original little hellraisers

(more photos here)

august 3rd, 2008

(6:50pm): checked into cpmc — went to the old ob checkin. they’re remodeling, we had to walk around the hospital. thank god kara isn’t in active labor. she would have been pissed.

(6:58pm): kara gets her last bit of blood drawn (yay!) michelle helped her out.

(7:10pm): sequel named daudrey (dylan if it’s a boy, audrey if it’s a girl). we’re officially checked into room 234. we’re on the old side of the building. but we have this awesome view of where the ambulances drive in.

(7:14pm): shirley, our first nurse arrives on her shift.

(7:25pm): kara gets her first i.v. unlike owen’s birth, kara was stuck only once to get the i.v. in.

(7:34pm): ordered our food via burma superstar - we’re surprised to find out that no one knows about burma at the hospital — it’s an awesome resteraunt.

(8:00pm): back with food. can’t quite figure out why there are so many elevators that don’t go to the right floors. this place is like a maze. nurse just told me that this is to prevent people from running off with babies. so it is purposefully confusing. that’s both reassuring and terrifying.

(8:20pm): shanghai knights is on. yay for jackie chan.

(8:33pm): bonnie masa shows up to check in on kara. she’s a doctor. baby cannon still at 1cm, kara gets her first magic pill to help, erm, prime the cannon.

(9:00pm): we start watching 21. movie might suck.

(11:00pm): movie is mediocre. at one point the main character poses as a “video game designer from the west coast” — at this point, i know the movie is f.o.s. — screenwriter fail.

(11:15pm): we turn in for the night. try to get as much sleep as we can.

august 4th, 2008

(12:30am): second magic pill consumed. kim, one of our two fantastic night nurses, shows up to assist.

(4:30am): third magic pill! they were convinced there’d only be two. robyn, our other night nurse, takes awesome care of kara. baby cannon only at 1.5cm.

(8:05am): heather, our morning nurse, starts.

(8:35am): baby cannon at 2.5cm.

(9:00am): pitocin (the synthetic labor inducing drug) is administered. things should clip along now.

(9:15am): kara gets some antibiotics — she tested positive for strep b. heather predicting high sixes, low sevens for the baby weight.

(9:45am): we’re bored. started watching superbad.

(10:10am): epidural requested. dr. tamara shows up and gets quickly to work. she is absolutely awesome and takes great, great care of kara. she takes the time to explain everything — makes the epidural experience much different than it was with owen.

(10:25am): epidural done — kara feels much, much better. we all start talking about home repairs with dr. tamara.

(10:55am): we just learned a ton about or anesthesiologist. she’s from connecticut, loves coffee and gardening, lives in san francisco and is currently adding a garage and a bathroom to her house. meanwhile, kara can’t feel a thing, the contractions are getting stronger.

(11:22am): superbad = hilarious

(11:35am): starting the process to, erm, break the water. and we found out that it broke for her. once again, the threat of the water break caused the water to… break. contractions are far more regular at this point… doctor is impressed. amniotic fluid is clean. yay.

(11:37am): baby cannon at 3cm.

(11:51am): bon iver plays at kara’s request. she’s going to take a little nap now.

(11:52am): guesses at times: kara - 3:51pm, heather (nurse) - 3:25pm, me - 5pm.

(12:33pm): moving onto elvis perkins.

(1:34pm): erm, cannon sitting at 9.5cm! that was quick… contractions about a minute apart. i’m going to lose the time bet.

(1:46pm): rosemarie takes over for heather (who is on break) and starts getting the room all prepped. no one is calling dr. yee (they all call her becky, that’s weird to us) — so we’re not worried.

(2:00pm): heather is back — checking kara again. baby cannon ready to go at 10cm.

(2:11pm): moving to bishop allen.

(2:38pm): sequel just chilling — waiting on the doctor to arrive. they mentioned pushing soon. so, we’ll keep you posted. hi aimee.

(2:44pm): pushing has started. heather effing rules. kara rules more. still the pro pusher.

(2:54pm): kara requests elvis perkins for the birth. pushing starting in earnest. they think this isn’t going to take long.

(2:58pm): nurse is procrastinating for the doctor to arrive.

(3:02pm): starting. dr. yee is here.

(3:06pm) : she’s done. that must have been a world record. moon woman two is playing, by elvis perkins. we’ll post the stats in a minute.

(3:06pm): dylan oliver chowanec (”doc”) arrives in the world — safe and sound. largely uneventful. yes, it’s a boy.

(3:22pm): he is latching well. early inspection reveals the details (he hasn’t been measured or weighed yet) — huge feet, huger toes — they’re super long. he has one dimple (that we can see) on his right cheek. this is so much more calm than it was last time. kara gets to soak it in in a much different way — she got to breastfeed right away, i got to cut the chord. our doctor was here this time.

i wish i could explain the profound nature of all of this to those who don’t have kids. it’s amazing. even the little cry is cute. he is this bit of human mathematics that is both me and kara.

stats:

name: dylan oliver chowanec
date of birth: august 4th, 2008
time of birth: 3:06pm
weight: 6 pounds, 13 ounces.
length: 19 inches

bands: elvis perkins, modest mouse, stars, do make say think, national, bon iver, mercury program, bishop allen.