6-8-02: When arriving at the hospital, George drops Amy at the front doors of the hospital and goes to park. As he pulls away, Amy reads the front doors and realizes that all entries to the hospital after 12:00 am need to be at Emergency. Amy starts to walk to Emergency, all the while looking for George. Just as she is about to turn the corner and go out of view, she sees George heading toward the front door. She yells for him and waves her arms and thinks that he sees her and starts after her. Meanwhile, the walk to Emergency is a bit further than expected and Amy continues to have painful contractions all the way to the Emergency entrance. Upon arriving at the entrance and getting the attention of the nurse on duty, she asks if George is parking the car. Amy says he will be right there. After a couple of minutes of waiting, Amy decides to call George's cell phone to see where he is and at the same time, the phone rings down at the Emergency Room desk. Amy can't reach George, but the nurse comes back to tell her that George is up on the Maternity Floor with a room waiting for her!
Amy is 3 cm dilated when arriving at the hospital. The nurse hooks up an IV and has a lab technician come and draw blook from Amy. At 2:30 am, Dr. Jong gives Amy the epidural. Dr. Jong is the same anesthesiologist that administered the epidural from Jessica's delivery. The sensation of receiving the epidural is quite different this time for Amy. 3:30 am - Amy is 5 cm dilated. 4:30 am - The nurse puts an oxygen mask on Amy because the baby's heartbeat is dropping during contractions. 5:00 am - Amy is 5 cm dilated. 5:15 am - The nurse starts Pitocin. 5:30 am - Dr. Hamilton breaks the bag of waters and also hooks up a uterine monitor and a saline flush for the uterus because the baby had a bowel movement in utero. 6:30 am - Amy is checked by nurse and the baby's head is "right there" 6:45 am - Dr. Hamilton is called in to check on baby's position and gives the green light for pushing. Phoebe arrives with one long push at 6:51 am PDT.
6-7-02: 9:00 am, Amy starts having contractions at 9:00 am. She can still talk through the contractions - not that intense - but slightly painful. She remembers what contractions really feel like form these early contractions. At 5:00 pm Amy calls Mom Monoson, Judd Monoson, Tracy Desmond and Nick Baggott, Erin Stuart and Matt Baggott to let them know that there are painful contractions that are about 20 minutes apart and 30 seconds in length. Amy can still talk through the contractions, but tells the out-of-towners to come in to San Francisco that evening. Mom Monoson decides to arrive on Sunday per her original plans because there are no flights that will get her into SF in time for the birth and Amy will be in the hospital until at least Sunday. Tracy and Nick hop a 7:30 pm flight from Phoenix to San Francisco, arriving at Duncan by 10:30 pm. Judd leaves LA via car and arrives in San Francisco at 11:30 pm. Matt and Erin attend Erin's performance and an after show social and arrive at Duncan by 11:00 pm. Chris Rucker and Sue and Emily Marston are at Duncan for an afternoon of fun and stay at Duncan until 12:30 am when George and Amy head to the hospital to have the baby. Dan is home to be in charge of Jessica. George naps from 9:30 pm until 12:30 pm when they leave for the hospital.
6-6-02: Mommy is now 2 cm dilated, 80% effaced and the baby is in the -2 position. Dr. Hamilton thinks we will have the baby this weekend. He asked Mommy to make an appointment on Monday, June 10th, if the baby doesn't come over the weekend. The pains on the inside of Mommy's left thigh, which she thought was a pulled muscle, are contractions that manifest in the inner thigh area - called "referred pain" - quite normal apparently. These leg pains are experienced late in the day and it gets so bad that walking is impossible at times. The pains have happened for the past three days.
5-31-02: Amy had another bout with serious pains in the lower abdomen - no resting contractions this time. The baby is making things uncomfortable with some of her positions now. Changing positions usually makes things good again.
5-29-02: 38 week appointment with Dr. Hamilton - Jessica stayed home today because this appointment called for an internal examination and Mommy didn't want her to be upset by the carrying on that was sure to engage. Mommy was 1 cm dilated, 50% effaced, and the baby is in -3 position. Dr. Hamilton said that he would see Mommy at her next appointment on 6-6.
5-25-02: George and Amy completed Shrimp 2's belly cast today. The process was a bit stressful at first, but George lightened the mood and made the cast come together very nicely.
5-23-02: Amy had some serious pains in the lower abdomen (one while on the phone with Judd) and had some resting contractions. Amy overdid things during the day with many errands. After going to bed, the contractions stopped. George came home early and cooked me a meal. All was better after that.
5-21-02: 37 week appointment with Dr. Hamilton - heartbeat sounded strong and nothing new to report except that they thought from my urine sample that Amy had a bladder infection. They gave Mommy a prescription for antibiotics, but she went home and did a home remedy for chronic bladder infections instead - we don't want thrush again!
5-10-02: Dr. McCallum appointment today - confirmed it was a girl (not a boy as predicted by a psychic in Sedona on vacation) by showing us more girly parts. The fluid in the kidneys seen at her last ultrasound was gone. She is approximately 4 lbs 14 oz and sizing puts her at 35 weeks, which is on target for the June 13th due date. Her blood pressure is normal and her abdomen is only in the 25th percentile. Amniotic fluids are normal levels. She is also turned to the head down position.
5-7-02: 35 week appointment with Dr. Hamilton - heartbeat is strong and all is well.
4-11-02: 32 week appointment with Dr. Hamilton - Mommy has finger pricked in the office for another check of gestational diabetes, but the count is in perfect range (113 - it has to be lower than 120 to be considered normal.) Everything is on target with the baby.
3-22-02: Baby kicks Daddy's hand very hard while we are driving up to Yosemite for a family trip. Baby continues to kick regularly throughout the weekend. She is either very quiet or kicking very hard!
3-18-02: 28 week appointment at Dr. McCallum's office for an ultrasound - baby has great blood pressure and is still on target for the June 13 due date by sizing. She weighs 2 pounds and 2 ounces. The placenta has moved to the correct location and the baby has a small amount of liquid in her kidneys. Many times this disappears by the 34 week ultrasound.
3-12-02: 27 week appointment with Dr. Hamilton. Mommy goes to see Dr. Hamilton a bit before her next appointment because the baby seemed too quiet (not kicking as much) during family trip to Tahoe (although she did kick very hard one time while up in Tahoe - Mommy gasped out loud it was so hard.) The baby is fine, the heartbeat is strong and all is well.
2-20-02: 24 week appointment with Dr. Hamilton. Baby's heartbeat is strong and all is well. A couple more Braxton-Hicks contractions over the past three weeks.
2-16-02: Mommy can feel the baby having hiccups for the first time
2-14-02: George feels the baby's kicks in Mommy's tummy for the first time
2-5-02: Amy feels the first Braxton-Hicks contraction
2-1-02: 21 week ultrasound and the baby is confirmed as another girl and she has ten fingers and toes. Her due date of June 13 is also confirmed along with everything looking very good. The placenta looks a bit low, but they will recheck at 28 weeks.
1-23-02: 20 week appointment, Dr. Hamilton tells us we are having another girl. He tells George that she has red hair. George is scared.
1-18-02: Mommy felt Shrimp2 kick for sure for the first time on a ride over the East Bay.
12-20-01: 15 week appointment, Shrimp2 has strong heartbeat and Dr. Hamilton says we can find out the sex on the next visit.
12-7-01: 13 week appointment, Dr. McCallum performed the nucal translucency ultrasound and everything checked out perfectly with Shrimp2. Amy also had additional genetic testing done (finger prick blood work) to increase the accuracy of the results of the nucal translucency and it also turned out fine. Dr. McCallum measured the baby at 13 weeks (not 11 weeks as we were calculating.) Our conception date was September 14 or 15, not September 30 as Amy had originally thought.
11-28-01: 12 week appointment, Dr. Hamilton said the new baby looked like Jessica (just a joke)
11-13-01: 10 week appointment
11-1-01: 8 week appointment, blob to the right in ultrasound is the yolk sack, not a detached head
