Last Tuesday (Dec 4th) I went to my weekly Doc visit - I could feel the baby had dropped but was a little shocked when the Doc said I was already 3cm dilated! Basically the Doc said being my second the baby could come anytime within the next few days. I was like 'Uh any chance I could make it through the weekend as Dylan has a dance recital at Seattle Center on Sunday which I really really don't want to miss?" She was like "probably not going to make it." So Wednesday I ran to do a few last minute Christmas errands while D was at preschool - I went into one store with my list, handed it to the gal and said "Uh yeh, my water could break at any moment, here's my list, and I'm parked up in the parking garage." Well I can honestly say I've never seen such fabulous and fast customer service in my life!
For the rest of the week I hung really low (in more ways than just laying around on the couch). Come Sunday I said a small cheer and we headed to Seattle Center for Dylan's amazingly awesome, super cute dance recital. She stood on the side of the stage and cheered her fellow dancers on and of course was a total ham during her performance. I'm so so so glad I made it.
We got home and I thought well I've held on this long maybe I could make it to the 12th (my due date). So I kept my legs crossed a little longer. I woke up Monday morning (the 10th) not feeling quite myself. Dylan and I skipped Little Gym and just laid low. Around noon I started to have some small cramps so we plugged in a movie and I started counting as things started to get a little more uncomfortable. At 2 Auntie Beans and Matt came home and the fun began. With Dylan I had no contractions what so ever before my water broke and a it felt like a mack truck hit my mid-side. With Asa there was a slow ramp up that continued to get stronger and stronger. This time I felt like I could deal with the pain and stay with it rather than it completely running me over!
I have to say that during this ramping up time - Matt and I were hanging in the bedroom and Auntie Beans and Dylan were playing. Dylan being the sweet caring loving being that she is kept coming in to check on us. At one point she brought me cold mac-n-cheese and a fork because she didn't want me to get hungry. I also got lots of kisses. We explained to her that I wasn't feeling well because her baby was coming.
At 8:30 we left for the hospital. As we were walking out the door Dylan says "Now Dad tell the doctor that Mom has a stomach ache because she has a baby in her tummy." I gave Dylan a huge hug and just about lost it as I was realizing what a big girl she is, how much I love her, how life is going to change for us all here at the Camp Clark, and how truly lovely of a being Miss D is - just the best! We blew kisses from the car (to keep in our pockets) and we were off.
Our awesome Doula, Nancy Rust, met us at the hospital, we headed to triage, checked - was at 6cm and we headed to our room. We met our lovely and awesome nurse, Wendy Darling - loved her. And soon met our Doctor (which of course wasn't my Doctor) who was great as well. It was a delivery dream team for sure. Pain continued but I was doing great and still laughing in between. Doc said the baby was having some small dip in heart rate during the contractions which was starting to get a little concerning so she suggested we break my water to get things going. The epidural was called in, I was dilated to a 10, water was broke, and started pushing. After a bit of pushing it was agreed upon that we needed to get the baby out and it was going to take a bit of help (same deal with Dylan). I wont go into detail but all of a sudden my quite little room became something like a clown car. There was little concern that the baby might have swallowed a little fecal matter so the 'baby clean up crew' was standing by. Everyone and everything was in place, I took a few deep breathes (had a little conversation with the baby saying it's time) and pushed, they pulled and baby started screaming the moment it's head was out. The baby was instantly handed over to the clean up crew and the room started shuffling around. I grabbed Matt's arm and said "what is it?" as we were keeping it a surprise. He said "a beautiful baby girl" and I started crying! After she was cleaned up and handed to me she stopped crying and just starred at me - what a sweet little face all wide eye, calm and content. Our Doula asked her name and Matt and I just looked at each other and said Asa (which we hadn't officially agreed upon until that moment).
Oh the name. With Dylan we knew pretty early on what her name was. It had a story, not only did we like the name but it has a special meaning to us. With this one even arriving at the hospital we had no clue. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon the name Asa which was big in the late 1800's. It could be used for a girl or a boy - I really liked it was a girls name. Like all the names I liked I used it in my head a lot and of course played the rhyme game with it, and said it over and over and over again (some names after saying 10 times I was sick of them let alone using them a life time). But Asa was sticking. One morning I woke up and the name came to me Asa Bean Elise Clark - loved the ring of it and it had meaning. I looked up Asa - in Japanese it means 'early dawn', in Hebrew it means 'healer', and in Indonesia it means 'hope' - all good things. So when she was born at 2:42am I was like yup I'd say that's 'early dawn' alright! Bean, I sure most of you can guess who that's a shout out to, and Elise is my middle name. So that's how our little Bean got her name! And super funny thing - Uncle Ben posts her name on Facebook to have Aunt Cathy write back to say Asa was also the name of Matt & Ben's great, great, great grandfather! How awesome is that! So perfect!
After preschool on Tuesday Auntie Beans brings Dylan to the hospital to meet 'her baby' (I told Jill not to tell Dylan the sex of the baby). Dylan walks into the room with a huge smile and comes running to us (I swear she tripled in size over night - but I hear people say that's common when the first one meets the second one) and says hello to her baby. We tell her she has a baby sister and she said "Oh Dad I just new it was a girl. Oh goodie." And let me tell you it was love at first sight for both of them! The kisses started right there and haven't stopped, seriously! And when we gave Dylan a little Ballerina doll and said it was from Asa - the deal was sealed. That baby wasn't going anywhere but home. And as Dylan was leaving she says to her Dad "Dad now don't you forget that baby!"
A few nights before Asa was born I was tucking Dylan into bed and she says 'Mom, do we choose our families?' I was thinking she was going to say that she wanted a trade in but then she said 'I mean did the baby choose our family?' Oh good she wants to stay! I thought it was a beautiful question - wonder where she came up with it? So we had a good talk about how our baby did choose our family and it's (we didn't know the sex) choosing D to be it's big sister because she will be the best big sister!
So now we're home and adjusting to our new family and all the changes. Auntie Beans has been staying with us and has been a HUGE help - we can't thank you enough, Jill (sister's are just the best). We've had our ups and down and I do feel bad telling Dylan to stop kissing her sister at times as she hasn't stopped since seeing her at the hospital. Don't get me wrong it's very cute but sometimes everyone needs a little space!
We're doing great, adjusting well, getting ready for the Holiday's and family to come to town. We already have the best Christmas present, a perfect little bundle of joy and an amazing big sister! Everything else is just a bonus! If you find yourself in West Seattle come on over, hot apple cider is on the stove and we're just hunkering down to take in all our blessings!
Welcome Little Asa, we love you!
