Claire is Here!

Are you shocked? You couldn't possibly be more shocked than Ari and I! Here is how our little girl made her precipitous entry into the world:

Thursday, December 11, I went to work just like usual. I made morning rounds and was starting to contemplate lunch at 11:30 am when I went to the restroom and had a large contraction. I hadn't had one yet, but was impressed by its strength. What really made me nervous was I lost a little fluid. I called my doctor's office and arranged to be there by 1:30pm. I called Ari, who thankfully had the day off, and he thought that was too late... I started to agree because I had two more contractions that were much milder. I called the office and they told me to get to the hospital. I went to find my chief fellow Christine and she put me right in a wheelchair and wheeled to the parking garage. In my shock, I had been planning to drive myself home but she drove me home (which only takes 5 minutes) and we dropped her off at Children's on the way to the hospital. Ari dropped me off at registration to park the car and when I stood up my water fully broke. They got me right up to L&D where thankfully Dr. Lum was waiting. He thought we would have time to transfer me to a hospital that had a NICU because I was only 30 and 4/7 but wanted to see how far I was. They were pushing antibiotics and steroids in too. Dr. Lum was shocked to check me and find I was 10 cm and 1+. So the transfer was out and the NICU team from Children's came to us. They moved me to the OR for delivery because it was the best place for the NICU team. I was trying to breathe through the contractions to give the steroids as much time as possible to work. Soon, however, Claire just would not have it and she came out with only 1 push. Our fiery little girl came out crying at 1:55 pm and had Apgars of 9 and 9. She weighed in at 3 pounds, 1.7 ounces, and is 15 inches long. She was placed on "prophylactic" CPAP due to her gestational age but has never required any oxygen. She was transferred to the NICU at University Hospital that night just for closer monitoring because our peanut has continued to be on the right end or the bell shaped curve; the docs are calling her an overachiever! More soon...