Wow....uh, yeah...wow.

Well, she's here. Yep, Lily made it....but it wasn't easy.

On Saturday night (1/20), Katie and I went to bed around 11:00pm, only to have the mother-to-be awakened a little over an hour later by a fairly intense contraction. This in itself was not alarming to either of us, as we had grown accustomed in previous weeks to just such a wake-up call. However, what followed was both new and very exciting. Whereas previous contractions had been equally strong, few had been followed closely by another. On this night, Katie's second contraction arrived no more than four minutes after the first subsided. By the time the fifth and sixth contractions had convinced us that this pattern was indeed very real, we knew our restful nights were coming to an end.

Just after 2:00am, still sitting in bed and timing her contractions, Katie felt her water break. I must give her credit....she was out of the bed and sitting on the toilet in about 4.4 seconds. After a quick analysis of the situation (remember it was 2:00am), I concluded that indeed her water had broken, and we were off to the hospital.

We had pre-registered at OSF just after the New Year so that the process of checking in at the hospital on The Night could be expedited. As it turned out, so many people thought that having a baby on January 21st was a good idea that we waited for about 15-20 minutes before being ushered up to the maternity ward. Once there, a nice, veteran nurse named Sally got us situated and informed us that Katie was only one centimeter dilated, approximately 60% effaced, and not likely to deliver for a long time. We settled in for the long haul.

Because Katie had lost her water, she was not allowed to walk unless it was to and from the bathroom. This meant that the bed was her home. As we learned in our birthing class, changing positions can help a laboring mom with the discomfort of contractions (Oops..I know several of you moms just read that and thought "Discomfort? How about pain? He's obviously never been pregnant!"). Therefore, we tried moving Katie around in the bed, but nothing felt as good (again, sorry, nothing was as pain-relieving) as just sitting up with pillows stacked behind her. It was my job to constantly rub her lower back during contractions, and this upright position made my job difficult, as I was pushing and pulling my arm from between Katie's back and the pillows we had placed behind her. Making this more difficult was the fact that Katie had been getting too warm, so I had placed a cold, wet washcloth up against her back. This meant I was trying to force my arm between her back and heavy, wet linens, while her weight rested against these very same linens. Now, granted, a sore shoulder and fatigued forearm are a far cry from the physical challenge of labor, but for all you guys reading this blog (and I know there must be dozens), I wanted to give a shout out to the supportive father.

Okay, moving right along...we went on this way for about 9 hours, at the end of which Katie was fed up, fully effaced, and three centimeters dilated...and I was...well, who cares? We decided we needed a change if she were going to go the whole way unmedicated (did I mention I had been taking codeine for my shoulder by now?), so we asked about getting Preggo in the birthing tub. We were unsure whether this would be an option since Katie had lost her water, and the nurse deferred to Katie's OB. Dr. Thornton okayed the tub, and soon we were lowering my beautiful and rather bloated wife into the contraption that would turn the tide (pun intended) on this whole laboring ordeal.

Katie immediately found relief in the tub, and the contractions, which were getting stronger all the time, were becoming relatively easier (less difficult) to manage. A little before 10:00am, we placed a call to Beni, our pre-arranged labor assistant, in hopes that she might spell me for a spell and then accompany us for as long as it might take to get Katie the rest of the way. With Beni soon at Katie's side, and after I took 10 minutes to eat a bag of Cheetohs and two granola bars (probably not the preferred amount of time for ingesting such a meal), the team was assembled for the big push. Katie progressed from three centimeters to six in a matter of about two hours, then from six to 10 in another two hours. At 2:00pm, Katie was given the green light to get Lily the heck out of her belly. This is when things got fun.

Still without medication, Katie began pushing Lily down the birth canal to the waiting arms of the doctor...and ultimately about 438 family members. There was a slight issue with this, however, as our little Lily was turned in such a way that she couldn't make it out. Dr. Thornton attempted to reach in and manually turn her, but remember that Katie was not on drugs, and this became too painful to work. Katie was then left with a decision to make: get an epidural that would allow the doctor to reach in and turn the baby, or have a C section. Right. Anyway, once Katie had the epidural, we were at it again, and the doctor was turning Lily with her hand in a medical procedure that can only be filed under "wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it." Lily, unfortunately, had the umbilical cord wrapped around her wrist, and this turning caused her heart rate to plummet, leaving the doctor no choice but to let go. Back to square one with a baby sitting in a bad position for vaginal birth. Then came decision number two: try taking pitocin to increase the frequency of the contractions in hopes that it might flip the baby and move her naturally down the birth canal...or have a C section. Right. Anyway, after Katie had been administered pitocin for about an hour and a half, it was time to push again. This time, fortunately, Lily's head appeared after only about three rounds of pushing, and soon she was landing in Dr. Thornton's able and gloved hands. Touchdown. Oh, did I mention that the Bears won right about this same time?

After much ado, and much pain (though Katie was UNBELIEVABLY strong throughout the whole ordeal, and I couldn't be more proud of her), we welcomed Lily: January 21, 2007 at 6:08pm...7 lbs, 13 oz...21 inches long.