The newest Renaud

Our newest baby has arrived, and she’s a girl!

Right off the top, let me say that she remains nameless for the moment, but we hope to have settled on a name by the end of today.

Here’s her vitals:

• Born July 30, at 2:23 a.m.

• Weighed 7 pounds

• 20.5 inches long

If you click below to continue reading this entry, you’ll be able to watch a short video of the new baby and read the story of our adventure.

To watch this movie, you need Apple’s QuickTime software installed on your computer.

Wow, we are exhausted!

Yoli called me at work last night around 10:40 p.m. to report she had had a couple pains that she thought might be contractions. She said she would take a shower and they might go away.

Around 12:10 a.m. this morning, she called again to say she was now certain real labor had started. “But this doesn’t feel like Jadzia,” she told me.

Since it was a slow sports night, I took off a little early and headed home, but not in a particular hurry since I expected we had several hours of labor ahead of us.

When I got home, it took a while for everything to sink in. I called my mom and asked her to come over and stay the night since Jadzia was there. But after about 15 minutes, it became clear we needed to leave — fast! I called my mom again and asked her to come as quick as she could. “I’m on my way,” she said.

Mom arrived a bit later, and we took off to the car. Yoli was very uncomfortable sitting on the seat with the belt. So she asked if it would be okay to kneel on the floor and face toward the back of the car. I was a bit reluctant, but we had a 30 minute drive ahead of us, and I didn’t want her to be in terrible pain.

So we drove that way. I tried to go fast, but not too fast. I kept glancing at her hoping the baby wouldn’t come in the car. We were both praying audibly and quickly as we made the trip.

We arrived to the hospital safely and walked to the maternity ward. It took a while to get checked in, and I realized in my haste I had left behind our birth plan in the car. But it was too late.

Yoli was 9-cm. dilated when we finally got a room. My worry changed from “please don’t let the baby be born before we get to the room” to “please don’t let the baby be born before they wake the doctor and she gets here.”

Thankfully the baby held on, but things progressed very rapidly. Yoli really only needed three big pushes to get the baby out.

The nurses were kind, and accomodated all our requests despite the haste in which everything happened (and my lack of a printed birth plan). The doctor was also very helpful since she knew what conditions Yoli wanted.

Yoli told me many times that the whole labor was very different from Jadzia. It was much shorter, more sudden, and much more painful. But she came out physically in better shape than she did with Jadzia. No stitches or anything were needed.

Everything was natural, no drugs. Yoli seemed so happy after the baby was born. We learned the sex (we kept it a surprise) and then Yoli nursed the baby.

We are very thankful for the way God worked everything out.

I guess we just need to catch up on our sleep (while we still can) and settle on a name!