Brett & Megan

BMHarvey has become BMJ! Juliet Britain Harvey arrived on Friday 9/18 at 2:02pm. She weighs 7lbs. 13oz. and is 21.5″ long. She is really healthy and both her and mom are doing well. We are getting to know each other. So far she has been an amazingly good natured baby.

So here’s how it went: We had an induction appt. for Friday morning at 8am. Thursday night I had Back to School night and then stayed until 10pm to make sub plans for the 3 days I was going to be absent. When I got home, Megan was pacing and breathing. Turns out she had been in labor for a couple hours. She stayed up all night and at 6:30am, we decided it was time to go in. When we arrived at the labor & delivery desk at 7am, the nurses said “You’re an hour early!” By the time the doctor checked her at 9:30am she was 5-6cm. No induction needed they decided. By 10:30am when the anesthesiologist came in to start the epidural she was 8-9cm.

Megan pushed for about 1.5hrs. and did awesome. After the epidural, she felt pressure but no pain. She was totally ready and had all the things she needed. It was a really calm wait. When she finally came out, I have to say it was a strange experience. It was like watching a little purplish white ghost fly out of there. She was quiet because she still had fluid in her respiratory tract which the doctor suctioned out. Pretty soon she was giving out cute little cries. Truly amazing. She was on Megan’s chest for a few minutes until the baby nurse took her to clean her at the incubator in the room. Then she gave her to me and I was floored. I don’t know how to describe it. She was instantly our baby. The nurses remarked that she was really calm – not crying. Looking around the room right away.

Mom was a little dizzy when she got to the maternity ward but is doing great now. Everyone has noticed her big feet & hands. I think we have a tall one on the way. We just got a brainwave hearing test where they put soft sounds into her ear through an earphone. The brain stem responds and sends out brain waves and a device reads these Otoacoustic Emissions on a screen. A good response is a score of 160 and tests can last about 20min. to see higher scores. Juliet (look at me, I’m already bragging) reached 300 in just 35 seconds.The nurse said she was the fastest baby she had ever tested. Basically she’s a genius.

We’ll be out of the hospital tomorrow with Juliet. We are falling more in love with her the more time we spend with her. We took a new family moment in front of the Mac cam below. More photos coming soon. . .

our new addition, Juliet

Alright, I know when enough prodding has taken place. SO MANY of you have been asking for an update on our pregnancy and while I’m eager to please I also have my narcissistic tendencies about blogging. I can’t bring myself to create a new post when the previous post hangs lonely without any comments. Yes, I’m so sad and lonely that I wait upon my internet friends to feed me with the tender love of comments. They’re like a sweet cupcake at the end of the day. Many of you demanded a post about my China trip and I graciously complied.  Yet there it sits below, commentless, incrementally getting swept towards the blogosphere dustpan. But since the tabloid hoards we call family want nothing more than to feed off the juicy information of our lives with no ambition to return the attention, here you go. (For those of you who have never endured my sense of humor – namely Megan’s friends – I apologize, this is it).

Megan was due to deliver on Labor Day – hah, Labor Day – but the day came and went with nary a contraction. The most she ever felt was a slight twinge in her hip when she tried hefting a 40lb. lawn chair at Lowe’s. A friend called that day and asked if we were in the hospital parking lot driving doughnuts. “Are you kidding?” I replied. “We’re not going to let the looming possibility of a baby delivery in the hardware store run our lives.  We’re shopping patio furniture and eatin’ Chevy’s near-Mex tacos. It’s Labor Day!”

Being overdue has made us both anxious but I keep telling her any day she delivers is Labor Day (double hah!). We’ve got an appt. to induce on Friday should she not pop out by then. Every day before  I leave work I place sub plans on my desk should the little one decide tonight is her time. BTW – we still don’t have a name but we do have a list. I would say it’s top secret, but it’s already been cracked more than once. Based on the negative reactions of others, we’ve been forced to cross some names off. My hope for Lafawnda is dashed.

Being overdue has also allowed us to experiment upon the wealth of labor triggers people have offered up this past week. Yesterday I put my hand on the belly and gave her a good talking to as her father to quit hiding and face the world. Megan just hiked the steepest street in La Crescenta from bottom to top – a good 3/4 mile with about 720ft.of climbing. The woman’s a trooper. We have yet to try the most bizarre labor trigger:  supposedly some restaurant in Hollywood guarantees their eggplant parmesan will send a woman into labor within 24hrs or you can return and get refund of your bill. I’m thinking I’ll get the most expensive item on the menu, then even if it does work I’ll fix the hospital records to show it took 36hrs. If you have any other labor-inducing magic tricks, let us know. We’re willing.

Despite our efforts, no signs of labor yet. As I write this, Megan is upstairs bolting together the frame of a guest bed we just bought off Craigslist. We may not have pioneer blood but we’ve certainly got their mentality – we’re gonna work this baby out.

We will, of course, update all of our faithful bmharvey.com readers when in fact we metamorphose into parents. In the meantime, please feed my egotistical need for an internet audience and leave a comment. Under Obama’s new plan, every word you leave is tax-deductible.