The Little Sister we've all been waiting for...

Elise Jane Odegaard is here, and we couldn't be happier to welcome her! Here's how she made her entrance:

On Friday evening after dinner two contractions stopped me in my tracks. So we went to the park with Kalina and played in a giant sandpit. The contractions stopped, but we nevertheless warned Kalina that sometime soon, she might wake up in the morning to find Grandpa or Aunt Nancy greeting her instead of Mommy and Daddy.

"And Grandpa will talk to Camel and Skunk and Chicken," said Kalina of some of her favorite puppets. Eager to ease the girl's mind, we heartily agreed.

The contractions began again around 9:00. How convenient! The very beginning of a weekend, Kalina forewarned, and a whole evening to figure out whether or not to go to the hospital, without having to smile through the pain so the toddler wouldn't get upset. I hoped this was it.

After finishing packing, we headed off to bed, where I surprised myself by falling asleep for half an hour.

The contractions intensified enough that by 3:00, we were blinking sleepily at the night staff at the hospital, who were blinking back at us. Having a second baby is a lot less exhilarating than having a first baby (but fortunately, much calmer and more enjoyable in general).

Labor and Delivery was quite full, but we were settled into a room by a very nice nurse.

When my water broke at 4:00, I was a mere 1 centimeter along. I asked the doctor offhand at what point I could get the epidural, remembering last time how long I'd labored on pitocin without one thanks to a certain nurse, and how I'd sworn, and made Matt swear, that I'd never be doing that again. My contractions subsided on their own a bit when the doctor cheerfully told me I could get one at any time since there was no doubt I'd be having a baby today. My humor improved remarkably, and I may have even smiled.

Not one to be a complete baby myself (only 95%, really), I decided to walk the halls first, knowing I wouldn't be able to after I was hooked up. After 30 minutes, I gave in and requested the epidural, which was finally administered 1 hour and 45 minutes later. Good thing I asked when I did.

And as the anesthesiologist was finishing up, the nurses changed shifts, and in walked the exact same nurse I'd endured last time. Seriously?!?!?! She was famous (in my mind) for her complete lack of sympathy to pain and for delaying my epidural last time far beyond my comfort zone.

"Hah!" I thought triumphantly. The epidural is in! And you can't do anything about it!" She did, however, remark to my comment about "I can still feel some contractions," that "early epidurals" sometimes don't do as well as blocking out pain. Fine, I will happily accept the fact that I'm an "early epidural" type, now that the needle is happily planted in my back.

I couldn't wait to be one of those people I hear about, who relax, take it easy, laugh and even nap while their bodies prepare for delivery without so much as a hiccup to make them uncomfortable. Call it nurses revenge, but I was only allowed to lay on my side, a position that got old after about 15 minutes. Additionally, the epidural never fully "took" on my left side, while my right side maintained an annoying tingly feeling for hours even after delivery. Yuck. Still, I was able to relax for a short time.

A very short time, in fact. An hour and a half later, I noticed the contractions I was feeling with my not-completely-numb left side were starting to get worse. I casually asked for a nurse. And then they got even worse. I demanded Matt simultaneously stay by my side and run to the nurse's station between contractions and insist, not taking no for an answer, that they "turn up" the epidural. (Is that even possible?)

And then they got even worse, as my nurse finally walked in the door. As we were flipping me to my left side in an attempt to solve the problem, she completely and totally redeemed all her prior shortcomings by getting the bright idea to check on the baby.

Who she immediately determined was now completely ready to be pushed out. It was only 9:00 a.m.--I'd figured I had until at least noon, second pregnancy notwithstanding. Matt had only recently walked back in the door after having breakfast in the cafeteria.

The nurse scurried around the room, readying the equipment and calling a doctor while Matt did his utmost to help me relax through the contractions--a mighty task in the panic that ensued from hearing point-blank from the nurse that not only was my epidural wasn't working correctly, but that there was nothing that could be done for the pain at this point. And then in a flood of relief and only a few pushes, with the doctor barely arriving in time (I almost had to beg the nurse to deliver the baby instead), little Elise popped out, crying happily (to her Mommy, anyway) and was plopped onto my tummy. And just like that, I was no longer in pain and was instead entranced with my new little baby girl.

Baby Elise was born at 9:31 a.m., weighing 6 lbs, 3.8 oz and 19.5 inches in length. She's spunky and sweet. Her dark, dark hair is soft and plentiful, and her little mouth is a perfect deep pink and nicely shaped. Her eyes are dark blue. Her skin is clear and rosy, and she's just beautiful. After lots of examination, I believe of all of us, she looks most like Kalina. Go figure. She smells nice, too.

Except for some serious napping yesterday afternoon, Elise has been quite alert--a little too alert for our determination that "this one just has to sleep better than Kalina." However, it's cute to see her little eyes looking around.

I haven't had nearly enough time to play with her (she's sleeping in my arms right now), and am itching to learn her little personality, having discovered that that's the fun part of having kids.

And the heart murmur? It's left doctors, residents and nurses all a bit confused--no one can really hear it! Has it already closed? An echocardiogram tomorrow will tell.

We couldn't help but comment on how similar (relatively) my two deliveries have been. With each, labor started as we were winding down on a Friday evening. Contractions were always predictable and 4-5 minutes apart to begin. My water broke at 4:00 a.m.-ish in both cases. I progressed quite quickly once I got started, and pushing was no big deal either time. Kalina was delivered at 39 weeks 1 day, whereas Elise was at 39 weeks even.

Kalina visited (along with Grandpa and Aunt Nancy) in the afternoon. Scared of the IV tube still in my arm, she wouldn't let me hold or hug her, preferring instead to smile and wave and lightly touch my hand. She also waved many times at her little sister, gestures of peace and goodwill that I hope will last them at least through the first few months, if not their lifetimes. Elise, for her part, slept through most of the visit and only cried a tiny bit, thus not traumatizing her older sister too much.

Second-time motherhood has so far been calm and nice. Why is it that now getting a "break" is eating hospital cafeteria food while only caring for a newborn, whereas last time it really took my and Matt's full-time attention to keep our household running? I'm sure there will be a whole blog dedicated to this idea in the future.

Meanwhile, it hasn't taken Elise long to wrap us both around her little finger--she's quite endearing, as I'm sure you can imagine. We're so proud and grateful to God for our two wonderful little girls, and we can't wait to see how our little family takes shape.

More pictures to come--and we promise that Kalina was smiling just before the shutter clicked in our family picture!