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Read at your own risk!
This might be too much info for anyone who is squeamish or hasn't experienced
child birth first-hand. Jacob's birth came about a week past expectations, even though he was born a day before his official due date. My doctor seemed intent to have me go early, due to the large baby size... at the 37-week ultrasound, Baby J weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz., and the doctor did not want extra stress on me or the baby during delivery. Joey weighed 9 lbs. 7 oz. and took 2 1/2 hours of pushing before he was born, so the history was there for a large baby and difficult labor. However, when it came right down to it, Dr. Bishop did say that if he thought the baby or I were in any real danger, that he'd tell me I'd have to be induced, rather than give it to me as an option. So I stuck with my gut to wait things out and let Baby J come when he was ready. The only disappointment with that was that Dr. Bishop didn't deliver our baby. I had gone through a few episodes of false labor, and quite a few nesting spurts the two weeks before Jacob was born. At my final exam on Wednesday, the doctor said I was up to a good 2cm dilated, but the baby hadn't dropped. This was probably because I had so much amniotic fluid, keeping the baby buoyant and preventing him from dropping. To help move things along, the doctor stripped my membranes. Ouch. I felt physically horrible afterwards, and even a bit violated... but it was a necessary evil, and by then, I was ready to have the baby. I picked up the kids from their Aunt Leara's house, and came home to finish the stamped border on the last wall in the baby's room. The next morning, as I was responding to e-mails and playing a couple of computer games, I realized the contractions I was feeling were coming regularly and frequently. They must have started around 7:30am, and I started tracking them after 8am, where they were 8-9 minutes apart. By 9am I was convinced this was it, and called Greg's mom so she can watch Joey and Jenine for us. Of course I had to get cleaned and primped up for what was to come, so after waking up Greg and telling him this was it... I jumped in the shower. Luckily, Greg had decided to take Thursday and Friday off in anticipation of the baby coming. We left for the hospital at 10:30am, and made the mistake of going to the ER like we did two years ago with Jenine. They redirected me to the right Maternity ward... but only after the valet parking guy said I was "ripe"! The receptionist in the downstairs maternity lobby questioned whether or not I was really in labor, but was reassured by the EMS driver keeping her company, that I was going to have that baby today. Hmmm... I seemed to have the giggles pretty bad that morning... maybe I was happy knowing I'd meet my new baby soon, or maybe it was a nervous giggle because I had no idea how the rest of the day would end up. I just knew that once Dr. Bishop knew I was in the hospital, I would not be sent home without a baby! Either way, the giggles came to an abrupt stop in Triage after the nurse examined me and brought me to tears. I wanted to claw out her eyeballs for what she did to me! But at least the exam told us that I was still only 2-3cm dilated, and that there was so much amniotic fluid that the baby still hadn't started its descent. Dr. Judas was on call that day -- he told them to give me an hour, and if I hadn't progressed and still insisted on not being induced, that they'd just send me home. I was a little disappointed to hear that... I was ready and felt convinced that Baby J was coming that day. An hour later, a different nurse came and checked on me... thank God! Her exam was a piece of cake! My contractions had gone down to 2-3 minutes apart, so I told her I wasn't going home, I was having the baby that day. She said Dr. Judas told them to send me to labor and delivery and didn't want me going home anyways. I figure he must have talked to Dr. Bishop in the meantime, who told him not to let me go! Funny though how I never noticed their names before that day... Judas and Bishop. We just needed an Imam too! I think we got the biggest delivery room... room #1. It was huge and comfy. Greg proceeded to get his laptop connected and the announcement e-mail ready. He found eight Promedica wireless network connections, with seven of them being unsecured. So he hopped on and surfed the internet while the hours passed by. He found the Olympics web site and read to me about the Palestinian athletes and some other stuff. It was an uneventful day for the most part... except for the dreaded IV. I warned the nurse that I have bad veins but that didn't seem to help. The pain of the IV needle being poked around looking for a vein had me in tears again. She didn't find anything in my left hand, so she proceeded to repeat the torture in my right hand. I felt exhausted afterwards, I can't believe how worked up I was over it... yet I wasn't that nervous about the delivery! Then it was time to get the epidural ready... and I got myself worked up again, except that didn't hurt much... at least they numb you before inserting that huge needle. And once the injection was given to me, the labor pains below my waist were very dull and I could relax again. But Baby J had his feet under my rib cage still, so the contractions started to get pretty painful above the waist. But still, nothing like the labor pains with Joseph and the Pitocin they had to give me back then. Natural labor is much easier on both mama and baby... that's why I was avoiding being induced. Anyhow, by now my regular nurse, Mary, had started and boy was I happy to have her around. She was phenomenal... very attentive and anticipated my needs. It helped that we were only the 6th delivery for the day, and that she could be focused on me rather than having to bounce between several patients. I only wish we could have taken her home for a few days! My next two exams showed minimal progress... that darned water was not only preventing the baby from descending, but it was also preventing me from dilating... even though the contractions were steady at 2-3 minutes apart. The doctor suggested breaking my water, which I knew would get me going almost immediately, as it did with Jenine. Not sure what time he came in to do that... but the stream of water coming out was so strong it felt like he forgot to take the needle out! That kept the nurse busy for a while too -- changing all of the soaking bed pads. She checked me again within an hour of breaking my water, and I had finally started making more progress... I think maybe I was up to 8cm. She emptied out my bladder for me, since I had the epidural, I couldn't get up and walk. She said to let her know once I felt the urge to bear down... after all, 3rd babies come pretty quick. I just chuckled inside, thinking I was so numb that I wouldn't be able to feel anything. But halfway through a conversation with Greg I felt something and called for her... she had started to get the delivery supplies table ready. I told her something was happening... that's the only way I could describe it. She checked, said it was time, and went off to get the doctor. Something new I learned this time is that emptying out your bladder helps move things along too! It was 5:25pm by now, I checked the time to see if I needed another dose of epidural before the the real work that was about to start. Dr. Judas and a resident came in at 5:30pm, the bed around me was taken apart as they got me in position. Greg was by my side holding my hand and leg. I also asked for a mirror so I could watch the birth. Mary made sure I could see everything, which I have to admit was just as disgusting as it was in the birthing films. But once I started pushing and could see the baby come out, nothing was gross. It was a miracle taking place... I was so overwhelmed with awe at what was taking place, and at knowing I was about to meet Baby J. I think I had to give four or five good pushes... halfway through Greg reminded me how to breathe to get more strength out of my pushes. By 5:41pm, Baby J was out and we met little Jacob! He did not look as big as everyone expected, and he had the sweetest cry with the sweetest pouting face. He seemed so full of drama over his recent trip, we just had to laugh! But daddy comforted him by rubbing his head while they cleaned him up and poked and prodded at him. The nurses were kind enough to let us keep him a bit longer than we were supposed to (he needed to go to the nursery for observation since I carry the beta strep virus). In the meantime, Favorite Kate made it in just 15 minutes after he was born, and Sitti Asma, Hemude and Brooke caught us as we were heading over to the post-partum wing. Nurse Caitlin took care of us over there, and Greg stayed till they brought Jacob back to us. Caitlin was so loving with Jacob, and showed us a few baby tricks... like curled up swaddling where the baby is wrapped with the legs in the fetal position, it gives them a round shape and you can rock them in their bassinet! Then she tickled the sides of his nose, to get him to smile. So cute! |
