November 2005 Article
Tom's version of events
The obvious big news:
Victoria "Tori" Anne Schenk
Delivered Monday, Nov. 21, 2005 at 7:38 a.m.
8lbs. 2oz.
20 1/4" long
Good amount of black hair
Cute as a button
Meggan had "Braxton Hicks" contractions most of the weekend; especially at night. Sunday night around 9:00 p.m., the contractions started being consistent at seven minutes apart for a full hour. Meggan tried to figure out if these were the real thing while I slept. Around 12:30 or so, we decided it was time to go to the hospital. After finishing packing and loading up the van, we brought the kids into the van to take them to Fred & Jody's house for the night. Jody tucked the kids in and met us in triage at St. Vincent's Women's Hospital.
Check-in went very smoothly and Meggan was officially "admitted". Jody, Meggan, and I talked through the night. Meggan was afraid if she fell asleep that the contractions would slow down, and she was ready to deliver this baby. The room was very nice and the nurses were great. The essential epidural was administered around 4:00 a.m. After the epidural, Meggan had no pain until the last twenty minutes. Unfortunately, at 7:00 a.m. Jody had to be back home to get Alex & Delaney to school and to entertain Noah & Adam. She was missed during the final twenty minutes.
Fast forwarding to the "big show", at around 7:15 Meggan started to really feel the urge to push. The nurses purposely let the epidural slow so that Meggan can push hard enough. Of course that means the pain really starts to hurt. After twenty minutes of pushing, Tori finally shows her whole body. She was very pink when first coming out as well as having a good pair of lungs. Mommy was TOTALLY exhausted, and we both slept a lot Monday afternoon.
Back at home, Tori is being the perfect child so far. Unlike her older brothers, she hasn't pee'd on me once! She only wakes up two or three times a night to feed, then goes back to sleep. This means that Daddy only has to get up to help with a diaper or to help her fall back to sleep. She sleeps a lot during the day as well. She is being very nice to her parents so far.
Surprisingly, Adam just loves her to death. Many times a day he says "lap", which means he wants to hold her for a few seconds. He tells her "It's OK Tori" when she cries and "Good morning Tori" whenever she wakes up. He likes her to "open eyes". Noah also likes to hold Tori and tell everyone about her. He brings Meggan the boppy (nursing pillow) whenever its time to feed Tori. The boys are doing a GREAT job with her so far.
Noah's 4th birthday is Friday, Dec. 2. He has already celebrated his birthday however with both sets of grandparents.
Thanksgiving was great! Nonna, Grandpa Bovitz, and Katie visited us Monday through Friday; Grammy and Grandpa Schenk visited us Friday through Sunday; and Aunt Carol and Aunt Kitty visited us on Saturday.
Daddy is taking the week of Nov. 28 off work to help us all get settled at home. Then, Friday through Tuesday, Nonna, Grandpa Bovitz, and Katie are coming back to our house for another visit. This time, Katie is going to stay with us for a couple of months. The whole Schenk family is excited about that.