Birth Story Cont...

On the way to the hospital I called The OP and various friends. They were all surprised of course, and The OP was trying to get to the hospital as quickly as he could. I was admitted around 2:30 and hooked up to the monitors. The nurses asked me a million questions and input everything into their computer. The entire time I kept waiting for my water to break like at any moment, but of course it didn't. I mean...she did say BULGING. The monitors showed that I was having mild contractions. Again, who knew? Not me.


I had been there for about an hour when Ms. C came in to check me and break my water. When she checked me I was already closer to 5 cm. Then she pulled out the knitting needle. WOW, I had heard stories about this, but you really can't understand until it's happened to you. The needle and her hand go up into the nether regions and she broke my water while holding the baby's head. Fluid just began gushing out. It was a crazy crazy feeling. Then she guided the baby's head slowly to it's resting point as to not allow the cord to prolapse or anything of that nature. Once in a lifetime experience. She informed me that she and Dr. C were here at the hospital and that Dr. C wanted to deliver this baby so she would be in to check on me from now on. As she left I began to immediately have contractions. I couldn't believe how just breaking my water could make things go from zero to 60 in a flash! The contractions were strong and about five minutes apart. I endured them for about 45 minutes when I decided that I was ready for the epidural. I wasn't trying to be super woman! Give me the pain management!!! In my head I was really thinking that I could still be here laboring for another 12 to 24 hours...who knew? No one could predict these things. People around me kept saying the baby will be here sooner than you think. Some of my loved ones were waiting in the waiting room and I kept thinking why are they waiting?? This could take forever!! They could be here all night. I actually felt pressure to have this baby so that it wouldn't inconvenience people. How stupid is that?? I can't believe that I remember feeling that way, but I did. Amazing.


By the time the anesthesiologist came to give me my epidural I was beyond ready. I had never moaned or anything of that nature, but everytime I had a contraction it was excrutiating. It felt like the worst menstrual cramps anyone could ever imagine. It never actually felt like I was making progress, but I guess that I was. Dr. Bennet was the name of the anesthesiologist. He was weird. He didn't make me feel calm at all. I was just thinking...GET THIS DONE AND LEAVE BUDDY!! Oh, and the nurse that I had! Oh she was horrible. I need to back track and talk about her. She was the worst nurse on the face of the planet. This was her FIRST day at this particular hospital so she was in training. The nurse that was training her was trying to help me, but this new nurse was out to "prove herself" and I was her way of doing that. She decided to draw my blood for the lab from my hand! MY HAND!!! It was more excrutiating than the contractions. I will never allow anyone to do that to me again. She, of course, couldn't get enough blood to come out of my hand so then she also had to stick me in the arm. My IV had to stay in my hand. I was furious. I was in so much pain though that I was like gosh if this hurts this much then what will delivery feel like?!?!? She was awful. I couldn't wait for 7 pm to get here so that she would leave and go home and a new nurse would come. So back to the epidural. Very uncomfortable. Not too bad pain wise, just completely uncomfortable. Having a contraction while not being able to breathe because you are curled into a ball around your huge belly while a doctor sticks multiple needles in your back and weirdo nurse is standing in front of you trying to comfort you. Fun Times.

The epidural did not take long to take effect. Pretty soon I couldn't feel a thing. It was great because I had no pain, but at the same time I had NO FEELING. I kind of started to panic because I couldn't move from the waist down. I was helpless. I kept looking at The OP for reassurance and asking him how was I going to push this baby out when I couldn't even move my legs. Everytime a nurse or doctor came in I apologized to them for my lack of ability to move. I'm a retard. Like they didn't see this same thing every day. My curiosity was killing me. How did this work out in the end? How would I be able to deliver a baby? The epidural was like a double edged sword for me. Took away the pain, but also wayyyyy lowered my blood pressure and made me nauseous. Throughout the rest of my labor I threw up about ever half an hour. In between vomits I felt great. Not a problem. Then it would just hit me and I would ask for the throw up thingy and I would dry heave and it would be over. Can I say that I'm sooo glad that the only thing that I had had to eat that day was a bowl of cereal? That completely worked out in my favor....in many ways if you know what I mean. So, the blood pressure thing was pretty serious. Pitocin was put on hold until that was under control. I had to be given several doses of the drug that raises blood pressure before it would go back anywhere near normal. This took about an hour and a half. If that hadn't happened then Sweety Petey would have been born much sooner. I was never really worried about the danger of this blood pressure thing, but I know that it was serious if they couldn't get it reversed.


When my bp was good the nurses got the go ahead to start pitocin. At this point I was at 5 cm and Dr. C came in to attached an internal heart monitor (screws lightly into the baby's scalp and don't let them tell you that it doesn't leave a mark because it definitely did). Then the nurses installed a catheter so that I wouldn't pee all over myself. Each time someone came in to do something to me The OP and a nurse had to move my legs because they were completely dead weight. It was somewhat frightening to especially since I have the tendency to be quite claustrophobic.

From the time that they started pitocin to the time I began to push was not a very long time. I was just expecting this horrible, drawn out delivery, but God had other plans for me. A little before 9:00 pm Dr. C came in to check my progress and I was at 9 cm and she declared that I should begin pushing. They hooked up the calf stirrups on the bed and placed my calves in those and then instructed me to push during the next contraction. I was to pull back on my thighs while I pushed. The OP would hold one foot and my mother would hold the other. The nurses were actually thrilled that I had two people there for the birth so that they wouldn't have to bring in another nurse to hold my foot. I had never thought of it like that. So by this time the epidural had worn down to the point where I could tell that I was having a contraction, but there was no pain. It was like I could feel exactly what was happening to my body (and my baby) but there was no pain from it. I felt some pressure yes but no real pain. I would say that at this point my contractions were still a good three minutes apart. So, I would push when I felt one start. Push as we counted to 10, breath and repeat, breath and repeat and then we would wait for the next contraction. I did this for almost an hour and a half before Sweety Petey was born. At one point during the counting my doctor looked at my mother and told her that she had to quit holding her breath while I pushed because she was afraid that she was going to pass out! It was kind of hilarious because my mom didn't even realize that she was doing that. From then on out my mom would just count along with the nurse. Basically he was stuck behind my pubic bone and I would push and his head would come out so far and then he would retreat back inside. I was making progress but it was just taking a really long time. Meanwhile I was still throwing up. At one point I pushed and threw up and then pushed again right after. The OP told me later that he was really impressed with my skill :)

I would like to talk about the atmosphere in my delivery room while I was pushing. It was AMAZING! Something that I never expected...there was no tension, no fear, just a lighthearted sense of hope and excitement. In between contractions/pushing we would all have a conversation (even me) and The OP or my Dr. would crack a joke and we would laugh. I asked my doctor about her children and a charity that I knew that we were both involved in. After it was all over I felt so unbelievably lucky to have had that experience. I know that not many women get to experience childbirth like that and I just thank God for that blessing. Everyone in the room was so encouraging and helpful. There wasn't a single time where I began to feel like I couldn't get him out and there wasn't a single moment when delivering a healthy baby wasn't my ultimate goal. Dr. C stayed with me the entire time. I could tell that she was tired...this was her 8th baby to deliver in less than 24 hours! Towards the end the nurse pulled up these handles on the bed and told me that I could hold on to those as I pushed and that was soooo much better than holding onto my legs. I wondered if I was going to break them off because I was pulling back so hard on them. As he descended and came closer and closer to being born I began to feel increased pressure and I could tell that I was really making progress. As soon as I had pushed him past my pubic bone I knew what I had done and it was a breeze from there. The doctor and nurse scrambled to set up for the birth and begged me to be very still and not push because he was coming out so quickly that they hadn't had enough time to get ready. As soon as they were ready I pushed, did some half pushes (as my doctor called them) and then there he was. It was such a dream. Dr. C screamed, "open your eyes or you're going to miss it!" I opened them right in enough time to see her catch him from my body, suction his mouth and lay him on my chest.

In my mind I had pictured that by this point I would be bawling, but I wasn't. I did get misty eyed. My mom was bawling, The OP was smiling from ear to ear and he bent to give me a kiss and stare at our son. While he was on my chest I just stroked his face and tried to hold him, but it was like I didn't know exactly what to do. I just stared at him in disbelief about what had just occured. The nurse asked if I was ready for her to take him and I said yes. She took him over to the warmer and scale that were in the room and worked on him. He was absolutely screaming the entire time. From that moment on I was able to pick out his cry from that of any other baby. To me, his cry was so distinct. So...I had just given birth. The doctor sewed up a tear which only required a few stiches. The placenta was delivered easily. There was a lot of pressing around on my stomach. A lot of blood/fluid that I could feel gushing out. It was surprisingly not a messy event, though. The sheeting and the blue pads that the hospital uses were very good at keep things clean and neat. I was really surprised by that. I expected total grossness. Total yuck...but it was nothing like that. I lay in that bed for a while as the nurse finished with Petey (and no that's not really his name) and then she brought him back to us. 7 lbs 5 oz and 19 3/4" long. Perfect scores for his breathing and everything else. He.Was.Perfect. All the months of worrying about this moment were over and I felt absolutely jubilant and burden free.

He was here. He was ours. A product of The OP and me. A product of our love and devotion to one another. Perfect.