| Kristel's Birth Stories: |
| BC Screen Name: KristelR Email: [email protected] Est. Due Date: 12/24/02 Children and Birthdays: Nathan Andrew 4/16/99; Justan Ryan 3/19/01 |
| Welcome to the World Nathan Andrew! |
| I was depressed for a couple of weeks in a row before Nathan was born. On my 37th week check up, Dr. Gramann said that I was not dilated OR effaced. Nathan hadn't even dropped either! I was SO Depressed. Well, I went and bought a nice Bismark donut and chocolate milk before I went on my monthly grocery shopping trip at Safeway. That was on March 31st. On Wednesday, April 7th, I went to my 38th week check up. Not much change. Well, that depressing news took drastic lengths to help me get over my appt. I went shopping with my friend Melody all afternoon. We went to the Federal Way mall and I bought some peach lotion. Well, THE FOLLOWING Week my 39th week appointment, Wednesday, April 14th, was almost more than what I could bear. The only change I had was that Nathan had dropped. NO DIALATION OR EFFACEMENT YET!! I cried hysterically over the phone to Sean (hubby) and mom when they had called me. I went through lots of kleenex! I WAS SO READY!!! SO UNCOMFORTABLE. After I calmed down I walked to the library and rented movies that I watched that afternoon. I watched "Island of the Blue Dolphins and "Jane Erye" I also had a yummy sundae that I had bought at McDonalds during my movies. Well, the next day I went out and bought castor oil in preparation to help myself go into labor if I went past my due date. (two bottles) At Bible study, that night, someone asked me if I was READY yet to have the baby and I was extremely affirmative about THAT! That same night , April 15th, Thursday at midnight, I went into labor without any help of my two bottles of castor oil! |
| I started feeling contractions about every five or six minutes apart that felt different than Braxton Hicks. They hurt more! I was totally excited!!! They continued throughout the night and I lost part of the mucus plug too. Seans response was "OH No!!" I think that he didn't know what to say when I told him about the mucous plug.The whole thing was becoming more of a reality for him. Well, I was awake almost all night, I got only about less than an hour and a half of sleep. I was REALLY excited and hungry!!! I had a late night, early morning snack of a bagel with cream cheese and a glass of milk. Well at about at 6 AM I called my midwife (Toni) to let her know that I was having these contractions and she said to call her in a couple of hours to let her know if they were still coming. I also called mom and let her know. (She was also going to be with me during birth) Sean went ahead and went to work because it could be hours before anything actually happened. A little after 8 Am I called my midwife and told her they were still coming. She asked if I wanted to come in about 9 am and check to see if I was dilated or effaced yet. So I called my mom back and she and I planned to go to my midwifes at 9. After I cleaned the house up and finished packing my hospital bags, I walked over to moms, not very far away. (It was a beautiful sunny day with some wind, but I am glad the weather was so nice. When Beforehand, I had even wished that I would go into labor on a sunny day, well, it happened !!) Mom and I went to Toni's and she checked me and I was already 90% effaced and about 1and a half centimeters dilated!!! I was totally happy. She said within 24 hours!! Well, what a quick turn around considering that I was not changed on Wednesday at the Drs.!!! I think it is common in my family to not do much until soon before the birth. |
| Anyway, mom and I were thinking about going to the supermall to walk around, but then decided to go to Fred Meyer because the Supermall was about a half an hour away and we wanted to be closer than that if things started happening quicker. Well at this stage, contractions were bearable. I called Sean and told him the wonderful news and was going to ask him if he could get off work at noon. Mom and I then went to Fred Meyer. On the way, we breathed through contractions together. At Fred Meyer, we walked around looking at things and mom bought some odds and ends.She bought me a Snapple and we continued to just look around. The contractions started getting tougher and at times I went into aisles (Even a children's sock aisle!!) to get over the contractions because they were getting painful and I didn't want anyone around to notice I was a nine month pregnant lady walking around a department store in serious labor!!!. Well, about 11 AM we were in the video/CD sections of the store and it seemed they were pretty painful and were sometimes coming 3-4 minutes apart so I thought that we should leave. We stopped and got a milkshake at McDonalds (mom had some fries) on the way home and then decided that I should go to the hospital to get checked to see if I had progressed went into the hospital and then I felt like my water had broken. I told mom and I went into the bathroom and it actually was just more of my mucous plug. Well, I went into the OB department and they said that I needed to wait about twenty minutes because there was another lady in labor and I think they were short on staff. Well, mom and I went to my apartment to get my hospital stuff and Sean had just arrived at home. My mom went home to her house and was going to come to the hospital later. Sean and I went to the hospital and after they had checked me and and put me on the fetal monitor for a while, I decided that I would go home for a while since I had not progressed much more than what I was at 9am. Sean and I went back to the apartment and we stayed there for a while and I took a bath with the help of Sean pouring warm water all over me. |
| That really felt good, but the whole time those contractions were getting bad!! I used a rice pack for a while (the kind you can heat up in the microwave) and applied that to my stomach. I also leaned on Sean when I needed to and continued to do my breathing as I had been doing. Soon, after a while I decided IT WAS TIME TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL, the contractions were bad. We arrived there , I put one of those cute hospital gowns on J . They put me on the fetal monitor again and I was able to see how strong my contractions were. Then I felt like I had to throw up and went to do so. A while later my mom showed up and was going to help out wherever she was needed. My midwife was not coming until later. (She was shopping with her daughter, but she had her pager.She was going to be my labor coach and Dr. Gramann was going to deliver) |
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