December 11, 2002 I was supposed to have my Dr's appointment today, but I cancelled it because there was an ice storm today. I re-scheduled for tommorrow. December 12th, 2002 I had a Dr's appointment today @ 11:45 am. I was 3-4 centimeter's dilated & 95% effaced. The Dr. "stripped my membrane's", which basically means she loosened up the membranes & stirred things up a bit. I was told that I would have the baby within 7 days. For the rest of the day I was bleeding like I had a light period & that continued until I went to bed. I knew this was from the stripping of the membranes & wasn't worried at all. December 13th, 2002 Sometime around 12:30am: I was a little hungry. I got up from bed & had some chocolate chip cookies & milk. Went back to bed & slept pretty good! Sometime around 4:30am: My dog wanted to be let outside, so I got up out of bed to let him out (nothing unusual about this). I then went to the bathroom......nothing really out of the ordinary; still the bleeding like a period. After letting the dog in I tried to get comfortable back in bed, but I just couldn't. So I took my body pillow & headed for the recliner in the living room. Settled in there & fell back to sleep. As far as I know I could have been starting labor already then. Sometime around 7am: I woke up in the recliner feeling a bit crampy & uncomfortable. My husband would be getting up soon to get ready for work, so I decided to go to the bathroom & then go back to sleep in the bedroom. As I got up from the recliner I felt slightly crampy & then as I headed down the hallway I felt a small gush..."maybe my water breaking?" I thought, or "maybe just bleeding". So I got onto the toilet, feeling as if I had to have a bowel movement & possibly another "gush" was coming. Well, I was definitely very crampy & thought "this is just from the stripping of the membranes" again. So, I headed into the bedroom to lay down & go back to sleep, but when I did the cramps hurt even more! So, by this point my husband was up & about getting ready for work & I still thought this was just crampiness from my appointment the previous day. Even though it was pretty intense, I told him to go to work & just be alert that I may page him or that he may need some of his co-workers to cover his "on-call" status for the weekend if I do have the baby. So, off to work he went @ around 7:40am. Well, within the time he left until around 8am, I wasn't too sure anymore about being alone @ home with the pain I was having. I was so confused about really "knowing" if this was really labor because I was told it would begin as a tightness or balling-up feeling in my stomach & then proceed down into my lower abdomen. I just felt really bad, tight cramps & I'm not really one to get bad cramps with my monthlies to begin with. So, I headed for my Lamaze class notes. I got a glass of water started to drink it & tried to lay down on my left side......FORGET IT! It hurt too much to even lay down. Then I tried to gather a pen & paper to make columns of Start Of Contraction/Intensity......I couldn't even concentrate to write! So, back into the bathroom I go onto the toilet because it was the only place I felt semi-comfortable. At one point I was on the bathroom floor on all fours thinking "is this it"? It sure was damn uncomfortable. So, I decided since I was alone I better call the Dr's line even though the office wasn't open yet.....the on-call Dr. would have to call me back. So I get the phone, go back into the bathroom & can barely make sentences to talk to the answering service lady! She asked if this was my 1st baby, how far along I was & how far apart the contractions were. I had no idea in hell how far apart these cramps were! So, I just said 5 minutes because I knew that was when the Dr's office always said they would want you to head to the hospital. She said that Dr. Willis would be calling me back shortly. And it wasn't that long until he called back. He was so chipper when I answered & he asked how I was! I said in pain. He asked how far apart the contractions were & again I just said 5 minutes, not really knowing. He said "Get your bag together......you're going to have a baby on Friday the 13th!" I was like "Great." The next thing I did was page my husband, this was around 8:20am. He called me back within a couple minutes & I told him to "come home, we're having the baby today". He was in total shock, wanted more information from me. I think all I said was that I had called the Dr's office & was told to get my bag packed & get to the hospital. I was trying to find a shirt, pants, sneakers & socks to put on to get dressed to go to the hospital.....I think I got as far as the shirt & couldn't put on pants, socks or shoes. My husband says he thinks he got home @ 8:40am. I thought he would immediately take care of me, finish getting me dressed & stuff....Oh, no! He hadn't had time to take off his thermals from work, so he went into the bedroom & took them off! I couldn't believe it! I was like "just put on my pants, socks & shoes & let's go!" He was putting my bags into the car (they were already packed & by our front door) & he says he didn't do anything else, but it seemed like forever until he got me ready to go! Then he had to get the dog some treats & put him in our basement because we don't leave our dog upstairs when no one is home.....he's destructive. So here we are leaving the house @ around 8:50am & all I'm thinking & saying is "get me to the hospital!" I was so afraid this baby was going to come out in my car! When we reached a stoplight my husband tried to touch my hand & help me & I was like "Don't touch me!" I was trying to do my breathing on my own, trying to concentrate, but it was so difficult! My husband says that I was having contractions about every 3 minutes & he was very nervous. We probably reached the hospital around 9:05am & went to the E.R. There was like one person in there & my husband was like "Get me a wheelchair, my wife is having a baby!" The one guy there fiddled around and my husband was like "Get the chair now!" So they come out with the wheelchair then I'm just sitting there waiting for someone to come & get me. I'm looking up @ my husband trying to help me do my breathing, trying to have him focus on my eyes or at least let me focus on his......he was useless!!!!!!! I was like "Where is everyone! I want medicine!" I think I kept saying I want medicine, especially knowing that I was 3-4 centimeters the day before.....I wanted medicine before it would be too late for them to give it to me. It seemed like 20 minutes before someone came down to wheel me up to the 3rd floor (maternity), but it was probably more like 5 minutes. Just like the car ride seemed like an eternity, but really was no longer than usual. My husband was worried about the car & they told him to just give the keys to the security guard & he would move it for him. I'm now wheeled up to the 3rd floor on an elevator with my husband right there by my side & they wheel me into this small Triage room & the woman handling the wheelchair bangs the chair into the door jamb & I'm like "Ohhhhhh! Owwwww! Ahhhhhhh!" She's like "Sorry sweetie" or "honey"......something like that & I was like Oh my God I'm going to die! So they check me & I'm 6-7 centimeters dilated & 100% effaced. I don't remember if there was any "station". I kept telling them I want medicine now! I was in so much pain & I remember trying to get my husband to do the breathing with me once again, but he was so flustered.....thank God for this one nurse who was doing the breathing with me in there! So I'm then wheeled into the birthing suite and meet the nurse that will assist with the birth & tell her I want medicine. My husband is concerned about the car and getting my bags and things (thinking of me not having my camera for any pictures & stuff.......boy does he know me!) The nurse said not to leave yet, something may happen. So, we're waiting for the epidural......for me it seemed like 15-20 minutes until the anesthesiologist came, but my husband says he thinks it was more like 45 minutes. I was in such pain & the nurse was helping me with my breathing.....I couldn't wait for the epidural! So when I do get the epidural, the anesthesiologist says "they used to numb you so you couldn't feel anything, but they now numb you so you can still feel to push". I was like okay & was just worried about staying still for this guy while I was having contractions. That was the hardest part. Once the tingling began I relaxed a bit & tried to rest. The nurse then told my husband that was an opportune time to get my bags & get back the keys to the car. This was around 10:30am. He was back in the room with me & had all my bags by 11:00am. I remember my Dr. coming in around 12noon (he had been in before then, I just don't remember when), but around noon-time I remember him coming in & saying I was 9 centimeters & that we'd have our baby in about an hour. Well, during that hour I was okay up until around 12:30pm. That's when I started having some crampiness in my lower abdomen again (not as bad as before though) and some crucial back pain on my right side. I remember focusing on a button on the bed & doing breathing techniques by myself......I had given up on my poor husband at this point. I kept asking why I was feeling this pain, but never got an answer because it was really just me and my husband in the room. I think at around 1pm something with the heart monitor on my belly was getting weak because my husband asked if I moved around & the monitor wasn't on my stomach anymore I said No. Well within a minute of my husband saying that, the resident Dr and the nurse came rushing in & put oxygen on me & told me to start breathing it in.......I was so scared. The nurse then explained that the baby was probably down there playing with the umbilical cord, which was cutting his/her oxygen supply. Even though they're not in the rooms, they monitor everyone from somewhere else & the resident Dr. caught the heart rate drop I guess because I remember the nurse telling him it was a good catch. Then soon after my Dr. Willis came in and said "We're going to start pushing". I don't know how many times I pushed on my own, but let me tell you, the epidural had made me totally numb from my waist down to my toes within 45 minutes of receiving it! So when I was pushing, I really couldn't feel a thing. After pushing on my own (which I don't think was as many times as a Dr would normally try to have you push because the baby was in distress) the Dr then said he was going to use the vacuum, but I would still need to push because he couldn't do it solely with the vacuum. Once again, I don't know how many times he tried that, but he then moved onto the forceps. I still couldn't really feel anything during all this pushing, but Dr. Willis kept saying pretend like you're having a b.m. and I kept staring into his eyes when I was pushing......he was very encouraging that I could do this. I kept thinking that I didn't want to have to have a c-section. That is partly what made me try to push as much as I could to get the baby out. I wasn't sure if I had torn or if they had cut me, but my husband said that at one point he saw the Dr shake his head & then just snip me.......I guess it just wasn't going to happen otherwise. When they could see the baby's head there was a lot of motivation from everyone in the room......without all the encouragement I don't know if I could've done it. When they said it was a girl & placed her on my belly I just kept saying "Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!" I watched them take her & clean her up, while my Dr and the resident Dr worked on stitching me up. The Dr had asked how the epidural was doing after they were stitching for quite awhile & the nurse said it ran out right when the baby was delivered! The Dr wanted her to call to get the anesthesiologist back up, but by the time she got a hold of him they were almost done. That epidural was so strong for me that I could not get out of bed until the next day because I was so wobbly on my feet & my right leg didn't get feeling back until the next day! They actually had to put a catheter up me a couple times just so I could get the urine out of my bladder. The next day Dr. Willis told me what I did was a difficult thing and I should be very proud of myself. He informed me of the serious need there was to get her out because her heart rate was up to 190 bpm at one point. I kind of had a feeling something was abnormal about the rush they were making about the delivery, I just didn't know why. I was also informed that I had an episiotomy plus an extension. I had torn at one point and the Dr. also had to cut me. My daughter, Marissa Ren�e, was born on December 13th, 2002 at 1:43pm, weighed 7 lbs 7 ozs and was 20 inches long. She most likely would've been born 12/12/02 if I hadn't cancelled my 1st Dr's appointment, but things work out in funny ways. She is truly a blessing and my birth experience is something I will never forget. Although I am a new mother, the day I gave birth I realized what an honor it is to be called a "Mom". |
