Welcome Baby Girl!

Check again, I told her. Dr Greenburg said she would check, explaining that sometimes she can get that little last it of cervix over the baby's head . Then she said, "You're right. That's a 10. There's no cervix there, you can push."

Thank You God.

It didn't take long. I pushed on the contractions and it only took three. Less than ten minutes after my first push Baby Girl was born at 9:33pm and Brian was cutting the cord. As they brought her to my chest she let out a cry and it was the sweetest sound I had ever heard. Caleb never cried and I knew something was wrong with him. When this little girl cried I knew her lungs were working, I  knew she was ok. And I cried too. After having her resting on my belly while they wiped her down they took her over to the scale and to get her APGAR score. All 4lbs 4oz and 17 inches of her were doing great. She still didn't have a name.

While the NICU team was taking care of her Dr Greenburg was still taking care of me. She delivered the placenta and, because I'm a nerd, I asked to see it.

It was gross. Not because it was afterbirth, that didn't bother me at all. Gross because it wasn't smooth and uniform like it's supposed to be. It was lumpy and misshapen. She even showed me a little part that was discolored that was actually an infarct, dead non-functional portion.

What's more interesting was the cord. Dr Greenburg actually said "Oh!" and her eyes widened. What? What?! It was what she called a hypercoiled cord. Instead of the 3 vessels traveling nicely together in a helix like shape they were twisted and tangled like a knotted up rope. It's something that can't be detected on ultrasound and isn't discovered until delivery. What was amazing was that in most cases of cords like this the babies are either born very VERY prematurely or they are still born. The cord just can't deliver the blood and oxygen that the baby needs. The fact that Baby Girl made it to 36 weeks shocked Dr Greenburg and proved one more time that this little girl is a miracle.

After posing for a family picture, Dr Greenburg was off to another delivery, Baby Girl was off to the  NICU, Brian was off to McDonald's to get me my first meal in 15 hours, and I was left in the delivery room waiting for my numb legs to function again.