I'm pretty sure I'm the last person in the world to discover this recipe, but I'm going to share it anyway. It's the NY Times No Knead Bread and it's pretty no fail. 
But what does the future hold for these babies? Many survivors grow up healthy; others aren't so lucky. Even the best of care cannot always spare a premature baby from lasting disabilities such as cerebral palsy; mental retardation and learning problems; chronic lung disease; and vision and hearing problems. Half of all neurological disabilities in children are related to premature birth.
Although doctors have made tremendous advances in caring for babies born too small and too soon, we need to find out how to prevent preterm birth from happening in the first place. Despite decades of research, scientists have not yet developed effective ways to help prevent premature delivery.
In fact, the rate of premature birth increased by more than 20 percent between 1990 and 2006. This trend and the dynamics underlying it underscore the critical importance and timeliness of the March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign. The rate fell to 12.3 percent in 2008 from 12.7 in 2007, a small but statistically significant decrease.
We were one of the lucky ones. Our baby came home and has thrived despite her early and tumultuous beginning. Every day I'm reminded of the fear of having a high risk pregnancy and a baby born too soon. Even looking at my full-term miracle reminds me of how hard Emma fought and how lucky we are to have her.
We were told to call the hospital at 6:30pm on Friday night to be told when we could be admitted. When I called the nurse told me that I was 3rd of 3 inductions and they were pretty busy and didn’t know when they would fit me in, but if I hadn’t heard from them by 9 to call them. I was bummed, but also knew that I didn’t have any control over it. We went home to watch a movie, but the phone rang at 7:30 and they called to let me know that I could come in!!
We checked in and got “comfortable” in our room. My nurse started the first round of cytotec (teeny tiny pill) at 9pm and I was 1cm and my cervix was pretty far back. A friend brought pinkberry for us and I didn’t even ask the nurse if I could have it, I just dug in. Turns out I wasn’t supposed to be eating, but she looked the other way and let me enjoy it. They gave me morphine to help me sleep, which was nice because the L&D beds are not for sleeping. I got another dose of cytotec at 1am, and I was still 1cm and far back, then another at 5am, still 1cm. At this point I was pretty discouraged and felt like I made a horrible decision to be induced and that my body just wasn’t ready for it. I went back to sleep and at 7:30 the nurse came in and told me to eat breakfast and take a shower and then my doctor would be there for the day. My doc came in and was super excited and chipper, the exact opposite of how I was feeling. She checked me again and I was 2-3cm and my bag of water was bulging. She had me finish eating and shower and said she’d be back to break my water. At 9:30 she came back, quickly broke my water and I got up to start walking. We made it down the hall okay, but about 15 minutes later the contractions were so bad I could barely breathe and we turned around to come back to the room. By the time we got back to the room I couldn’t even breathe through them and I felt like I was dying. I tried bouncing on the ball and it didn’t help. I got in the tub and it didn’t help either so I told the nurse I was ready for my epidural. She hooked me up to IV fluids and took her sweet time calling anesthesiology. I was on my back in the tub and was losing it. My contractions were so painful and close together that I couldn’t even remember how to breathe, my head totally was gone. I kept asking Jamie where the anesthesiologist was because it was taking so long. We finally got me out of the tub and into the bed and I was a mess. I was wet and hot and thrashing around the bed like a possessed woman. I have never felt such pain, it was so horrible. The only comfortable position was curled on my side and my nurse wanted me on my back to monitor the baby. I’m pretty sure that the words that came out of my mouth weren’t nice.
At 12pm anesthesiology finally got there and got my epi in. I was MUCH happier. I think I told the doctor that I love him J They checked me again and I was 5cm. The doc left and I promptly fell asleep. I dozed on off for a while and we got kind of bored so we decided to start a movie. The nurse came in at 1:30 and decided to check me again – I was 10cm! It only took me 1.5 hours to go from 5-10!
I started pushing a little after 2, my doctor came around 2:30 and things got more serious. It was kind of surreal. With Emma’s birth there were so many people in the delivery room and people walking in and out – it wasn’t peaceful at all. With Quinn there were only ever 2-4 people (besides myself) in there and everyone was focused on me, it was quiet and really lovely. Everyone kept commenting on how much hair the baby had and between contractions my nurse and doctor were playing with it, it was kind of funny.
After about an hour of pushing and her not getting past my pelvic bone I was once again very frustrated and kept asking at what point do they decide I can’t do it and a c/s is in order. My nurse told me that she was in my pelvic cavity and was coming out vaginally regardless, so I better just get her out. I think enough of my epi finally wore off and pushing clicked and we made some progress. She came past my pelvic bone and her head came out. At this point my urge to push was lasting between contractions so I kept pushing even though my body wasn’t contracting. My doctor was wearing reflective glasses and I was actually able to see most of the delivery reflected back at me. I continued to push and my doctor asked me to stop. I waited a second and she told me to laugh really hard – I did, and out Quinn came – I “laughed” my baby out. She went right onto my chest , it was amazing. Everyone was crying and I was laughing too and it was the best feeling I could possibly imagine. So different than Emma’s birth and everything I could have hoped for and more.
When she came out everyone commented on how big she was – my doctor guessed 8+ pounds, but she weighed in at 6lbs 15oz. I only tore a tiny bit, which was great. Jamie did an awesome job and was right there in the thick of it. He kept looking at her being born and kind of freaking out, but would never stop looking. It was so peaceful and perfect and I really couldn’t have asked for a better delivery. My doctor, nurse and Jamie really went above and beyond to make sure that it was happy and positive and I’m really thankful for that J
