Nikolai has arrived!

Yesterday the kids were invited to sing "I am a Child of God" in sacrament meeting. One verse in English and the last two in Russian. Ira and I were invited to say the opening/closing prayers as well. Ira had her class and I was asked, at the last minute to teach Asya's class. It was a busy Sunday. Ira joked that after church stuff was done she would be available to give birth. Needless to say, when church was over, we thought we were in clear for the day. We weren't even having dessert cause the grandparents were busy helping with an open house.

After lunch, about 3 p.m. during the middle of a Monopoly match between Kiril and I, Ira mentioned that her Braxton Hicks contractions were getting stronger. Now, you have to take that with a grain of salt cause Ira has been complaining about the contractions for days now. But she said that these were different. Then they started getting stronger. So we had her start her sleep and slow breathing. Then they faded and got quieter. We were having a conundrum. Either we wait and maybe rush to the hospital or get sent home. So we called mom and dad and let them know that it may be today...or not. Then we walked around the block. She had 4 contractions just walking around the block. It was now about 6 p.m. and we decided to go. During the interim, we had gathered the kids stuff to take to baba's house and so we were ready to load it into the van and take off. So we took the kids to the open house, dropped them off. Ira wasn't sure whether or not she was ready to go, so we hung out at baba's for a while. She had a few contractions and we decided to drive.

Even after doing the pre-admittance, she didn't want to go up, so we walked around for a while until she was ready. By the time we got up there and in the room it was 7:30ish. I timed her last contraction at 7:39. She was 6cm.


With this pregnancy, Ira decided to go unmedicated and to try hypno-breathing. Jennifer swears by it, so at least I had someone I trust give a good reference for it. So throughout all her contractions she had been practicing her slow breathing. Standing up, her contractions more frequent, but when she went to the bathroom they were strong.

So there we were, in the hospital. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, so I just read to her out of the book and paused when she was having contraction. I talked with the nurses for her, when I could and just did what she told me to. A little after 9:30, she her contractions were getting stronger and a bit more uncomfortable. She decided she wanted the epidural. Before they put it in, they decided to check her one more time. She was fully dilated and she decided to wait for Dr. Glenn and push. Just then he walked in, suited up and we got things going. It took about 3 pushes, but she was extremely calm during them...not like the last time when she was pulling a Bill Cosby's wife.

It was over and done with quicker than I would have expected. Ira wouldn't let them take him immediately and held him for a while. Then they weighed him, cleaned him up a bit and she got to feed him. He was 7lbs. 12 oz, 19.5 inches, and got 9/10 on his Apgars. He came out pink and squawking. I accompanied him down to the nursery for his work over. Then the nurse in charge of Ira was busy with something so I got to hold him for about 1.5 hours until she was ready.

I hung about the hospital until about 2ish and then decided that I wouldn't get to sleep in those fold out chairs with nurses popping in and out all the time, so I headed home and called Baba Liza and let her know.


So, Ira is somewhat of a heroine in the ward there, from what Dr. Glenn and one of the nurses said. The nurse said that it was the calmest unmedicated birth that she had seen in her 2 years in the maternity ward.