put it back down, but to collapse it she had to put the bed up even higher, and that felt worst of all.  All of this was during a contraction; I may have yelled a bit.  When we finally got the bed flat again, she apologized profusely and gave me a hug.  I gave her a between-contraction smile to show her I was not upset with her.  And then she left.  The contractions at this point were not messing around.  I was still trying to deep breathe through them, but as I would get to the bottom of my breath my whole abdomen would seize up and spasm.  So, we switched from deep breathing to a sound sort of like "the hum" from Baptists at Our Barbecue.  I was trying very hard to stay relaxed enough to stay out of my uterus's way.  Drew helped me by holding one of my legs like it was in a sling, so I could feel like I was just "hanging" there, loosey-goosey.  In between contractions I rested and fanned my face with gusto--it was hot.  I had probably two more major contractions after laying down before my water broke.  Drew started semi-hollering "sumimasen!" (excuse me!) to the air, then the nurse popped her head back in and we told her it had broken.  And then she left again.  I'd like to say her exit was a little more urgent than the previous departures, but it was not noticeably different.  After two more contractions, I could feel the baby's head between my legs, so I told Drew she was coming, ready or not, and had him help me up into a kneeling position on the bed, sitting on my heels.  He got me untangled from all the sheets and pads, and there was the baby's head!  So he did the only sensible thing to do at that point, and caught her with his bare hands as I gently pushed her out the rest of the way.  He's such a manly man.  He handed her up to me and we had a few glorious moments, just the two of us and our beautiful baby and the sunshine.  It was euphoric!  Then the medical team arrived, saw the baby, and began their chorus of Japanese exclamations.  The necessary equipment was all hustled in from the delivery room (they tried to use an emergency flashlight for a little while, but ended up needing to bring in an actual exam light), Drew cut the cord, and they let us snuggle the baby for about 20 minutes while I finished laboring and they started an IV, then they took her to be assessed and dressed.  The fetal monitor strip from the time it was placed to the time the baby was born was probably as long as my arm.  They never even had time to check me.  The doctor on call came in to examine me for any injury (and found none, which was awesome) and said, as he shook his head and smiled bemusedly, "Sugoi!  Fast birth!  Sugoi!"  Yes it was, Japanese doctor I have never met.  Yes it was.

This birth story was brought to you by:

3 seasons of Call the Midwife

Conversations with Karlie Ady, Aunt Tina, and Annie Billings

Hypnobirthing, The Mongan Method

Ina May Gaskin's Guide to Childbirth

... and husbands like Drew!

Thank you!

BABY PICTURES

She was born on August 15th at 11:58, a day before her due date.  She weighed 7 lbs, 4 oz.  I'm not sure how tall she was . . . it was in cm and I never wrote it down.  We were in the hospital from Saturday at 11:15 to Monday around the same time.  

Drew got to stay with us for a few hours after Andelynn was born.

One of her first precious little cries.

When he'd gotten some good snuggles in, Drew went to pick up the kids to meet their new baby sister.  I had to stay in the tatami room until my IV bag drained, but it took forever because I couldn't remember to keep my arm straight.  I was too busy holding this one.  

Here's the Japanese approach to patient identification.

"Foh-bu-su"

We opted for a private room instead of a shared one.  I wanted my own bathroom . . .

The kids arrived and we got to spend our first moments as a family of 5!  

Vivien was a model big sister.

And Rafe mostly tried to jump on everyone.  He'd missed his nap that day, so he was a little out of sorts.  After our visit they left for Hiroshima to fetch Mom from the airport.  I continued the snuggling and studying of every little feature.  

Nana and the kids came back after church Sunday afternoon, and after that Andelynn had her first bath.  

It was pretty exhausting for her.

I had been hoping to leave Sunday afternoon (because that bed was pretty hard and my tailbone was sore!) but since it was a holiday, they didn't have enough staff to do all the tests they needed to before discharge, so we had to stay one more night.  I'm actually grateful it worked out that way, because it forced me to rest more, and then I had more time with her all to myself, to sleep while she was sleeping and get to know her when she was awake.  Look at her marvelously flexible ankles!

Here she is displaying her total lack of circadian rhythms at 3 in the morning.

I love how their whole head fits in the palm of your hand when they are tiny and new.

I had the Japanese menu the whole time I was in the hospital.  I wish I had photographed all the meals, because they were actually pretty yummy, but this was my breakfast Sunday morning.  Grapefruit, milk, cabbage/tofu/seaweed soup, fish, pickled daikon radishes and carrots, and rice.  It was easy to eat everything, because I know the Japanese are very particular about what kind of foods they eat and when.  You want me to eat whole fish after having a baby?  Ok Japan.  I trust you.  

Here we are getting ready to come home.  The head of the bed didn't raise or lower, so they provided a bean bag you could put on your bed when you needed to sit up.  I was very excited to get home to our couch and our Beautyrest mattress and my pillow that was not full of beans.

And it's always nice to have more hands to help hold the baby as well!  Here is Annie showing off her baby kimono in Nana's arms.

And giving the bouncy seat (the one piece of baby gear I could not do without) a try.

Relaxing with Daddy

Mom was the cook extraordinaire while she was here, which meant that I could relax on the couch and enjoy this view.

Also that I could run to the salon and get a badly needed hair cut!  Now Mom and I look even more alike.  Everywhere we went together, people would ask if we were sisters.  It was a nice change for Mom to look like a young mother with me, since she is used to looking like an "old" mother with Colette and Rex.  

Nana gave Annie her first bath at home.

And helped me get all the baby clothes organized and washed.  I had a hard time picturing what I would need and when before Annie was physically here, so we had some work to do!  

Nana said she was glad she got to be here as a witness of Annie's cuteness!

We wanted Mom to get a small taste of Japan while she was here, even though she had not come to sight see.  The beautiful Japanese sunrise was easy to view, thanks to our east facing windows and her jet lag.

We drove through town and found some good Engrish signs for her to enjoy.

We also went for a Sunday stroll around Kikko park to see the castle on the hill.  

And watch all the Japanese kids playing in the fountains.

We never remember swimming suits when we come here . . . but I usually have a change of clothes on hand.

We sampled some Japanese ice cream (it was too hot outside to not!).

And admired the beautiful Kintai Bridge from afar . . .

. . . and close up too.

Andelynn mostly slept in protest of the muggy heat.

But it was nice to have sun after many days of rain!

The next day we did some shopping in town.  At YouMe Town we learned how to wear a yukata.  It was quite a process!  Doesn't she look beautiful?

We also found this depressing shirt:

ANTICIPATION
GRIM COUNTENANCE
MAYBE NOT RIGHT AWAY
If you are afraid of loneliness, do not marry.
Time passes and little by little everything
that we have spoken in falsehood becomes true.

And that night we ventured to the Chicken Shack, where we all suffered through sitting on the floor and spilled delicious teriyaki sauce all over our white clothes.  

 It was decorated in a Pirates theme this time.

What a weird place.  

Yarr.

 On Tuesday morning we woke up to sheets of rain and powerful gusts of wind lashing the windows.  We panicked for a bit, wondering if we ought to send Mom to Tokyo on the shinkansen instead of risking a flight from Hiroshima, but the storm ended up being mild enough at the airport by the time her flight left that she was able to get safely away.  I wanted to take a nice goodbye picture with all the grandkids, but Vivien was pretending to be Joseph (she's been watching Joseph, King of Dreams a lot lately) and wouldn't put on a shirt or stand up, and Rafe didn't want to get off his bike.  So, we have this picture instead.   Goodbye Nana!  Thank you for everything!  We love you!

And hello Andelynn!  Thank you for coming to us!  We love you too!