Baby Bing still doesn't have a definite name yet. Her middle name is almost 100% decided, but not her first name. The nurses just asked, and Shannon told them the top three names, and mentioned that she has eliminated the rest that we had still been considering have been eliminated. So I guess we're down to the final 3. I'm certain that we'll be waiting for her to be born before picking anything. It will probably be sometime tonight.

3:57pm -- Shannon is at an 8/9. I guess she gets up to 9cm during contractions, but backs off to more like an 8 when the contraction ends. Things are getting a bit bloodier, so I don't look much. (Don't worry folks, I stay firmly planted on the couch they have for me.)

The doctor was just in here to check on things. Whatever hand/elbow/whatever might have been up by her head earlier is no longer there. The doctor said that her cervix may have torn slightly, but that doesn't seem to be a big deal. (Of course, I've never heard him talk like anything was a big deal.) Shannon is now on oxygen. The baby isn't quite facing the right direction yet, so they pitched Shannon up on her side to try to get her to rotate a bit more. (Her head is down, don't worry folks. But we want her facing backwards, not sideways or something weird.)

I still have a very hard time fathoming 10cm of dilation. At work we make wafers that are very precisely 10cm in diameter, so I have a very good idea of just what size that is. Wow.

We appreciate all the comments and good thoughts from everybody.

3:28pm -- Slow and steady. Cervix is at about 8cm. Evidently Bing has a hand up by her head. She clearly isn't going to get out that way. (or it might just be an ear) Things down there are now "super stretchy" according to the nurse. I guess you're supposed to go about 1cm per hour, so we're in that general ball park. Shannon remains mostly comfortable, other than being hungry. There is some bleeding, but I suppose that's normal. Last time Shannon had the shakes, and threw up a few times and was generally more unhappy. So things are much improved this time.b

2:19pm -- Nothing real major going on. Nap time for Shannon, internet time for me. We've already played Phase 10 (a labor tradition for our family!) and done the crosswords from the Sunday paper. I'm munching on the snacks I brought and looking for a good time on the interwebs. It'll be a handful of hours yet.

12:32pm -- And, her water is broken. I now see how we missed this last time, as it was pretty darn boring. Maybe if she wasn't numb it would have been more eventful. Dr Fagnant checked things out and put her at 4cm and still 80% effaced. His exact words were, "Not as stretchy as I'd hoped." He says we've still got a ways to go. Pitocin will very soon be increased to 30 mL/hr. Clark remains chilly. Shannon feels warm. I'm munching on granola bars, Shannon gets ice and suckers! Julia seems to be having a good day with the Martinsens.

Note to self: Next time, bring a jacket. Or wear long pants. It's cold in here.

Dr. Fagnant is in surgery for another 45 minutes or so, at which point he will come break the water. In the mean time we're just hanging out.

11:43am -- Dilation is at 4+ cm.

11:35 -- Epidural is in. I didn't watch, but things seemed to go well. Not real sure how the contractions are going now, because they are a lot easier for Shannon to ignore now.

Next up is a catheter, and then a check of how things are going. Then we'll have to get the doctor in here at some point to break her water. Its funny that we have no idea when her water broke last time, because it was in the middle of the night and we were both partially asleep.

We're on to the Food Network on TV. This all seems somewhat less exciting than last time.

Oh, and now the catheter is going on right now. I'll just keep typing and not pay too close of attention.

10:25am - Pitocin is up to 16mL/hr. Saline is steady at 125mL/hr. We are nearing prep-time for the epidural. Normally when you go have a baby (from what I hear) they pump you full of fluids when you arrive, and then can do the epidural any time they want. In Shannon's case, lots of extra fluid means extra work for her heart, so they don't do that. They do however need to give her a bit of fluid before doing the epidural (which can cause drops in blood pressure). The real impact of this is that they have to give her the extra fluid 30 minutes before they can do the epidural, so we have to plan ahead. Contractions are about 2 minutes apart. Shannon's heart rate drops during the contractions, the baby's is pretty constant.

Shannon now updates me that she's gonna do one more contraction and then hit the button for the nurse to start the epidural clock. She is now dilated to 4cm.

As for how I'm doing, I'm kinda hungry, and we're watching GSN, because the hospital has cable!

We arrived at the hospital around 6:20. First, they hooked Shannon up to every monitor they could think of. They've got her heart monitor hooked up, and are beaming the signal over to the other hospital. Evidently there are people over there who sit around all day and watch everyone's signals. So, I guess if her heart stops or something, they call over here and let us know. Then there was the mundane urine sample, blood samples, medical history questions, weighing, blood pressureing and everything else. (It was fun when they set up the machine and then it took Shannon's blood pressure 7 times in a row.)

At about 8:00 they started the IV with pitocin (oxytocin) which should get things going. She is currently dilated to a 2+ and is 80% effaced. The monitors are showing regular contractions every few minutes that last a minute or two. Pretty much there are plenty of graphs around to keep me entertained.