It is Thursday....time for ER! My best friend Rachel has come over to watch with me. I am laying on the sofa, with a lap-full of month old kittens. Okay, not a lap....these days I don't have much of a lap. I am 38 weeks pregnant.
I have been having some mild contractions for the last couple of hours. I haven't said anything....to my husband, who has just gone out to the bar with a few of his friends, or to Rachel....who is my labor coach, but I have been jotting down times on a post-it. They are not regular, so I'm not concerned. I have to go to the bathroom....again. It seems that I'm in the loo every ten minutes these days.
About half way through ER, I get up to go to the bathroom yet again....and as I cross the room, my water breaks. Now, I have never had a baby before, so this is all very unfamiliar territory. I just stand there for a minute, trying to assess the situation. Rachel looks at me questioningly. Finally, I tell her that my water just broke, and we had better call Michael at the bar. After searching frantically for the number to the bar, Rachel calls. Michael doesn't respond to the page.
Two minutes later, we hear squeeling brakes in the driveway. My suitcase has been ready for weeks....but I am very anxious, and instead of a light jacket appropriate for spring....I grab my huge down coat. Rachel thoughtfully grabs a towel....no sense ruining the trucks upholstery with amniotic fluid! It is 10:45, as we speed across town. Michael sticks his head out the window and yells at a couple of teenagers on bikes to get the he** out of the way, because he's not stopping!
We pull into the hospital parking lot and head into the building. They walk....Michael a little unsteadily....I found out later he had had quite a few beers at the bar....I hobble. Finally navigating the twists and turns of the hospital corridors, we reach the double doors leading into the materity ward. I let Rachel do all the talking....she is the coach, that is what she is here for!
A nurse leads us to a room. It is rather small. There is room for a bed, a stool, and a rocking chair. Rachel takes the stool, Michael plops down in the rocking chair. The nurse asks who my doctor is....I tell her it's Dr. Valcharenghi. It turns out he is on vacation. They are having trouble getting in touch with the on-call doctor. Luckily there is a mid-wife on duty, just in case.
Michael starts asking if he can watch Sports Center...and cracking jokes. Not very appropriate, if you ask me. I tell him NO!! At the next joke...I attempt to swat him, but he has moved the rocking chair just out of reach. Lucky for him!
I really don't want to stay in bed, so I get up, and we all walk around the ward. There isn't really anywhere to go here, so we wander a bit farther....out through the doors and down the hall. Coming to the elevator bank....we decide to go down to the cafeteria and raid the vending machines. Maybe a little food will sober Michael up a bit. As the elevator decends, a major contraction rips through me. I hold on tight to the railing, and sink to my knees. As it passes, I get back on my feet. I'm starting to think that maybe we shouldn't have gone so far. I wait by the elevator while Rachel gets Micheal something out of the machine, then we start back to the maternity ward.
It takes us a lot longer to get back to my room....we have to stop every few feet as another contraction hits. They are coming hard and fast now. As we near the nurses station, one of the nurses spots us and comes forward. She says they have been looking all over for us, and that we weren't supposed to have left the ward.
She leads us back to my room, and says that she needs to check my cervix. It is already at 91/2cm. They make an urgent call to the on-call doctor....but he is stuck in the post-college graduation traffic. It will be at least ten minutes before he can arrive. The nurse gives me a shot of a muscle relaxant, in hopes of slowing things down. I don't notice any change. The contractions are still slamming into me, one on top of another.
The nurse goes next door to talk to the mid-wife, and they both come back. The midwife checks my cervix, says it is at ten, and that I can start pushing. After about ten minutes of pushing, the baby starts to crown. A minute later, the on-call doctor comes in....a nurse tying his gown closed as he enters. He gets there just in time to assist the midwife in catching the baby. "It's a girl." they both announce in unison.
It is 1:30 am, Friday morning, June 16, 1995. Kayla Danielle has safely, and quickly, entered the world. She weighs in at 5lbs 8ozs. Now that all the hard work is done, the muscle relaxer kicks in. I am pretty much in a daze....Rachel sits with the baby and has a long "girl talk" with her. Michael asks if he can watch Sports Center now. I just lie there grinning.
It is Thursday....time for ER! My best friend Rachel has come over to watch with me. I am laying on the sofa, with a lap-full of month old kittens. Okay, not a lap....these days I don't have much of a lap. I am 38 weeks pregnant.
I have been having some mild contractions for the last couple of hours. I haven't said anything....to my husband, who has just gone out to the bar with a few of his friends, or to Rachel....who is my labor coach, but I have been jotting down times on a post-it. They are not regular, so I'm not concerned. I have to go to the bathroom....again. It seems that I'm in the loo every ten minutes these days.
About half way through ER, I get up to go to the bathroom yet again....and as I cross the room, my water breaks. Now, I have never had a baby before, so this is all very unfamiliar territory. I just stand there for a minute, trying to assess the situation. Rachel looks at me questioningly. Finally, I tell her that my water just broke, and we had better call Michael at the bar. After searching frantically for the number to the bar, Rachel calls. Michael doesn't respond to the page.
Two minutes later, we hear squeeling brakes in the driveway. My suitcase has been ready for weeks....but I am very anxious, and instead of a light jacket appropriate for spring....I grab my huge down coat. Rachel thoughtfully grabs a towel....no sense ruining the trucks upholstery with amniotic fluid! It is 10:45, as we speed across town. Michael sticks his head out the window and yells at a couple of teenagers on bikes to get the he** out of the way, because he's not stopping!
We pull into the hospital parking lot and head into the building. They walk....Michael a little unsteadily....I found out later he had had quite a few beers at the bar....I hobble. Finally navigating the twists and turns of the hospital corridors, we reach the double doors leading into the materity ward. I let Rachel do all the talking....she is the coach, that is what she is here for!
A nurse leads us to a room. It is rather small. There is room for a bed, a stool, and a rocking chair. Rachel takes the stool, Michael plops down in the rocking chair. The nurse asks who my doctor is....I tell her it's Dr. Valcharenghi. It turns out he is on vacation. They are having trouble getting in touch with the on-call doctor. Luckily there is a mid-wife on duty, just in case.
Michael starts asking if he can watch Sports Center...and cracking jokes. Not very appropriate, if you ask me. I tell him NO!! At the next joke...I attempt to swat him, but he has moved the rocking chair just out of reach. Lucky for him!
I really don't want to stay in bed, so I get up, and we all walk around the ward. There isn't really anywhere to go here, so we wander a bit farther....out through the doors and down the hall. Coming to the elevator bank....we decide to go down to the cafeteria and raid the vending machines. Maybe a little food will sober Michael up a bit. As the elevator decends, a major contraction rips through me. I hold on tight to the railing, and sink to my knees. As it passes, I get back on my feet. I'm starting to think that maybe we shouldn't have gone so far. I wait by the elevator while Rachel gets Micheal something out of the machine, then we start back to the maternity ward.
It takes us a lot longer to get back to my room....we have to stop every few feet as another contraction hits. They are coming hard and fast now. As we near the nurses station, one of the nurses spots us and comes forward. She says they have been looking all over for us, and that we weren't supposed to have left the ward.
She leads us back to my room, and says that she needs to check my cervix. It is already at 91/2cm. They make an urgent call to the on-call doctor....but he is stuck in the post-college graduation traffic. It will be at least ten minutes before he can arrive. The nurse gives me a shot of a muscle relaxant, in hopes of slowing things down. I don't notice any change. The contractions are still slamming into me, one on top of another.
The nurse goes next door to talk to the mid-wife, and they both come back. The midwife checks my cervix, says it is at ten, and that I can start pushing. After about ten minutes of pushing, the baby starts to crown. A minute later, the on-call doctor comes in....a nurse tying his gown closed as he enters. He gets there just in time to assist the midwife in catching the baby. "It's a girl." they both announce in unison.
It is 1:30 am, Friday morning, June 16, 1995. Kayla Danielle has safely, and quickly, entered the world. She weighs in at 5lbs 8ozs. Now that all the hard work is done, the muscle relaxer kicks in. I am pretty much in a daze....Rachel sits with the baby and has a long "girl talk" with her. Michael asks if he can watch Sports Center now. I just lie there grinning.
