It’s amazing how in only four hours, you can go from this:
… to this:
We are so blessed! Praise God for the safe delivery of Sweet Pea on July 11, 2010, at 11:00 pm, at Yeditepe University Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey.
The U.S. has lost a future president (due to her being born outside of the country), but we have gained a beautiful new daughter. – amendment posted –
With the deadline for our international flight less than three weeks away, Lord Herndon and I had started to discuss the possibility of inducing Sweet Pea if she didn’t arrive by her due date, which was July 13. We always have our best discussions when we are walking or hiking, so we took two long walks with the kids today. During the second one, I casually commented to Lord Herndon when I was having a contraction. After a few such notices, he informed me that they were 5-7 minutes apart. We began to keep track and, after more than an hour of them, we decided to call the Royal Nanny to come and look after Prince and Princess while we went to the hospital.
At about 7:00 pm, I was only dilated 2-3 centimeters, but still having regular, if mild, contractions.
By 9:00 pm, I had not made much progress, but we wanted this labor to be as natural as possible, so we held off on any “chemical encouragement.”
Between 9:00 and 10:00 pm, I dilated up to 8 centimeters and was having such strong, painful contractions that it terrified me if Lord Herndon had to leave my side, and I actually asked for help of some kind. I got a sort of local shot in my hip which took the sharpest edge off the contractions, but that was all. By this time, I was crouching on the floor in agony. Whose idea was this, anyway?
From about 10:30 until 11:00, I turned into a screaming banshee. Poor Lord Herndon could do nothing more than grip my hand because I wouldn’t have heard his words anyway. But after only a few pushes (only?!), our third miracle was born.
Sweet Pea weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 21 inches in length. She decided to keep with tradition in that respect, for both Prince and Princess were about the same. Her hair (yes, she actually has some!) is brown, at least for the moment. And she is absolutely beautiful.
