| Alicia's birth I was 19 when I had my first baby. I had a good pregnancy, and read everything I could find about it. I gained about 27 lbs. and felt good. I started having regular contractions an the morning of before my due date, which was 9-19-85. I think they were about 5-7 minutes apart. I went for a walk for a few hours to make sure they would stay regular because I had been having pre-labor contractions for a few days. I think I noticed some bloody show that morning as well. They stayed about the same all day long and I didnt eat much all day. I didnt know then what I know now and followed what I had read about not eating in labor. By the time I got to the hospital at 5:00 p.m. I was starving. I told the nurse and she said, Youve got a long way to go, better just think about something else. Big help, huh? I was put in a traditional labor room, hooked up to the monitors, and checked for dilation. I was told I was 3 cm and I was admitted because I had been having regular contractions all day. After a couple hours I had not made much progress so they hooked me up on pitocin. The contractions got harder to breathe through so I was given a shot or Demerol in my I.V. This went on for hours and hours, I didnt have a clock so Im not sure how long. At some point I had the Dr. check me for dilation and told him not to tell me if there was no change, so he walked out after checking me and said, She told me not to tell her. I was pretty discouraged at that point and asked for some more Demerol. About 30 minutes after I got the shot I felt like something had changed. I felt pressure like I had to go to the bathroom. I asked the nurse to check me. She was reluctant because it had been only 30 minutes from the last check were there was no change. I was thrilled to hear I was completely dilated and was told to start pushing. I think I did that for an hour or and hour and a half. My mother was worried because there was blood oozing from my hand where the I.V. was. When the babys head started to crown they told me to get onto a gurney(I had no idea how they expected me to do that!!!!) and be moved to the delivery room. Then I had to move again onto the delivery table! Its a bit foggy in my memory how I accomplished this, but somehow I did. I think they strapped my legs in stirrups(YUCK) and gave me a local for the episiotomy(YUCK again!) I remember the Dr. telling me Im going to cut you now and I screamed No, dont do that! But he already had. I dont know how many more pushes it took but she was finally born at 2:22a.m on Sept.19,1985. The first thing I saw of her, the Dr. was holding her up in the air where I could see her. She was purplish and her tongue was sticking out! The nurses took her across the room and did stuff to her. Then they weighed her and measured her, 7 lbs. 2 oz. 20 long. They wrapped her up and brought her over to me while the Dr. was sewing me up and delivering the placenta. The nurse told me to hold her and made me kiss her before they took her out. I didnt see her again until 8:30a.m. I was taken to a recovery room for an hour before being taken to the post-partem room. My mother told me Alicia was in one of those warming oven things, and was just beautiful. I think this was the first time I cried. There are alot of things I learned after this experience I wanted to do differently and if you read my other birth stories youll see the evolution of my philosophy. |