Ela's Birth Story

Clearly, we've been a little busy over the past week, what with the arrival of our daughter. :-) We've been trying to send out pictures and information little by little, and here's the longer version of the story.
Ela's due date was March 3rd, which is also Girl's Day in Japan. Everyone thought it would be SO perfect if she came on that day. She took the hint apparently, and I started having regular contractions around 3:30 on that day. I wasn't really concerned; I'd been having some mild contractions every afternoon or evening all week. I played some Tetris with Mom for about an hour to see what would happen. Then, just to be sure, we took a walk around the park near the house (I didn't want to go too far in case they actually got stronger). Then I packed up some stuff for the clinic and called in. The nurse said that we should come in, but I was still not convinced they'd keep me. So, feeling rather foolish, we packed up the car and headed out. When we got there, we realized that we had forgotten the blue book I am supposed to keep where the doctor records all the vital information from the pregnancy, so Zack had to drive home to get it. Meanwhile, they sent me up to be checked out.
Doctor Higashijima informed me that I was having regular, weak contractions and I was 1-2 cm dilated, and that there was a problem. "It's my problem, not yours." He said. He then explained that in the last 24 hours, 5 babies had been born at the clinic. In all, there were 11 babies (I think) and mothers in the clinic. Since this is a small, private clinic, they were out of rooms. Considering the fact that I hadn't really progressed very far, this only confirmed my suspicion that I'd be going home again.
The doctor, however, wanted me to stay. He offered to put me in a room that is usually used as a room for "Mother Exercise Classes". He said that he thought I'd have the baby in the early hours of the morning (which now makes me laugh) and that they'd have an open room for me to move into on the 5th. I wouldn't have my own bathroom in the meantime, and even on the 5th, I wouldn't have a shower, so he was very apologetic. I said that it would be fine and reported back to Mom and Zack, who had arrived. So we settled into this room:

It was way bigger than the normal rooms, and therefore really very comfortable for us in the long run. By the end of the evening, they had gotten us two cots and a mat for sleeping. We sat around, played some cards, read, and tracked contractions, which stayed regular and didn't really get any stronger. They brought me a super dinner, and Zack and Mom got themselves food somehow (though, now I can't remember how), and just before bedtime, I was sent up to the labor room again for another check. Much to my own surprise, I was now at 4 cm! I had a burst of optimism: I might actually have the baby in the night. (Insert more laughter here.)
After that check, I was given a lovely pink robe thingy (which you see in some of the other pictures later) to wear for the duration of labor and I settled in for some sleep. I actually slept pretty well all night, waking up with the contractions only occasionally. The next morning, I was sent up again for another check: still 4 cm. :::sigh:::
I, however, was starting to feel less good, so I picked at the incredible breakfast they brought. (The nurse advised me to eat little if I wasn't feeling like it.) While I was trying to eat, the doctor called our room to tell us that I was still having "weak labor", so he wanted to start me on a pill form of pitocin to try to speed things up and avoid a super long labor. Apparently, the pill version is weaker than the IV version, and he just wanted to get things going. Dr. Higashijima is veeeeeery anti-c-section, and he was pretty sure I had a big baby coming, so I think his plan was to try to shorten the process to avoid the chance of having to operate. So starting around 8:30, every hour a nurse came in with a pill and a glass of water. I'd feel nauseous for about half of the hour, and the contractions started coming just a tiny bit closer together. The clinic has a "shampoo lady" come in every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and it was Wednesday, so the Doctor scheduled me a hair wash in anticipation of several days without a shower. So while I was in labor, a nice Japanese lady took me to the shampoo room and carefully washed, conditioned and dried my hair, even asking me how I wanted it parted. :-) It was a nice touch, though the contractions felt worse when I was on my back.
At noon, I once again went up for a check: 6 cm. Progress... To speed things up more, the doctor broke my water. He warned me that this, combined with the continued pitocin, would make the contractions stronger. He was right. I could tell the difference almost immediately. I got a little nervous when Zack went out to get some lunch for him and Mom (my lunch looked excellent again, but this time I didn't eat anything but some pineapple). By the time he got back, I was well on my way to transition.
This is where I was really happy that there were no rooms in the clinic. I'd seen the rooms where women are usually when they labor: they're tiny. There's room to walk 3 steps total in those normal rooms, and I was pacing like crazy. It helped me soooo much to be able to walk around, and if we had been in any other room, it just wouldn't have worked. The doctor came down to have a talk with us sometime between 1:00-2:00. He said that at 2:30, we'd go up for another check. If I was still at 6 cm, he was thinking I'd have to have a c-section. If I was at 7 or 8, he would let me continue to labor. This news did not bother me in the slightest. I was confident that I was already past 6. So I labored on for another hour or so and up to the labor room we went.
Sure enough, I was 9 cm dilated! Finally! The nurses wanted me to start "soft pushes" now, but my body was not cooperating in the labor chair that the doctor has all the women use, so the doctor brought in a rocking horse looking thing to try. That was even worse. So I'd lean backwards over the rocking chair between contractions and then stand up and try pushing a little during them. Around this time, they also gave me an IV, which they told me had glucose water in it since I'd been at it a long time. Though no one ever told me, I'm confident they put some drugs in there at some point because I felt more relaxed after that.
I'd lost track of time by now, but soon I was back up in the chair for serious pushing. I pushed for about an hour, according to Mom. The doctor ended up using a suction and he had a midwife push on my belly to help out at the end. Mom said it looked like she was doing CPR on my belly. Whatever it was, it worked, and at 4:30, Ela arrived!

Ela was a calm little girl from the start. She cried a little when she was born, but calmed down very quickly. After our first introduction, she was whisked away for the usual bathing and measuring. Daddy Zack went along and Mom got some excellent video. Ela didn't enjoy the bath, but was much happier as soon as she got dressed.

Ela weighed in at 8 lbs, 6 oz. She was 21 inches long. Once she was all clean and I was all stitched, we got to all hang out again together.

We took advantage of the time to call family and give them the good news. Ela stay in the nursery for her first night, and I stayed in the room next to the labor room due to a serious loss of blood pressure. Apparently, it's a bad thing when the nurses can't get a reading because your blood pressure is so low... They gave me IV fluids all night long, and by morning things were much much better. But more on that later...