On Thursday, September 1st, Jill and I decided to celebrate our anniversary early. We had dinner at Bazin’s on Church in Vienna, sharing a lot of tasty appetizers (standouts were the crab roll and the mac and cheese with truffles). I wanted to get some sleep to be well rested for the next day, but finishing off tasks and dealing with an anxious dog due to storms meant I didn’t get to bed until 3AM, and then I needed to get up at 6AM. But we were right on time at Fair Oaks Hospital, although there was a backup and we didn’t get admitted until nearly 9AM (good reason for a backup: 19 babies born that day).
Jill was induced a little after admission. After contractions started getting intense in the early afternoon she had a rough patch, but before that and after she had her epidural, we mostly sat around and slept, napped or read. Her mom had joined us before noon, and I got a chance to go downstairs for a quick lunch. Everything kicked into high gear around 5, but it went as smoothly as it could go, and Nina Grace was born at 5:36PM. She was 6 pounds, 9 ounces, and not happy about it, but calmed down when she got back to her new mom.
More pictures here.
After a little wait (and a visit from my mom), they moved us to the postpartum room. Jill got some dinner, and there was a lot of visits from staff before things finally calmed down after 8PM. Sue and I were hungry, so I headed out to 100 Degree Chinese, a new Hunan place nearby, for some carryout (pork dumplings for Sue, Cumin lamb for me, both fantastic). Sue headed to our house for the night, while I got as comfortable as I could in the fold out chair (not very).
Nina was in the nursery for the first night so Jill could get some rest, but they had some bad news for us in the morning: she had jaundice. That meant for the next day Nina spent her time under special lights in the nursery, and Jill only saw her for feedings. Not the best way to spend her time, and I headed home for a while while Sue stayed with her during the day, then I came back to spend the night.
On Sunday they had good news: the jaundice was on the decline, and we’d be discharged on time anyway (the early diagnosis may have been a blessing in disguise, as if it had happened a couple days later as it usually does, they would have had to readmit Nina until she was cured). We headed home, and Illa got his first look at our new addition (first impression: meh). Mom came over for a visit, and we started settling in to a routine.
The next day was Labor Day, so I got another day to adapt (and a little more sleep). Dad came to visit with his girlfriend, Patricia, but it was an early night for all of us.
More pictures here.
For those curious about her name: on our weekend trip to Luray in July, I packed a pile of CDs to listen to, and one was from Veruca Salt. We talked about the band, one of whom was Nina Gordon (and later solo fame), and Jill asked me what I thought of the name. I liked it, and we liked the meaning (which is similar to Jill) and the popularity ranking.