Juniper's Birth Story (part 2)

After I posted the blog yesterday from Starbucks, I got a text from Debra: “Come back ASAP! Pushing is starting!” So I soccer-mom-speed-walked to the delivery room and found the nurses and midwife bustling around preparing to deliver a baby. The epidural was just wearing off and Debra started feeling the pain and the urge to push. A few minutes later, the midwife said she could try a “practice push”. I kept sitting then standing then sitting again... oscillating between giddy and faint. After 3 or 4 pushes, a head emerged... I hadn’t felt excitement like that with the other two babies (who were both delivered by cesarean). We had both been through hell the last few days and the first sight of Juniper brought unbridled joy.

Click to see the photo album!

One more big push and out came Juniper Joy Harkness: all 10lbs 6oz of her! My heart was pounding. The midwife wiped her off and handed her to Debra, who was grinning and looking completely exhausted after 56 hours of labor. Juniper immediately started sucking her thumb. Then transitioned quickly to nursing like a pro. She took a few minutes to go from purple to pink and they ended up suctioning some thick mucus from her lungs. Besides that, she was (and is) perfect. Her skull was 14” (blissfully small compared to Levi’s 15.5” orange-on-a-toothpick noggin) and was dwarfed by her enormous red marshmallow cheeks.

We had a few quiet hours together after all the poking and prodding ended. Debra felt great, but was famished and ate about 3 meals in 3 hours! Later in the day, her parents brought Annabel and Levi. Annabel slowly warmed up to Juniper and was finally willing to hold her in her lap. True to form, she treated it as the most sobering responsibility ever entrusted to her. Levi didn’t seem that interested in the new usurper. But by the ended, he was gently patting her head cooing, “bye bye baby!” 

After everyone left, we indulged in our major-life-transition tradition: Star Trek. It was Next Generation during our honeymoon, Deep Space 9 with Annabel, Voyager with Levi. This time, we laughed/yawned our way through an episode of the original series in which Spok spent the hour battling giant spear-throwing apes on a forsaken planet while debating the merits of logic with his over-emotional crewmates... and all this on a $50 budget!

We all slept fitfully between feedings and diaper changes. At one point, Juniper offloaded a full dose of meconium onto her pajamas mid-diaper-change. At another point, I got scolded by the nurse for napping with the baby. We laid low all today and head home tomorrow morning.

It's been a heck of a ride and I'm in a blur. I'm already sick of changing diapers, sleeping on a hide-a-bed, fetching ice water, and choosing between Blimpie's and Chick-fil-a. I'll be excited to get home tomorrow. But I'm happy. I'm loving our family of five.