Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's day! (Alex's birth story)

I figure the day I became a mother is a good place to start on mother's day.


This was me on my due date. Alex came 9 days after this was taken. Yeah he was a big baby!

I was supposed to be called in for my induction on the Saturday. I waited anxiously and jumped every time the phone rang (as much as Manatee could jump anyway). I called the hospital and they said if they didn't call by 10 pm it would be the following day. Next day, much of the same. I was barely eating and getting a little panicky. At 2pm on Sunday I called the hospital. No, they don't have any beds yet, I'll still have to wait. If there's anything you're worried about, come in, they said. My mind starts racing, when was the last time I felt him move. Couldn't think of it. I was afraid to mention it to Rick. I started crying, he said "that's it, where going in". Expletives about the hospital omitted. I get to the hospital, they hook my up to a fetal heart monitor, and of course he's fine. The nurse told me that I was 3 of 4 on the list of inductions, but they had called #1 and she hadn't shown up so I got to jump the line.


They started my induction with cervidil which is some hormone on a tampon type thing at 3pm. I was in a private labour and delivery room, but the cervidil takes 12 hours so they moved me into a semi private room on the post partum side. Freakin party of 12 on the other side of the curtain, complete with crying newborn and some sort of stinky food. And then, around 9 pm, my contractions started. Hard. I felt like I was naked in a mall having contractions with all the people in that room. I think I even said to my husband "get me the hell out of here".


I got moved back to the delivery room and was able to walk around. Much better. I didn't know what to do with myself. On the ball, rocking standing, going to the toilet, back to the ball, rub my back, no stop, press on my hips, HARDER! The nurse asked if I wanted to go in the tub at around 1:30 am. Ah the tub was heaven. My contractions were manageable. Husband kept adding more hot water to the tub. I was in there an hour or so. Then a shift change and the evil nurse made me get out of the tub to check the progress.

She hooked me up to monitors, made me lie down and then I asked for the epidural. I had several sleepy hours early that morning with no pain until they started the pitocin. After starting the pitocin the doctor came in to examine me. Oh good you're at 3 cm. Ugh! I thought I was further along than that. She broke my water with her finger. Oh it was like a tsunami wave every time I had a contraction.

The pitocin made those contraction come hard and fast, but no progress. I got stuck at 7 cm for 6 hours, meanwhile the epidural stopped working.They gave me something else for the pain, but it would only work for about 10 minutes at a time. My contractions were 10 seconds apart for hours without any progress. My husband had to get me to focus on my breathing because I was gasping.

They said "oh we'll wait until 6 pm and then do the c-section" at which point I said "no now!". I was out of my mind in pain and terrified. In the operating room I started shaking uncontrollably, I felt so calm when they finally let me husband in. When they pulled out my son (after a lot of jostling) he let out a quiet little cry and I said "that's our baby!" to my husband. He thought I said "is that our baby?". Ha ha ha! He was born at 7:30 pm on the Monday.They cleaned him off and Rick cut the cord (even though he said he didn't want to during our prenatal classes).
They put him on my chest, to get some skin to skin time, as they continued the surgery. He was beautiful but nothing like I imagined. So much hair! I couldn't believe it. They closed me up and wheeled me into the recovery room. I breastfed him there for the first time.
I couldn't believe how much hair he had, he had big hands and feet, and a perfectly shaped head. I was used to seeing funny shaped heads from baby born vaginally. His cry was quiet and sounded like ella-la-la.


My husband the engineer fascinated by the monitors that I was hooked up to.
He would watch the graph and say "Oh you have a big contraction coming" Really? You need to tell me?

Alexander Robert at 2.5 hours old. He weighed 8 lbs 9 oz.


...and already able to bust out of the swaddling.

Tired mom and baby the following morning. My look says "ok now what do I do?" Slightly terrified, very happy.

I think I'll keep him. :)

1 comment:

Gettysburg Mom said...

Hopped over from Dooce. Your story made me smile- thanks!

And he does have a beautifully shaped head... :D

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