Danny's big little sister

Fiona Grace Meehan was finally born at 4:22 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 31. She weighed in at 8 lbs 10 oz. Jim calls her Danny's big little sister. She outweighs his birth weight by more than 2 pounds. Here are a few more photos.

Based on the estimated due date, she was nine days late. However, the midwife thinks that she was more like two weeks overdue based on the wrinkly feet and very long fingernails. Miss Fiona already needs a manicure. I knew a girl would probably be more expensive to raise!

Here's an abbreviated version of how it went down ...
On Thursday night, I got my first clue that labor was imminent as I watched our son play on the floor, quietly chanting "Come out baby. Come out." I started having two to three contractions an hour while I was awake on Thursday night, but they stopped, I slept and the next morning I carried on with errands while Danny was at Parents Morning Out. A sleepover with Nana and PopPop had already been planned for Danny on Friday night. That afternoon as we coaxed Danny "Who's coming to see you soon?," he answered "Baby Ona." (That's what he calls her.) After Danny left, the contractions then began building slowly from about 4:30 to 8:30, manageable enough for Jim and I to take a walk and go out to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant. By 9 p.m. the contractions were getting longer and stronger and I could no longer concentrate on anything. I had been watching You've Got Mail on Oxygen. By that time, I couldn't talk on the phone with the midwife. I had thrown up twice and was getting nervous that this labor would take a turn for the worse like Danny's (40 hours, throwing up the whole time). Luckily, it didn't. Labor progressed rather quickly from then on. I knew that I was probably close to delivery when I told my husband with every contraction, "I'm not doing this again." The midwife and her assistant arrived around 1 a.m. They started filling up the birth pool and when the water heater couldn't keep up, they began boiling pots of water to add to the half-full pool. From about 2 a.m. until shortly after her birth, I remained in the warm pool. The cord was around her neck, but Jim pulled it off. She pinked up right away and was breathing, but looked around for a few minutes before finally crying.

After getting dried off and cleaned up, I curled up in my own bed, on my own sheets and my husband and I spent the next hour alone with our newborn daughter.