Birth Story and Namesake

I have been meaning to record Juliet's birth story so that I don't forget and give a little explanation on the selection of her name....

Birth Story:
I started feeling contractions at 4 a.m. on Sunday, September 18th.  They were about 7/8 minutes apart and lasting about 30 seconds each.  My mom and I got all ready for the hospital, took showers, fed the animals, etc.  We were all ready to have a baby by 7 a.m. but my contractions were still about 8 minutes apart.  So I walked.  I walked the dog a mile, then came back and paced in the house most of the morning.  I was getting tired so I sat down for a while.  When I did this my contractions slowed to 12/15 minutes apart....so I decided not to do that again.  I resumed walking and added step aerobics.  My mom sat with me in the living room reading to me about labor and birth, and watching a movie the whole time.  In the afternoon we took the walking outside.  We did laps around the back yard.  My contractions were still only 6/7 minutes apart.  In the late afternoon my mom continued reading to my as I paced in the backyard.  Finally by 5 p.m. my contractions had been 4/5 minutes apart for an hour.

We arrived at the hospital around 6: 30 p.m.  I was only 3 cm (major disappointment).  Once I was all settled in, I walked for another 2/3 hours in the hospital.  The doctor then checked me again and I was still 3 cm (even more disappointing).  I was so sleepy I was falling asleep in between contractions.  All I wanted to do was sleep.  Since I was progressing so slowly I decided to have the epidural so I could go to bed.  I had my epidural around 10pm and my water was broken.  I never felt another contraction. Around 11pm I started feeling some pressure so the nurse checked me and I was 10 cm (major surprise and excitement!).  I went back to sleep and the nurse woke me up around 12:30 a.m. on September 19th and told me to get ready to push because the baby's heart-rate was dropping as she was ready to come out.  I wanted to keep sleeping, but they convinced me to push. :)  I pushed about 15/20 minutes and Juliet made her arrival at 1:21 am!

Namesake:
For Juliet's name we wanted something feminine, not common, but not weird.  My mom's name is Judy Leigh and my middle name is Juleiann.  So, Juliet needed to have a name that followed the trend. Also she is secretly named after one of my favorite Mexican music artist Julieta Venegas! Her middle name, Isabel, is her Mexican (Hispanic) name.  It is a classic Hispanic name, I like it, and it means "God is my oath".  And there you have it!