Ruby Mae Trimble

Ruby made her appearance on Tuesday, September 29, 2009, at 2:16 PM. She was 8 lbs. 1 oz (glad she was 2 weeks early!) and 22" long. She is my longest baby I've had. We don't think she was really 8.1. When they weighed her, she wet all over the scale--I am sure that added to the weight! When we left the hospital she was down to 7 lbs so I am not sure she would really lose that much weight. Anyway... For posterity sake, I want to include her birth story, so if that bores you, just scroll down to the photos.

After getting to bed on Monday night, the hospital called at 3:20 AM saying they had a bed open. We told them we could be there in an hour. We hurried and got showers so we could be fresh, then headed to the hospital. We got checked in and in our room.


I got all changed and did all the paper work and my nurse got my IV started, etc. She got my antibiotics started for group B strep, my fluids going and she started a low drip of pitocin. I was dilated to 3 when I got there, so she didn't see a need to do any gels or anything. After I got the first round of antibiotics in, I had to wait 4 hours between doses, so we just kind of hung out to pass the time. Brian slept. I watched TV and read magazines. I was starting to have some pain...not really much but enough to where I was thinking I don't want this to get a lot more painful without an epidural. It was about 7:30 and the nurse said there was a C-Section at 8, so she would put me first on the list for an epidural right after the anesthesiologist was done with that. I was able to wait just fine and around 9 I got my epidural. Heavenly! I warned her about a previous spinal headache, she she made sure not to go in too far. She said I was "shallow" so she could see how easy it would be for someone to go in too far. So with that, I had a nice, easy, pain-free delivery! There was one little spot on my left side that didn't get numb right away, but after a push or two of the button, I was all numb.

I got the second round of antibiotics at 10:15 and Dr. McKernan came and broke my water at 11:10 and I was dilated to a 4. At 12:15 I was at a 6 and at 1:05 I was at an 8. After I was at an 8, I felt some more pressure, so I called the nurse in. My regular nurse was next door with a lady who ended up delivering the same time I did, but another nurse came in and checked me. She said I was close but not all the way complete. She sat me up and before long I felt a lot more pressure. I called the nurse's station and another nurse came in and I told her. She didn't seem to speak much English and basically said, "OK. Thank you." We were like. Hello? Did you not just get what I told you. Then she went and sat back down at the nurse's station! Before long I sent my mom and Brian out there and they told the first fill-in nurse that I was feeling more pressure, so she hopped up and checked me. She said, "Yeah. Don't sit up, don't cough, don't laugh, don't move." I was at a 10 and she was ready to come out. This was a few minutes after 2 and Dr. McKernan had a C-Section at two. So she laid my down, turned off the pitocin and wanted me to wait until he was done. Before I knew it, Dr. M was in the room. I told him that was a fast C-Section! He said that he didn't get to do it--the nurse went and got him saying he needed to deliver me first. So he was in the room around 2:10 and maybe two pushes later, baby was born at 2:16. Fast!





She looked great. Brian went with her as the nurses weighed her and cleaned her off, etc. and while I got all cleaned up. After she was all cleaned up, we took her for a bit and tried to decide on a name! She was the hardest I think. We had a few names that we both liked, but trying to find one that fit her and sounded good took a while. We wanted to have her name by the time my parents left the hospital to pick up the girls from school. We knew they would want to know all the details. I was really thinking about Matilda and Brian really thought Ruby would be best. After talking some more we decided on Ruby Mae. I had just read a GREAT book (called Women of Virtue) and there was a little snippet in there about rubies and what precious gems they are. So that made it a little more meaningful to name her that. And Mae is kind of a take off of my maiden name. So Ruby Mae it was!

Soon after I ate and tried to rest. We had some visitors. Brian went with Ruby for her first little bath. Brian stayed the night with me. The rest of the hospital stay was pretty typical...tried to rest but with nurses in and out all night and a new baby sometimes I didn't get as much as I'd hoped! And the bed was extremely uncomfortable. I did enjoy having my meals served right to me though. I could get used to that. I am glad everything went well and that she arrived healthy.