It's a girl!!!!!!! Magdalena Citlali Acuna was born on September 1st at 11: 11 pm. She weighed 7 lbs, 14.5 oz and length 20 cm.
And she has a wild birth story to tell. We first heard about Gustav the 25th of August. I had a doctor appointment on the 26th and got a copy of my prenatal records "just in case." My doctor and I also talked about evacuation plans, and how we both were thinking of going to Baton Rouge. She told me she had working privileges at one of the hospitals there. Wednesday and Thursday we watched the news and talked with friends about their plans for evacuation. At this point, Gustav was not even in the Gulf, and there was still so much uncertainty about his potential path. We were also reluctant to travel a long distance and possibly go into labor on route. I ran into our friend Anne by chance on Wednesday, and she asked if we had anywhere to stay in Baton Rouge and put us in contact with one of her friends.
By Friday, I was getting nervous, because our friends all seemed to be leaving out of town. It was a holiday weekend, and many were just going to treat it as a weekend away, whether or not the hurricane came our way. We made lots of phone calls to find out if anyone would be around to watch Tavo if I went into labor. Friday afternoon I printed out maps to Baton Rouge hospitals, and we packed our bags in case of evacuation. Mayor Nagin went to eat lunch at Lil Dizzy's and our neighbor who works there reported that he said it was more than likely that he'd call a mandatory evacuation on Sunday morning. Pages to my doctor weren't returned....
Saturday morning (my actual due date, August 30th) we spent at a playground at City Park. We had to get out of the house and try to relax. But we were really stressed. Now we had my doctor's cell phone number, but she didn't return my messages. Meanwhile the news reports looked more and more like Gustav would be a monster hurricane and mandatory evacuation was called for New Orleans. On top of all the worries of an upcoming birth, we were also preparing our house somewhat for a potential flood, cleaning out the fridge and wondering how long we would be away from home this time.
We decided to leave early Sunday after the contraflow started. Arrangements were made for T.A., a family friend, to caravan with us, just in case we needed assistance on the road. Saturday evening we barely slept. Sunday while packing the car, I felt two small gushes of liquid come out. We left for Baton Rouge and contraflow was flowing smoothly (thank god we weren't going North, as that route was really backed up). We arrived at Heidi's house around 8 am, and then got situated at her parents' house (Glenn & Della), as her house was practically an animal shelter with other New Orleans friends and their pets. We immediately made phone calls, trying to figure out if my water broke or not and decided that the only way to really know was to go to the hospital. We had many recommendations to Woman's Hospital, so that's where we went. My water hadn't broken, but I was having contractions and was 3-4 cm dialated. We went back to Glenn & Della's and I finally got some rest.
My contractions stopped during the night, but started back up at 3 am. By morning, we decided to go to Woman's Hospital. I wasn't having strong contractions, but Gustav was going to hit later that morning, so we thought it'd be better to get to the hospital before the storm. I was now dialated 4-5 cm, but my contractions weren't regular. The doctor on call came in and said I was in false labor and sent me home, with instructions to go to my appointment with my doctor in New Orleans that Friday. He acted like we had wasted his time.
Gustav's winds passed through from 11 am to 7 pm. We have since heard that they were 100-115 mph, and much stronger than those that passed over New Orleans. A neighbor's tree fell over Glenn and Della's driveway, just missing our car. Nino and Glenn cut branches so that we could get out later if we needed to. They also went for a drive to find a way to get out of the subdivision. The usual route out was blocked by fallen trees.
Around 7 pm, my contractions started to get stronger, but they still weren't regular. We were paranoid to get to the hospital too soon. At 9 pm, i had a contraction with nausea and we headed out. As soon as we made it out of the subdivision, we were stopped by a cop, as there was a curfew. Nino said "my wife is in labor. we're on our way to woman's hospital. Can you help us?" the cop shined his light on me, asked if i was in labor, i nodded my head. then he said "i'm not a doctor!" Nino had meant an escort to the hospital, but he said he wouldn't do that, but good luck, there's lots of trees down. So Nino had to navigate the 20 minute drive in complete darkness through flooded streets. It was the most stressful part of this saga for him, and he was quite relieved to arrive at the hospital.
we made it to the hospital at 925 pm, i was 8 cm dialated (10 cm is fully dialated) and sent immediately to labor and delivery. We lucked out and got a great doctor and nurse, both comfortable with natural delivery. Nino says it was very natural....all of Baton Rouge had lost power and even though the hospital had generators, AC was not being run. Delivery was intense, but short. Magdalena was born less than 2 hours after we arrived at the hospital. She has a fair amount of darkish brown hair (more than Tavo has even today!), a few rolls of fat on her legs and long, feminine looking fingers. She's just beautiful and is eating and sleeping well.
We're still overwhelmed by the whole experience, but so happy that everything worked out in the end. We are grateful for the kindess of strangers, welcoming us into their home in such of time of need. Glenn and Della watched Tavo for the 3 (!) hospitals trips, fed us and helped us in so many different ways. Neighbors brought over diapers and cute girlie clothes.
Tavo smiles at his new sister, and likes to poke her eyes, nose and mouth. Our electricity came back on last night, so we will be headed back home to New Orleans this morning . We'll be watching the news about the next approaching hurricane named Ike.
Love,
Jana, Nino, Tavo and Magdalena
