Labor Timeline 10/28/2007-10/30/2007

Below is a timeline of Stacey's labor from first serious contractions to actual childbirth. I've also plugged in the pictures I took at home and at Hoag Hospital.

10/28 - 7:00PM - Pumpkin carving at Lola's. Serious contractions start.

10/28 - 8:00PM - I start timing contractions and time between contractions.

10/29 - 8:00AM - Contractions stop and subsequent contractions are lighter.

10/29 - 3:00PM - Serious contractions startup again. Called the doctor and he said, "call again when contractions are 5-6 minutes apart.

10/29 - 7:00PM - Contractions are getting worse (8-9 minutes apart on average) so I decide to put in the car seat. My sister Erin took over on keeping records of each contraction. Took me over half an hour to figure out how to install the car seat.

Timing contractions at home. Water retention at its highest and Stacey says she felt like a beached whale.

10/29 - 10:00PM - Called the doctor again as contractions were less than 5 minutes apart. The doctor on call, Dr. Diaz, told us to head to the hospital. We gathered our stuff and called our parents.

10/29 - 10:30PM - Admitting nurse looks at Stacey and is a little skeptical because she didn't look like she was in that much pain. Our actual nurse Kim briefed us and explained that we might need to walk around to speed up the delivery. She checks Stacey to see how far along she is...7-8 centimeters!!! She called in another nurse just to confirm because she could not believe how far along Stacey was in the actual delivery. Second nurse confirms that Stacey is in labor. I think they were going to actually send us home if she wasn't. They start hooking Stacey up to all the machines and an IV.

7-8 CM dilated and ready to give birth. Picture taken before epidural.

10/29 - 11:30PM - Epidural anyone? Anesthesiologist swings by to do a quick Epidural. It looked painful, but Stacey tells me that it wasn't as painful as an actual contraction. This causes the labor to slow significantly.

Stacey highly recommends an epidural. This picture was taken right after the anesthesiologist came in.

10/30 - 2:45AM - Nurse comes by to check on us. Only a centimeter of dilation. Stacey's water breaks as nurse is checking.

10/30 - 3:30AM - Contractions grow stronger. Nurse does some practice pushes and breathing techniques with Stacey for about 10 minutes. Baby crowns and our nurse contacts the Doctor. Baby is coming!

10/30 - 4:10AM - Doctor Diaz arrives and gets prepped. Two contractions and two pushes and baby Malia is born on 4:15AM. Nurse does routine cleaning and runs tests on Malia while the Dr. Diaz is waiting for the after birth and patching Stacey up. Nurse is done and hands over Malia to the new mommy.

Nurse checking on Malia

She looks so cold

Back with mommy.

10/30 - 4:45-5:45AM - "The Golden Hour" is what Hoag Hospital calls this hour and is a policy that they stress for each expecting mom. Its the first hour in which Baby, Daddy, and Mommy can meet and bond for the first time. The nurse doesn't come in or allows any visitors to come in during this time...not like we'd have visitors at 5:00 in the morning. Stacey and I spent this hour talking to our little girl and looking into her eyes. The first thing we noticed was the amount of hair she had on her head and her "pirate" eye.

We spent the hour getting to know our little girl.

My first picture with Malia as mommy rests behind us.