Okay, quick, while the baby naps...
Sep. 28th, 2004 11:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dampscribbler
Here it is, the oft-requested birth story. I actually wrote this draft about a month ago, I've been wanting to tweak it and add to it ever since, but time has not yet allowed, so here we go, and maybe I'll get some changes made soon...?
I was getting ready to go to bed Saturday night. I think I decided to make sure my cell phone was turned off at about 11:25, so I went downstairs and bent down to get it out of my purse, and that's when I felt the gush of the water breaking. I called the hospital and they said to come in, so we gathered our stuff and took off. Checked in at 12:04 am Sunday. They confirmed that my water had broken, put me in a room, and the contractions started in earnest by 1:00, I think. Time seemed to go pretty fast. Suddenly it was 2:00 and I said to Eric "can you believe we've been here two hours already?" Guess it wasn't the same for him because he said yeah, he kinda could.
The doctor came in and talked to us briefly but she had 2 c-sections to do. She said that because the water had broken they didn't want to do a lot of manual exams. I told her I was okay with that; she left and came back at 5:00 and did the first manual exam. I was pretty ticked to find out I was only 4 cm dilated by that time. I had told Eric at about 3:30 that the baby would come in the morning. His parents' flight was due to land at 10:50 am. I said "she won't be here before the sun comes up, but she'll be here before your parents land."; When the doctor told me I was 4cm, I asked her how much longer, and she said 6 cm. Ha ha. Then she said, "could be 8 hours, could be 12, could be all day." I didn't see any point in listening to her, she obviously didn't know.
I started laboring hard after that, and I lost track of time and just about everything except the contractions. I'd been doing a lot of vomiting, too, and was becoming dehydrated. Nurses kept coming in to try to put a heparin lock in, but my veins kept collapsing. I was getting through the contractions pretty well by that time, though. They finally had a specialist come put a line in a big vein, and they put me on a saline drip. Then I think I threw up some more.
Transition was hard, but I was managing. It really freaked out Eric, though, between the throwing up and the shivers I was getting during transition -- nothing had prepared us for those things. Like I said, I was coping fine, but he was feeling kinda scared and helpless. He's described it several times since as "watching my wife being tortured." Honestly, I think the hardest part for me was between 4-8 cm. The 8-10cm transition was rough, and my contractions were having multiple peaks, but I started talking to the baby, asking her to make them easier, and they got easier. The thing that really surprised me was when the contractions got so strong that it felt like the baby was pushing herself out. The nurse asked me if I was pushing (it was too soon, so I shouldn't) and I said "I'm not pushing, she is." The dr. and nurse seemed to accept that. Then they had to teach me the breathing for getting through those contractions until I could push.
Maggie came out alert and hollering, and the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I never imagined I could be so in love with someone so gucky, but there we were, me bawling and her screaming and Eric gleeful and trying to take pictures and the doctor and nurse were pretty excited too and talking about how much they enjoyed drug-free deliveries because they present a different set of challenges than the usual deliveries. There had been a shift change a few hours before, so I was working with a different doctor than the first one. I was really happy to have this doctor "catch" the baby.
I'm kinda ticked that I spent so much of my life dreading childbirth; it really wasn't that bad. And at the end when I held her it so worth all of it. Nine days later here I am still in a near-constant state of amazement at it all. But I'm already losing track of the details, and there's so much about it all that I want to remember. I really need to get more written down soon, before it disappears into the routine and new demands of parenthood.
I was getting ready to go to bed Saturday night. I think I decided to make sure my cell phone was turned off at about 11:25, so I went downstairs and bent down to get it out of my purse, and that's when I felt the gush of the water breaking. I called the hospital and they said to come in, so we gathered our stuff and took off. Checked in at 12:04 am Sunday. They confirmed that my water had broken, put me in a room, and the contractions started in earnest by 1:00, I think. Time seemed to go pretty fast. Suddenly it was 2:00 and I said to Eric "can you believe we've been here two hours already?" Guess it wasn't the same for him because he said yeah, he kinda could.
The doctor came in and talked to us briefly but she had 2 c-sections to do. She said that because the water had broken they didn't want to do a lot of manual exams. I told her I was okay with that; she left and came back at 5:00 and did the first manual exam. I was pretty ticked to find out I was only 4 cm dilated by that time. I had told Eric at about 3:30 that the baby would come in the morning. His parents' flight was due to land at 10:50 am. I said "she won't be here before the sun comes up, but she'll be here before your parents land."; When the doctor told me I was 4cm, I asked her how much longer, and she said 6 cm. Ha ha. Then she said, "could be 8 hours, could be 12, could be all day." I didn't see any point in listening to her, she obviously didn't know.
I started laboring hard after that, and I lost track of time and just about everything except the contractions. I'd been doing a lot of vomiting, too, and was becoming dehydrated. Nurses kept coming in to try to put a heparin lock in, but my veins kept collapsing. I was getting through the contractions pretty well by that time, though. They finally had a specialist come put a line in a big vein, and they put me on a saline drip. Then I think I threw up some more.
Transition was hard, but I was managing. It really freaked out Eric, though, between the throwing up and the shivers I was getting during transition -- nothing had prepared us for those things. Like I said, I was coping fine, but he was feeling kinda scared and helpless. He's described it several times since as "watching my wife being tortured." Honestly, I think the hardest part for me was between 4-8 cm. The 8-10cm transition was rough, and my contractions were having multiple peaks, but I started talking to the baby, asking her to make them easier, and they got easier. The thing that really surprised me was when the contractions got so strong that it felt like the baby was pushing herself out. The nurse asked me if I was pushing (it was too soon, so I shouldn't) and I said "I'm not pushing, she is." The dr. and nurse seemed to accept that. Then they had to teach me the breathing for getting through those contractions until I could push.
Maggie came out alert and hollering, and the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I never imagined I could be so in love with someone so gucky, but there we were, me bawling and her screaming and Eric gleeful and trying to take pictures and the doctor and nurse were pretty excited too and talking about how much they enjoyed drug-free deliveries because they present a different set of challenges than the usual deliveries. There had been a shift change a few hours before, so I was working with a different doctor than the first one. I was really happy to have this doctor "catch" the baby.
I'm kinda ticked that I spent so much of my life dreading childbirth; it really wasn't that bad. And at the end when I held her it so worth all of it. Nine days later here I am still in a near-constant state of amazement at it all. But I'm already losing track of the details, and there's so much about it all that I want to remember. I really need to get more written down soon, before it disappears into the routine and new demands of parenthood.
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-28 11:47 am (UTC)with lorelei, i threw up a lot. i didn't do so with storm, but i do remember being quite surprised about that part the first time. i hadn't expected that i would be throwing up at all.
i'm glad you were able to get through it without needing drugs, too. i think that going through the pain, when you can bear it, gives the experience a unique and timeless perspective....birthing the way it has been done since the beginning.
okay, ladies, don't start beating me over the head about drugs, ok? i had them with the first one, and i wouldn't have hesitated with the second if it had gotten to the point where i felt like i had to. i just didn't get to that point, is all.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-28 01:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-28 04:28 pm (UTC)My mom says that we forget the pain of childbirth so that we'll be willing to have more kids in the future... because if we remembered how much it hurt, we'd say no way!
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Date: 2004-09-29 03:18 pm (UTC)I knew I might throw up, and even though I hardly ever do in the rest of my life, I had a feeling I might during labor. Eric, however, didn't know that was a possibility, and he was a little freaked out by it at first. The nurse kept telling us "this is normal," and talking me through other difficult moments. That helped a lot.
I won't blame anyone for choosing to medicate during labor and delivery, everyone's experience is pretty different it seems. But I had hoped not to, so I'm really glad I didn't.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-29 03:20 pm (UTC)It never occurred to me that the shivering was from the iv. Hmm....
no subject
Date: 2004-09-29 05:15 pm (UTC)thanks for sharing that with us. I'm permanently in awe of motherhood since Storm's birth. That was the most amazing thing I've ever been through.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-30 09:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-01 09:15 pm (UTC)Isn't it nice to be "in the know" about the whole experience?
--Leah