Cassia's Arrival

She's Here! Our little baby girl was born at 1:08 pm on Monday 5/5/08 at OHSU hospital in Portland, Oregon. Lindsey started to go into labor at 1:20 am early monday morning. We waited to go to the hospital until 6:30 am. From there everything went so quickly. Her water broke at 8:15 am. At that point we had been told that the Anesthesiologist would be available at any point to administer the epidural, but when Lindsey asked for the drugs after her water broke they told us that he was in the OR for a C-section and would come as soon as he could. Over an hour later, 9:40, and after multiple requests and one overly dramatic threat of a lawsuit (courtesy of a husband who had watched his wife lose all control of her emotions and beg for any help available) the Anesthesiologist appeared and Lindsey's world came back into focus. In fact, she felt so much better she started apologizing to everybody who entered the room. That's when we knew the drugs were working.
The baby was facing up, which meant that it was much more difficult for her mother to push her out. She ended up pushing for 2 hours before little Cassia Ann (pronounced CASH-A) was born. Lindsey had asked if they would allow me to "catch" the baby. They said that there were some liability factors, but that they would ask the doctor in charge if it could be allowed. I told them I was a fourth year chiropractic student if that would help things. It sure did- they had me gown and glove up and allowed me (with some assistance) to place my hands around my little girls head as she was coming out and gently escort her into this world. It was an unforgettable experience. I placed her on Lindsey's chest and we both were simply amazed at our beautiful new baby girl. She was healthy and strong and very content to just be held by her mommy and daddy. Her weight was 7 lbs 2 oz and she was 19 1/2 inches long. Her little head was bruised from the delivery and from being face up, but that has all healed now (5 days later).
We were discharged from the hospital at 2pm the next day and returned home exhausted. We decided not to stay because we were both having difficulty relaxing there at the hospital despite our great nurses.
We love our baby Cassia so much. It's true what they say- "a baby fills a void in your heart that you didn't even know was there."