Celestine and I are still debating how long her labor actually lasted. I say 3.5-4 hours...she says 5.5 or so...you can believe whoever you want.
What we can roughly agree on is this: Around 3:00 pm on September 27, her contractions became regular enough that we believed Nora was actually going to come that day. We finished loading the car and headed down to Becca and Jeremy's house in Oak Park (ok, they don't live in oak park, but they live very close and i don't know the name of the town in which they actually reside...it's all Chicago). I think we got to their house around 5:00 and went up for some tea (for Celestine) and a Luna bar (for me - nuts over chocolate - everything a woman's body needs). After less than an hour, Celestine wanted to get over to the ABC (alternative birthing clinic) room at the hospital. We headed over and got there around 6:30. She had to go into triage (life is a triage, says Dave) for about 20 minutes to make sure she and Nora were good. Once that was finished we got into the ABC room and into the tub. After ten minutes of valorous labor, Nora swam into our world. And she is beautiful, like her mom and sister!
Her vital stats:
Birth weight: 7 lbs, 9 oz
Birth length: 20 inches
Official Apgar: 9.9
Apgar assigned by the midwife and me: 10.0
(In a later entry, I will sing the praises of hypno-birthing, unless Celestine feels up to it. For now, hypno-birthing is amazing.)
