We are all still adjusting, but things are going pretty well. More sleep would be appreciated, but that will come with time! Vaughan really wants to help feed Rheya, so we are having him “practice” with my old Cabbage Patch doll. It’s the cutest thing ever!

Even the cats are adjusting quite well. Marcel just wants to carry on about his business and doesn’t seem at all bothered by Rheya’s presence in the house…that includes his daily “lap-time” on Rick’s already crowded lap!

We are so excited to have our beautiful little Rheya home at last! We waited so long to meet her and now she’s finally here!

The stats:

Born on February 16, 2009 at 5:47am
Weight: 8 lbs 7 oz
Length: 20.25 inches

Big brother Vaughan is doing very well with her so far, although it will be interesting to see how he feels on Monday when Rick has to go back to work and it’s just me and Vaughan and Rheya all day.

So, here’s the whole story of the morning Rheya was born…if you are interested.

After a lot of complaining and waiting because I was already two days past my due date, I woke up on Monday morning (February 16th) at 12:30am with a pretty strong contraction…the strongest one I’d had up to that point. I had a few more spread out over the next hour, then even more through the next hour. I woke Rick up at 2:30am and said, “I don’t think you’re going to make it to work today.” He replied, “Why?” and I said, “Because I think we’re going to have a baby today!”

So, Rick started getting everything ready to go as I shouted instructions from the living room. I was on my knees bent over the glider chair, moving the top half of my body back and forth in an (unsuccessful) effort to ease the pain of the contractions which were starting to come faster and faster. In between contractions, I called the doctor, answered the questions she asked, and then was told to head to the hospital. The contractions were about five or six minutes apart at this point.

Next, Rick called his mom and asked her if she could get over to our house to stay with Vaughan. Then I called my mom and step-dad to let them know what was going on.

More contractions, more shouting instructions to Rick, more gliding.

Finally, Rick’s mom arrived. I didn’t even say anything to her. I couldn’t pick my head up off the chair. She offered to rub my back and I think I yelled, “No! Don’t touch me!” as I waved my hand in the air behind me. Rick got everything in the car and then we waited for another contraction to pass before I could stand up and walk to the car. We live about two minutes from the hospital and I had another contraction as we pulled into the Emergency Room parking area. Ok, so…two minutes apart. I glanced at the clock on the bank sign across the street and it said 4:16am. We walked in through the ER doors, the guy at the desk said, “How many weeks?” and I grunted “Forty.” He walked us to the registration area where I sat down in the chair and put my head on the desk while Rick answered the few questions she had for me. She called for them to come down and get us, they brought a wheelchair for me (thank God) and we made it up to the fifth floor…I think I had two contractions on the way. I had my eyes closed the whole time. It was probably about 4:25am by this time.

I got my pajamas off and managed to get the gown over me with some assistance. I crawled into the bed and laid on my left side. They kept asking me questions and I couldn’t answer. I remember saying “I don’t know!” quite a few times. They said they needed to check me to see how dilated I was, so I managed to roll over onto my back (really painful) and the nurse tried to find my cervix. She said she couldn’t feel it…well, there might be just a little bit of it…she had to have the resident check. He agreed. Not much there…maybe 9.5 or so. (WHAT?!?!?!) It was around 4:45am now.

I asked if I had to lay on my back and the nurse said I could stay on my side if that was more comfortable. More contractions, more groaning, more questions, more people coming in and out of the room. Rick was rubbing my back. That helped a lot. They started asking me if I felt the need to push. I said I didn’t know. How am I supposed to know? They said that I would be able to tell. Right.

So, for the next 30 minutes or so, I only remember bits and pieces. I remember they broke my water since the bag was apparently BULGING (yes, they said bulging) anyway. I remember yelling the following things at various times.

“Is there any chance I can still get an epidural?!?!”
“Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, GOD!”
“Ow ow ow ow ow!”
“I don’t know!”
“Wait! Hold on!”
“I can’t!”

So on and so forth…

Finally, I realized that this was really it. There was no epidural. There was just me and nature, so I’d have to make do with the tools that I had…screaming and yelling at everyone in the room.

I finally (and quite suddenly) felt the urge to push, so I started yelling, “I need to push! I need to push!”

Let me digress here for a moment…

It felt like I was in some sort of time warp where everything I was experiencing was happening ten times faster than it was for everyone else in the room and I found myself getting annoyed that they weren’t doing things quickly enough. I had my eyes closed a lot, but in my head, they were all milling around the room holding cups of coffee and quietly responding to my screams as they chatted about the latest episode of Desperate Housewives.

But, I digress…

Anyway, I HAD TO PUSH! So, someone (probably the nurse) calmly said, “Okay, go ahead and push with the next contraction.” They were still getting the bed set up…pulling out the stirrups…spreading out the things to catch all the mess. What?!?! I can push?!?! You guys aren’t even ready!

After what seemed like an eternity (that was actually about three minutes or so), everyone was ready and I was pushing as the contractions came on. They said to take a deep breath and hold it as I pushed for 10 seconds. I couldn’t get a deep breath. I couldn’t even muster up the strength to push for five seconds. It really hurt. A lot. I remember asking, “Is she almost out?!?!” because it felt like her whole head had just come through. They all assured me she was almost out and that they could just see the top of her head. That’s not what I wanted to hear.

More screaming. More pain. More assurances that it was almost over.

And then it was. Rheya Marie Woodard was out and the pain was gone in an instant! The doctor said, “She’s really tangled.” The resident agreed. I had a brief moment of panic and concern, but they quickly got her untangled from the cord that was wrapped around her neck THREE TIMES and placed her on my chest as she started to cry quietly. It was 5:47am.

The next 20 minutes were full of emotion for Rick and I. She was healthy…and HUGE! I said I didn’t think there was any way she was bigger than Vaughan. Boy, was I wrong. She outweighed her brother by four ounces…8 pounds 7 ounces! I kept telling Rick that I couldn’t believe I just did that without any drugs. I couldn’t believe it…I just couldn’t believe it.

Rheya ended up having pretty low blood sugar, so she was hooked up to an IV for the first 24 hours. She tolerated that very well, but it was a little inconvenient to drag the IV around while holding her. I felt really great and was up and around pretty quickly. My first birth experience left me feeling like total crap for a whole week, so this was a pleasant change!

I can’t say that this is how I wanted this birth experience to go, but it all worked out in the end and we finally have our beautiful little girl here at home with us. She truly is a joy and a blessing!