Mia Ann Hansen

Holy Crap!!! As patient as she was to wait to come out, Mia sure made a fast and furious entrance into the world! She was born Thursday August 9th at 10:40 p.m. weighing in at 9 pounds 2 ounces, and measuring 21 inches long - the same length, but a full pound more than big sister Ella was. She's nursing like a champ, has had a bath and is currently sawing logs in the nursery (mom is supposed to be sleeping but a mere 4 and a half hours after that delivery I have more adrenaline than a cat in a dog fight).

The story goes like this...At my noon appointment the nurse told me my "measurements" were the same as they had been for a few weeks, but baby was "very low" and that if I had contractions it was time to come in. Ella and I had lunch (burritos and quesadillas at the Flying Burrito in Ames) and headed back to town. I had called DeEtte to tell her I thought this weekend might be it and it was up to her if she wanted to come Thursday or wait until I had "more" information (yeah right, like we ever have "more" information). Thank God she decided to come then.

Ella did NOT nap, but was VERY good and we did puzzles, watched a movie and played calmly for a few hours before heading over to Delainey's Grandma's to play in the sprinkler. I went home to mow at about 5:15 and was done around 6:00 (yes, Chris has a picture of me mowing hours before Mia was born....if I were not sitting the family lounge at the hospital I would DEFINITELY post this picture!!!). Chris and Ella had gone for a walk and he came back with her slumped over asleep in her wagon (picture of this as well). Sometime around 6:00 Chris, Ella and I sat on our gliders in the front yard and chatted with the neighbor....contractions started to show up that were reasonably reliable. Chris made dinner for Ella while I sat down - apparantly at this point movement of any sort triggered a contraction. They were still a good 5-10 minutes apart, and I was dealing alright. Mom showed up at 8, and while she lotioned and comfied Ella and sat her down to watch a movie Chris and I took a walk trying to see if changing my activity would slow things down. Turns out I was probably far enough into labor that it was speeding things up.

I managed to read Ella a few stories (Jesus and John the Baptist, and Jesus and the storm) and kiss her goodnight. I IMMEDIATELY got in the bath which brought some relief for about 5 minutes....but contractions were getting stronger and coming FAST every 2 minutes or so. I told Chris in no uncertain terms we needed to think about leaving so he finished packing my bag, packed his and took a shower. The 40 minute drive to the hospital probably took 25...THANK GOD it did. We got checked in sometime after 10:15...I asked for an epidural darn near right away - before I had been in the hospital long enough to monitor the doc checked to see if I could get the epi and said "you're fully dialted, it's time to push." The nurse says I pushed for probably 3 minutes (I would have guessed at least 15 minutes).

It was awesome....I think I only yelled AT Chris twice....once to tell him that faster would be better in leaving the house and once at the hospital when we got there and he's asking me if I want this or that. But mostly I waited until pushing to be nuts. It has come to my attention that I may have said something along the lines of "push it back in....give me a shot." I remember thinking it just wasn't going to work and we were going to have to find another way to get her out. It worked. And Mia is awesome.

Ella will be up to see her baby sis tomorrow! I can't wait to see her. I'll get pics up asap - I'm off to love on my girl.