Abigail Rose Baxter.
Weighing in at 6lbs. 6oz. and at 18in. long Abigail is a beautiful bundle of joy. She was born on 3/8/2007 at 2:24 am at Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital.
Ellie started to labor around midday on 3/6/07. I got a call from her around 1:30 and headed home to be with her. Things progressed very well for several hours and contractions were coming regularly at eight minutes apart and then around 8:00 that night they just stopped. We awoke the Wednesday morning to some very minor contractions and Ellie insisted that I go back to work, because she didn’t think anything was going to happen. I had a gut feeling that she was wrong and I stayed home to be with her. Around 8:00 Wednesday morning, my gut proved to be right. The contractions started up very regularly and increased in regularity and strength.
At 1:45 that afternoon we were to have a regular office visit at the OB/GYN office, but at 1:15 Ellie and I decided that we would just head to the hospital. So, we loaded the car, got ourselves ready, and headed off. As we headed to the hospital Ellie said that she was worried that the contractions had stopped again and to me to go to the regular doctors appointment: I again had a gut feeling that that was not the right decision, so we agreed to proceed to the hospital and see what was happening. On the way to the hospital I was excited and nervous, and as we neared the hospital there were police cars and fire trucks beginning to block the road to allow a medical helicopter to land. The police officer approached our car and told me I would have to wait till the helicopter landed and left before I could enter the hospital parking lot. I told the officer that I had my pregnant wife on board and she was in labor, so he waved us through and into the parking lot we went.
We were greeted by a nurse in the women’s center who then examined Ellie and told us that she was dilated at 5 cm. So, we were admitted and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening laboring. Ellie eventually opted to have an epidural at around 10:30 pm and that eased the intense pain she was having, but also eased the contractions and slowed the process down. Around 1:30 am on 3/8/07 our OB doctor ordered pitocin to be administered to Ellie to get things moving again. Within 15 minutes of the pitocin being administered the nurses were calling Dr. Williams to come quickly, because Ellie was ready to go and Abigail wanted to get OUT!!! Dr Williams came into the room at about 2:10 am and by 2:24 am, Abigail was out and everyone was overjoyed.
After a time to get everything cleaned up we first called my Dad who couldn’t be with us and was recovering at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, because of a scheduled heart catheterization the day before. We told my dad the name of the baby and all the stats. he was elated and told us he would be released later that morning and would be up in the afternoon to see us and Abigail. After talking to dad, I went down the hall to the waiting room and told the rest of the family that Ellie had given birth and asked them to come to her room. When the all gathered around Ellie’s bed and saw Ellie holding Abigail; I told everyone that here name would be Abigail Rose Baxter. We had to wait another day before we were allowed to come home, but we are getting in the groove of things now that we’re home.
I’ll have more to share in the coming days, but that’s all for now.
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