viola is here

[Editor's Note: I am tired and have typo'ed my new baby's name five ways from Sunday. So let me set the record straight. Her name is spelled V-I-O-L-A, pronounced V-eye-oh-la. Sorry about the confusion.]

Viola Paige McCowen

8 pounds 11 ounces

20 inches

Welcomed May 21, 2011

at 4:27 PM

Holy cow. I had a baby yesterday. It still doesn't feel like it really happened. Here's why.

I thought I needed to go in and get checked out because I thought I was seeing some liquid trickling but I wanted to hang out with Nancy for a few hours first. She had driven down from Northern California just to see me for the day. So, we made plans to spend the second part of the day hanging in the hospital getting it checked out. But at noon, I had some good contractions instead. I didn't think it really changed our plans at all. We'd still hang at the hospital. This stuff takes time and I'd need someone to keep me company anyway...

Ha ha. Right away the contractions were long, hard, and 4 minutes apart. Wow. Let's spend 1.5 hours making sure that they are really sustaining that pace before calling the doctor.

We woke Mark up just to let him know to meet us at the hospital in a while once it was clear that we were going in. He had the same idea we did... plenty of time to pack some last minute things, primp a bit, grab some food, mozey on in.

By the time we got to the hospital, I was almost in transition. My membranes ruptured before I could fill out the paperwork to get signed in. The doctor almost didn't have time to drive the 20 minutes to get there. Mark got there just 20 minutes before I delivered and the doctor arrived about 2 minutes before... I was kind of huffing to hold it in by then.

This kid was start to finish a 4.5 hour thing. I was really Earthy and chanting and moaning and breathing those hee-hee-hee-hee-HOOOOOO type things. It was nuts. Glad I didn't plan for an epidural, because there was no way I had time for that. I think I had about 10 minutes of pushing and it was (as much as this can be said for delivering a baby vaginally) a piece of cake.

Wow. What a wonderful experience. I have this amazing little baby, hardly any pain or discomfort to show for it and am going home from the hospital in a couple of hours. I even was able to walk over to the nursery four hours after delivery to give her the first bath myself. I feel pretty good, considering. It's weird. I guess what they say... "second baby is easier" is true.

We are calling her "Viola Paige." Voila is after Mark's great aunt, who I always admired and adored and whose wedding rings I wear. She was such a strong, spunky woman. I hope Voila can know about her and be as inspiring.

i love LA

For lunch, my crew took me to a swanky Carribean restaurant, Prado, on Larchmont for my bday.

After work and dinner, Nancy joined Mark, Stephanie and I for a walk over to the modern art section of the Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art... we checked out some Warhol and had a nice time. Nancy had never seen the Tar Pits, so we walked through there, too. And I got a cupcake on the way home. And I rolled down the tall hill at the Tar Pits like a little kid.

We walked over to the paper store "Pulp" on the corner, where a film crew was just wrapping up shooting of the TV show LIFE. We got to walk right up to the window of the store, as the bright lights were shining into it. However, the actors were already wrapped.

We're planning to celebrate my bday for real on Friday. Today was kind of mellow, but nice. I enjoyed it. I can't believe I'm 32.