Sunday, August 31, 2008

Pod Children - if part of the pod was defective























With the two boys so close together in age we had to throw up a quick comparison. Teichert's tendency for self mutilation makes it easy to tell who is who. Looking back, Booker had a real talent for making himself look just a little, uh...., affected. Maybe there is an Oscar in his future in a Rain Man remake. Maybe Teichert can do a Scarface remake. Can't you just see him yelling - SAY HALLO TO MY LIDDEL FREN!! - while waving around an enormous machine gun? Maybe not.

He's Finally Home!

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Teichert's Birth Story

Well, for some this may be old news but I thought I'd share how my labor and delivery went. Here's the short version: Contractions started and a mere 12 hours later I had a baby boy in my arms. 

Here's the long version: After finally giving up on all the supposed labor-inducing methods (castor oil, walking, etc.) I decided to just relax and hang out with my sister. Wednesday
 afternoon, we went swimming and walked around a really cool cemetery. Marie baby sat Booker while Clark and I went to see a movie and then we called it a night. I woke up around 2 AM with painful cramps. I tried to sleep but they kept waking me up about every ten minutes.I had never felt a contraction like these ones before but I didn't think it was the real thing. Around 4, I took a hot shower. Around 5, they were coming about every 5 minutes apart and I wanted to cry each time they did. It dawned on me that this might be labor but I didn't want to make a big deal about it. I started packing things and straightening up the house. I woke Clark up around 6 and told him to take a shower.  I woke up Marie and she settled in with Booker. Here's a photo of our family before it all changed...

We got the hospital around 7, which is exactly when the nurses change their shift. So I sat around in triage waiting to be checked out for about an hour. In the meantime, I threw up everything I had eaten that morning, probably because I was really nervous and in a lot of pain! Vomiting is pretty much my reaction to anything. They checked me and said I was around 3 cm dilated and 90% effaced- enough to be admitted. They took me back to a beautiful labor suite and asked if I wanted an epidural. Absolutely! After some paperwork and getting checked again (4 cm, fully effaced, very low head) the anesthesiologist came in and gave me the epidural around 11. My desire to feel an actual labor pains was completed satisfied at this point. Unfortunately, the epidural took a little adjusting (I couldn't feel my legs but I could still feel contractions) but eventually it settled in and it changed my life. Everything was awesome, except they wouldn't let me eat anything and I was starving. Oh well. Here's a picture of Clark relaxing because I'm relaxed...
The doctor came in to meet me for the first time (my original pro-VBAC doctor was out of town) and she immediately told me that she was absolutely against using any type of augmentation such as pitocin if my labor happened to stall out. I kinda panicked.  She then went on with a little spiel about how it doesn't matter how baby gets here as long as he gets here healthy. She was a little knife happy, but generally supportive. She then broke my water and left. More painless laboring. She came back and noticed that there was some meconium (baby poop) in the fluid. She put an IV up there and starting to "wash" out the baby to reduce his chances of ingesting poop. So Teichert got his very first bath in utero. I think at this point, I had 8 different things hooked up and inserted in me. It was a little annoying. More painless laboring. 

She came back about an hour later to check my cervix and told me that it was completely gone. Again, I panicked (and threw up). I thought I had hours and hours of laboring to do- I wasn't ready for a baby yet. I had dilated from a 4 to a 10 in about two hours. I didn't feel any pressure or urge to push, so she said she'd let me "labor down" for a little while. I was 10 cm dilated and the most relaxed I had been all day. I took a nap and wanted to keep sleeping but Clark was eager for a baby (and I wanted to eat!) so with the help of my awesome South African nurse, we started to push. I pushed for about 30 minutes with Clark and my nurse holding my legs up and telling me when to push. I watched in a mirror and saw his head each time I pushed. It was crazy. Then things get kinda blurry. With the baby crowning, my doctor finally came in and asked for my permission to cut an episiotomy. Again, I panicked (but there was nothing to throw up). I had always heard that it was better to tear then get cut, and with my aversion to cutting I really didn't want to have another scar to deal with. But I wasn't really in a good position to say no. Teichert's heart rate had dropped real low and he needed to get out immediately. He literally slipped right out after she cut me. He was coming fast.

He weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces and was 20 inches long. His apgar's were 8 and then 9, so there was no initial concern about the meconium. He was born around 4 in the afternoon and Booker, Marie, and Grandma were able to come about an hour later and hang out with him. Around 6, the nurses noticed that his respirations were fast and he needed to be admitted to the NICU. 
After some tests, we learned that Teichert had a little bit of fluid in his lungs and would need a battery of antibiotics and more monitoring. We said goodbye to him at 10 PM and didn't see him again until 9 the next morning (he had an IV so he didn't need/want to nurse). You think I would have gotten a great night's sleep, but the nurses came in to "help" me pee every two hours. When I couldn't pee, the finally put in a catheter that I had to drag around with me for the next 24 hours. Yuck. 

In the meantime, Teichert was probably the healthiest and biggest baby in NICU. Clark and I got bored quickly without him and I was pretty sick of walking over to the NICU every two hours to nurse him. His breathing regulated just hours after he was born but he couldn't be released until his tests showed improvement and he finished his antibiotics. That finally happened last night and we were all packed to bring him come when his bilirubin levels came back slightly elevated, not enough for light therapy but enough to keep him for another night. My time was up though, and I had to be discharged last night. The nurses were kind enough to set up a fold out bed for me and I slept (rather terribly) in the NICU so I could keep nursing Teichert. I'm home right now and we're waiting to hear back about his bilirubin levels. I've never felt so tired in my life. 

On the other hand, my body feels great compared to how I felt two years ago with Booker. I feel like I was in a minor car accident with soreness in weird places (like my jaw and neck) and of course, some pain when I have to sit on my stitches. Overall, I'd take a vaginal birth any day over a c-section. I'm kinda bugged, though, that my vaginal baby has had all these "problems" while Booker was able to come home right away. 

I'll try and post more photos of Teichert later on today. He really is a funny looking baby and I'm not saying that in a fishing-for-compliments kind of way. Booker was the same way and I think he's pretty cute now, so I think Teichert will turn out alright. In the meantime, his nose is so BIG he's got some nose cleavage. He's got little black fuzz all over his body, including his forehead, shoulders and the back of his ears. He reminds us of a turtle with his little beaked nose and mouth. I'm blessed that he's been such a great nurser so far. As for his name, Teichert (Tie-curt), it never even occurred to me that it would be hard to pronounce. You don't have to love it but learn how to say it (or you can call him Tiger Roar like Booker). 

Well, I'm hoping that maybe later on today Teichert will be able to come home. He'll definitely have quite the welcoming. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law (Callie) have been cooking up a storm in my little-used kitchen. It smells amazing. My fridge is full of goodies like cheesecake and spaghetti. Its been so nice having them here with Booker while Clark and I shuttle back and forth from the hospital. 

Anyways, sorry about the mini novel. I'm really proud that my body went into labor on its own and did what its meant to. I think my body was made for having babies. When we said goodbye to our labor nurse (who knew we were LDS), she said she'd see us in two years. She might be right. I had such a great labor and delivery experience, I can't wait to do it again.



Friday, August 29, 2008

Update






I am home for a quick moment and have strict instructions from Margaret to post some photos and an update. Mom and Teichert are doing fine for the most part. Teichert was breathing really quickly yesterday so they took him into the NICU and ran some tests. They didn't find anything really alarming, but they started him on a 48 hour battery of antibiotics. Poor kid. Marg is healing nicely, but is laid up in bed with an IV until she can pee on her own. It's no fun being away from the baby and stuck full of tubes and pricks, but she's handling it well. We'll try to get a better post up when we get out of the hospital, but for now, here are some photos.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Teichert Blaine Proffitt

Born August 28th weighing 7 pounds 9 ounces. Successful VBAC with an episiotomy. He's currently in the NICU for slight breathing problems might be due to breathing in meconium. Not too worried about it. More details later! He's a little funny looking maybe because he has a funny name. We love him just the same!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Ultrasound Results

Well, the ultrasound yesterday showed a rather comfortable and healthy baby-toddler. No problems whatsoever, so I get to remain pregnant for the time being. Um... hooray? He's not even that small, measuring around 8 pounds, give or take half a pound. My prediction... September 2nd birthday, weighing in at 8 pounds, 3 ounces. Although, it'd be pretty cool if he could share a birthday with his Baba on August 29th. I have to hope for the worst and plan on NOT going into labor over Labor Day weekend. So lets have your birthday/weight guesses. We'll award the closest guess with a delicious dinner on us... but you have to come visit us in Tucson to eat it! 

Monday, August 25, 2008

Of Course!

As a way of illustrating the two worlds I am currently inhabiting, I present for your enjoyment "Apparatus for Facilitating the Birth of a Child by Centrifugal Force"

Yes, that is a patent for a giant disk that you strap the laboring woman into so that you can then spin her until the baby shoots out. (You can read the whole thing here.) Noticeably missing from the apparatus is a space for the doctor. Also notice that the illustration has the woman topless, probably so you can get the best mental image of what that looks like when it gets really spinning. I'm not quite sure if this is an actual invention or some sort of weird metaphor for how they felt about women and childbirth in the early 1960's. I imagine the inventive process went something like this:

Dr. Blonsky: Hmmmmmm. How can I make the childbirthing process better . . . ? Wait..... Wait..... Eureka! We can make labor EASIER by taking women straining with the pains of labor and SPINNING THEM on a GIANT disk! The FASTER we get them going, the EASIER it gets! I'm a GENIUS!

Mrs. Blonsky: Ummmm, dear, don't you think that spinning the women during labor to the point that significant G-forces are applied to the emerging fetus may make them, well, slightly more uncomfortable?

Dr. Blonsky: Nonsense! We can just strap her down on her feet, legs, chest, neck and face!! We don't even need a doctor there! We'll just put a net in the operative region there and have a kill switch set up so when the net gets a load full of baby, the motor turns off! It's fool-proof!

Mrs. Blonsky (Shakes her head and goes to the nearest phone to schedule a hysterectomy)

I can't imagine why this prime piece of American ingenuity never took off. I think it must have been the marketing. So we'll have special recognition for the commenter who suggests the best name for that monstrosity. I'd have to go with either "Centri-Fetal Force" the "Nur-Sling", or, for the descriptively minded, the "Vagi-Spew"

Awesome.

(Hat tip to Rob for finding this little gem)

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Its official. I'm an elephant and will gestate for 22 months.

You know how snakes can detach their jaws to eat really big eggs or prey? Well, I'm pretty sure that's exactly what my hips are doing are doing right now and it KILLS. 

Anyways, it appears I can end my blog strike because there is an end in sight, although I'm not sure what that end will be (c-section or regular delivery). As I expected, I had NO progress at my appointment this morning. I'm proud to say I didn't cry (at first) when I heard this news and I also didn't cry when he stripped my membranes for the third and final time (OUCH). I saved all the crying for Clark and Booker when I got home... Mommy, sad? Yes, Booker, just a little bit. 

Since I am officially past my due date and doctors generally don't like VBAC candidates to go past 40 weeks, something has to be done. My doctor would like that something to be a c-section (either tomorrow or Wednesday) for a couple of reasons. Apparently I have a rather difficult and unusual cervix. Something is amiss, a "band" around it that is preventing me from dilating past 1 cm. I'm also measuring small which could be an indication that the baby isn't growing properly or my fluid is low. 

Although it was INCREDIBLY tempting to just schedule the c-section (I could hold my baby tomorrow!!!), I didn't feel like those were reasons enough to do so. I've waited this long, I can wait a little bit longer. Plus, I don't want to spend the rest of my life wondering what could have been if I had been a little more patient. 

In the meantime, I have an ultrasound this afternoon to check on the little guy. I'm nervous because I feel like they'll be looking for any little reason to cut him out. I also have an induction date scheduled for Tuesday, September 2nd. Yes, that is OVER A WEEK FROM NOW! AHHHHHHGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH. Because my doctor is going out of town and because of Labor Day, that was the soonest available spot. Ideally, I'll go into spontaneous labor before then and if my detachable hips are any indication, I could be expelling this child anytime now. But I won't hold my breath. 

On a lighter note, my sister is driving down from Prescott this afternoon and staying the week. I can't tell you how happy I am to have the company and some form of distraction from everything. Booker is also brimming with excitement and keeps asking about RieRie coming. Hopefully we can find fun things to do that don't involve thinking about cervixes (cervices?) or uteruses (uteri?). 


Thursday, August 21, 2008

Worst Blog Striker Ever


Ok, I promise I won't blog any more about this baby or why he isn't here yet because I'm just as sick of hearing about it as you are, but once again, I couldn't resist. Last night Clark brought home Chinese food leftovers and this is what the fortune cookie said, 

"Your labors will bear sweet fruit." 

Yes, yes... but WHEN!?!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

I know I said Blog Strike, but I couldn't resist...

EVICTION NOTICE
Date: August 20, 2008
To: Baby Proffitt
To the above tenant in possession of below described premises:

I am issuing 7 day notice for EVICTION. You will have 7 days in which you can either gather your belongings and promptly vacate the premises, or wait until the final day. After which, you will be physically removed from the property.

You are being evicted due to breech of contract and destruction of property. Expansions only to the FRONT of the house, within reasonable limits, were discussed. Not only have these limits been exceeded, but additions to the back of the house were also made!

Remodeling and gutting of the home was never approved, nor was changing the initial layout and base structure. And due to property damage, there are now leaks in both the upper AND lower levels of the home. On top of which, the landlord has received numerous complaints about nightly disturbances.

After 7 days from this day that you don't comply with the notice will result in immediate and forceful removal at my discretion.

Thank you for your cooperation
Love, Mommy

Monday, August 18, 2008

Speed Post

With Margaret on Blog strike, I present for your enjoyment - Speed Blogging:
  • 1 cm, 60-70% effaced, -1. Membranes restripped. Ugh.
  • Dr. is willing to induce but not without more progress, and not for at least another week. Also willing to let Marg go past her due date. Good or bad? Not sure. Ugh, ugh.
  • I have received the first paycheck of my post-collegiate career. (deep breath) AAAAHHHHHHHH.
  • We saw Kung Fu Panda on Saturday. Skadoosh.
  • There is no way those Chinese girls are 16. No. Way.
  • We're settling into the ward. No callings yet. Amen.
  • We have pretty much settled on a baby name. We will let you all know what it is as soon as it is too late to talk us out of it. His middle name will probably be Blaine. His first name will probably be weird.
  • Booker is living off of Mac n Cheese, chocolate sippy, and corn. His diapers are... Spectacular.
  • The new season of The Hills starts tonight. Holy Crap we need to have this baby.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Blog Strike

I'm on a blog strike, an answering the phone strike, and pretty much an overall life strike until this baby comes or I have a date for his arrival. The only activities I will participate in are:
- Playing solitaire, sudoku, or crossword puzzles on Clark's iPhone. 
- Reading novels. 
- Watching the Olympics. 
- Eating large amounts of junk food. 

I want to crawl under a rock and die. 

Monday, August 11, 2008

Pregnant Rage

Uhhhhh.... just so you know: Do NOT tell your 9-months pregnant wife that you will be home at 6-ish and then roll in at 6:20. Rookie mistake - My bad.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

SO DONE

Today I wore a white skirt to church and during Sunday school I had to get up in front of everyone to pee (don't worry, this isn't going anywhere bad). As I walked out of the gym, I thought to myself, "What if my water broke right now or I started bleeding all over my white skirt?" Well, here was my conclusion: I wouldn't be embarrassed ONE BIT. In fact, I would jump up, do a heel click, scream "SEE YA, SUCKERS" and run all the way to the hospital. 

I'm so done being pregnant. For every day that this baby continues to stay inside of me, I'm going to withhold an ounce of breast milk/formula from his feedings. I'm having terrible thoughts... like maybe I should just schedule the c-section and at least have a date to look forward to. When I see other pregnant women, I imagine inflicting pain upon them if they have their babies before me. Its getting bad. 

I know I officially still have two weeks left, but I'm telling you, this guy is done cooking. I really believe that he'd be fine coming anytime now. There have been a lot of indications that labor is right around the corner (I'll spare you the disgusting details, I won't spare Clark though, poor guy) but still nothing. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I even tried castor oil on Thursday night. It made me horribly sick and gave me painful (but irregular contractions) for about a day. Then nothing. I go walking at the mall for hours at a time. I'm even taking evening primrose oil and red raspberry leaf supplements, and I HATE all that homeopathic junk. It seems like every other pregnant woman this far along is getting induced or at least has the option of doing so. I've got a deadline (at 40 weeks, my only option is a c-section) and I can't be induced. So my body better do what its supposed to and it better do it soon. 

So what are your labor-inducing suggestions? I'll do anything at this point. I've got another doctor's appointment tomorrow and if there's no progress, I'm going to go find a rattlesnake and let it sink its venomous fangs into my gigantic belly. 

Saturday, August 9, 2008

A Walk in the Wash


For the past week, Clark has been waking up at five in the morning to go running because he's nuts. Well, on one of his runs he discovered a little trail that runs through the wash that surrounds our neighborhood. Since we love to take family walks and since I'm sick of walking (waddling) through our neighborhood streets, I was delighted with this new discovery. Today, after the rain stopped, we decided to go check it out. 

Now at the moment Booker had three major concerns in life- bugs, thunder and rain (he's also afraid of dirt because on one of our walks he encountered a dirt clod that resembles a bug). Now every night we when put him down, we have to sit on his bed and go through this routine:
"No rain, Mom."
"No rain, Booker. Listen."
pause
"Yeah, no rain."
"No "unner, Mom."
"No, no thunder, Booker. Listen."
pause
"Yeah, no 'unner."
"Mom, no bugs."
"No, no bugs, Booker."
"Scary bugs."
And sometimes there's a No Dirt routine as well. 

Well, our walk today was somewhat enjoyable. Booker insisted on being held the entire time because he was scared of bugs and thunder. But he really enjoyed spotting and pointing out all the lizards that were scurrying about. It was also pretty muggy from the recent storm. In the winter, it will be a great little trail and hopefully by then Booker will be less of a wuss. 

Here's the hill that failed to throw me into labor but gave me a terrible (and probably useless) contraction. 

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Large Marge

The other day I was at the car wash and when I handed the guy my ticket, he asked me how far along I was. My first thought was, "YIKES! How does this complete stranger know I'm pregnant?!? That's so creepy!" And then he pointed at my belly. Oh yeah, I guess I'm showing. 

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Minerva Teichert

Chances are, if you've ever flipped through a copy of the Ensign then you've seen a Minerva Teichert painting. You may not know, however, that she was a pretty interesting and rather amazing woman... a sort of cowgirl with a paintbrush. There is so much I love about this woman... I could go on and on. First, her name was Minerva Bernetta. You've got to be a strong female to go through life with a name like that. She paid her way through art school by performing rope tricks, Indian dances and sketching medical cadavers. She wore her characteristic headband to "keep her brains in." She paid for her kids tuition at BYU by donating the Book of Mormon paintings that still hang in the JSB. She had an extraordinary understanding of the human figure and people often came to her with broken bones. At funerals, she would help herself to a bouquet of flowers. A day or two later she would present the grieving family with a still life of the bouquet. She was an outspoken political conservative who fought to keep bootleggers out of her hometown and spoke out in support of women's rights. Although she was one of the top students at the Chicago Art Institute, she chose to return West and marry her sweetheart. She chose her faith and family without forsaking her art. I recommend reading this Ensign article and this BYU Magazine article to learn some more about her life. But if you don't have time for that, then here are some of my favorite excerpts:
She had a mission as an artist and that she should place her art in the service of her faith. Minerva later recorded how Robert Henri asked her, shortly before she left New York, whether any artist had ever told the “great Mormon story.” " ‘Not to suit me,’ I answered. ‘Good Heavens, girl, what a chance. You do it. You’re the one. Oh, to be a Mormon.’ I said to him, ‘You could be.’ He paused almost reverently for a moment, then answered, ‘That’s your birthright. You feel it. You’ll do it well.’ I felt that I had been commissioned.” (Unpublished ms., 1947.)
Herman and Minerca made their new home on a cattle ranch at Cokeville, Wyoming, where Minerva painted scenes of the “Bottoms” in a frieze around the living room. For more than forty years, this room was both Minerva’s studio and the hub of the Teichert household. She cooked meals on a wood-burning stove, occasionally adding a touch to a painting as she cooked. Every night while the family ate supper, she read to them—literature, history, and the scriptures.
In that same living room she developed a strong, original style as she painted hundreds of murals, portraits, and other works. The conditions were far from ideal for painting. The room was too small to spread out her larger murals. She sometimes had to fold the canvas, painting
one section at a time. To see her murals in perspective, she would look into the large end of a pair of binoculars. The room had no north-facing window, so the light was constantly shifting. Distractions were constant. But somehow Minerva persisted. “I must paint,” she once explained." (Unpublished ms., 1947.)In the early years of her marriage, money for paint was scarce. Often Minerva painted and sketched on masonite, scraps of wood, even brown paper. Although she valued her gift, she never overvalued her individual paintings. One of her sons rescued a Minerva Teichert self-portrait on a board she had been using when she chopped off chicken’s heads.
Perhaps even more important than her generosity with the few material goods she had was the way she tirelessly shared her spiritual gifts. Once, Minerva met a young woman who was considered the “ugly duckling” of her family. Minerva told her, “Why, you are one of the most beautiful girls I’ve ever seen,” and told her she wanted to paint her. “That girl blossomed because someone had recognized her beauty,” says Shirley Teichert, Minerva’s daughter-in-law.

She considered her art another of her Church callings and had grand dreams of a great art school in Salt Lake City. Ted Wassmer, an artist who knew Minerva when he was a young
man, recalls her telling him that she would love to paint the ceiling of the Salt Lake Tabernacle, much as Michelangelo had painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Minerva Teichert was a rancher’s wife and a gardener, a raiser of children and chickens, a maker of butter and biscuits, but at heart she was a storyteller, a teacher who found her greatest eloquence in bold brushstrokes on her entry-room wall.

Minerva Teichert lived her life at the border between the rustic and the refined, walking with one foot in the frontier and the other in the circles of culture and high society.

Minerva quickly emerged as a top student in her crowded art classes. When people questioned her choice of subjects for her art, she’d say, “There’s too much sagebrush in my blood to forget the beauties of rugged mountains [and] dry plains.”

But choosing marriage and family hardly meant forsaking art. To hear her describe it, one would think she had little choice in the matter. “I must paint,” Teichert would say. “It’s a disease.” Nothing—not the ranching duties she fulfilled, lead poisoning from her paints, or failing eyesight in later years—could keep her from painting.

Those who knew Minerva Teichert best say the only skill that rivaled her ability to paint was her ability to talk. Most often, the two went together. Children and grandchildren universally recall coming in from the fields to use the bathroom or get a drink of water only to be detained as models for the current mural. And while they held their figures just so, Teichert provided her captives with lessons in art, scripture quotations, and commentary on the political problems of America.

And finally, Gordon B. Hinckley had this to say about Minerva Teichert, "She was a very impressive woman. She was a very personable woman. She wasn't an unapproachable, stiff-necked artist. You could tell a Minerva Teichert painting if you bumped into it in China. I respect her for her qualities and tremendous artistry that she has shown."


When I worked at the BYU Museum of Art, I got to handle a lot of her works (which wasn't easy since some of them were so huge). Although I love her paintings, her prints (like the study of the Indian and her self portrait) are my favorite. I felt a certain reverence when I held those pieces in my hands. Its not easy being an LDS artist and trying to win respect, but Minerva Teichert was definitely a remarkable painter, an extraordinary woman and a faithful Latter-day Saint. I can only hope to be half as much.



New Template

I've learned that my poor Grandma Tueller was having trouble with the contrast of our last template and my Grandpa had to read all of our posts aloud to her. Well, I hope this template is little easier to read and if not, then I'm internet hinting at my brother David to make a trip to Lehi to teach her how to leave a comment.

Also, Spumoni ice cream is really yummy. 

Another Cervical Update

Dear Avid Blog Reader(s),
I'm sure you're DYING to know the state of my cervix and I'm here to tell you not too much has changed since last week. I'm still 1 cm dilated but I've progressed to 60% effaced and the baby is at a -1 station... he has to progress from a -4 (floating) to a +4 (crowning). As my doctor put it, "Whoa, there's his head... that is one low baby!" Hooray, I like low babies! He's pretty confident that I won't go past my due date and he also thinks I'll have a fast labor (good thing we live five minutes from the hospital). I'm not sure what he's basing that on, but I'll take it. I think my mom had fast labors. If I recall correctly, she showed up at an Egyptian hospital 8 cm dilated feeling a little off and quickly delivered Marie. Anyways, the more I see my doctor, the more I like him. Today he timidly suggested that I request an early epidural and I felt like Amy Poehler in this scene from Baby Mama. Enjoy... and I'll report back in one week.