Elena was born at 5:26 PM on Thursday, November 16, 2006. Since Beth had been in early labour for two and a half weeks (!) already (the medical term is prodromal labour), and she was now ten days past her due date, we went in on Thursday morning for some pre-induction tests to see how little Elena was doing in there. She was a happy and strong little baby, but they discovered that there was very little amniotic fluid in the uterus, and so it was decided that we should induce labour right away, rather than waiting a few more days as would otherwise have been done.
Now, during those weeks of endless early labour, Beth had already gotten a good head start on things and went into the induction with 4 cm dilation already accomplished. As a result, after only three and a half hours of labour and forty minutes of pushing, Elena was born! Beth is still regaining her strength, but she is doing well and loves her little girl lots and lots. Dad is doing well, and everyone says he is clearly in love.
Elena is a happy and content little girl, who seems to find this whole-crazy-new-world-with-lights-and-sounds-and-colours-and-smells-and-stuff thing very interesting! She is quite strong and can already lift up her head and look around (though eye focus is still a trick to be conquered). Aside from eating and snuggling, her favourite form of entertainment so far is watching the visualiser effects on the computer screen as it plays techno music (her favourite in the womb). One can see the "Wow..." on her face every time!
Look for more info on the adventures of the bunny-eared wonder and her parents soon.
