Newbie's Birth Story

I'm still trying to figure out what Newbie's blog name will be. In the meantime, I wanted to officially record his exciting birth story.  I started having contractions about 2 am on Tuesday, April 10th.  I say "about" because I didn't have a clock to check.  At 2:38 am I got up and grabbed my cell phone from the kitchen.  I had three more contractions between then and 3 am.  I decided it was time to wake DH.  I still wasn't sure this was going to be it since I had had contractions most of the day the day before and off and on for weeks.  These contractions were, however, stronger than the ones from previous mornings.  The big question we started trying to answer right away was when to start calling people.  Grams and Aunt Cat had urged me to call early since they had a 2 1/2 hr drive at best to get here.  We also needed to call Nanny K to come be with LO.  Obviously there was a fine line between calling too early and waking everyone with a false alarm and calling too late, not giving them enough time to get here.  DH and I debated these point between contractions.  We called Grams at 3:34 am when DH's iPod app showed my contractions had been 3-5 minutes apart since we'd started timing them at 3:06 am and I thought they had been about the same for the hour before that. I continued to try to walk through the contractions as long as I could.  Somehow I felt that calling Nanny K after 4:30 am was more reasonable than calling before.  DH packed last minute things, rubbed my back, timed contractions, and kept me company until we didn't think we could wait any longer to call her.  At 4:29 DH made the call because I didn't think I could.  He asked her to come within 20 minutes (which was longer than I had hoped, but only seems reasonable in retrospect.) I'm certain she came as soon as she could.

At this point, I have to say a word about the cookies.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, see here, here, here, and here.  Well, I had decided that the last batch of cookies LO and I made on Newbie's due date were not fit to share by Monday evening, 3 days later.  Of course they were fine for us to consume!  DH and I had planned to take LO to the zoo (an hour away) on Tuesday, and we'd need an early start. I had also talked to my OB on Monday (4/9) and decided to keep my appointment to have my membranes stripped on 4/11 and be induced 4/12 if Newbie hadn't come by then.  I wasn't thrilled by the idea of either appointment, but felt I had to weigh the risks of going further past my due date with the benefits of doing it my way.  We also had so many people's schedules that were on hold awaiting news of my labor. I really hoped Newbie would make a move before then, but, if not, it started to seem reasonable to go after him.  So either way, cookies made on Tues would be shared no later than Thursday and that seemed reasonable too.  In order to make cookies AGAIN, I'd have to mix the dough before the zoo, and bake them after LO's nap on Tues.  I pre-measured what ingredients I could to expedite the process and help us get out the door to the zoo the next morning.  Of course, at 3 am, there was no last minute mixing of dough and baking of cookies.  So, when Nanny K arrived, she noticed the ingredients on the counter, and asked if she should make them.  DH tried to explain what had been mixed and what was left to do, but I was having another contraction and asked him to please help me to the car.

Our last contraction was timed on the app before leaving the house at 4:45 am.  I had two more in the car in the 5 minute ride to the hospital.  I walked myself into triage and claimed a bed.  The nurse was monitoring another patient across the aisle and said she'd be out in a minute.  I told her "ok, as long as I can walk off contractions if I need to."  She agreed.  I had one more while waiting, by my second, she was out to witness it.  I told her I had been 4 cm on April 4th, my due date was April 6th, and she saw me have another contraction.  That was all she needed to call me a "direct admit."  They didn't even check me in triage, just got me to room 304.

Ah, room 304, how I will have a love/hate memory of you!  Nurses Denise (RN) and Eva (LPN) and probably a couple of others, continued to help me get ready for Newbie.  Denise asked more questions than I remember with LO, but the most important, "do you want and epidural?" was early on.  "Yes! Please!" I responded in the first of what would be several requests for said planned pain management.  Eva tried to get me set up on the fetal heart beat and contraction monitors.  I did not know until later, that the contraction monitor stopped working near the end of my labor.  After I turned on my side, I was the only indication of when I was having contractions, but I'm pretty sure it was obvious.  Denise finally checked me to report that I was "8, 100%, with a bulging bag."  For non-medical people out there, that's really close to having a baby.  I needed that epidural to be  really close too.  It wasn't.  My nurse chastised me to waiting too long, and told me I'd have to come earlier next time.  I assured her there would not be a "next time, but I'll tell my friends."

The nurses said they needed to check my platelets before I could get the epidural...a test I have known to take an hour when it's ordered STAT, but they assured me could be done in 15 minutes.  "Fifteen minutes," I thought, "that's only 7 more contractions, I can do that, right?"  Fifteen minutes ended up being about 45 minutes.  During that time nurses called my OB to find she couldn't make it in time because she had to take her son to school, so they called the on-call doc (whom DH and I both knew and were very comfortable with.)  They also, presumably, called the anesthesiologist, in spite of the fact that there was a CRNA (nurse anesthetist) in the hospital and on-call already.  In fact, we think we asked for the CRNA by name, they said he was on, then I somehow ended up waiting for the anesthesiologist to come from home.  In the meantime, Dr Maddox (on-call OB) arrived, I asked for the epidural again, nurses said I had asked for the CRNA and should they get him, to which Dr Maddox replied, "Yes! Whoever!" and I still waited for the anesthesiologist.  I'm sure there was a very good reason for all of that  waiting, but DH and I were both under the impression (at least until Dr Maddox arrived and agreed to wait until I got the epidural...she also said I could just go ahead and push without one...I was that close) that I wouldn't be able to get one, but the nurses weren't telling me.  It was a very hairy 30-45 minutes that, for me, felt like closer to two hours.  I spent much of the time on my left side, shaking, wimpering, begging for an epidural, oxygen mask on my face, asking to be talked through my contractions, and getting no response. (Because the contraction monitor wasn't working, but I didn't know that)  Most of the contractions were so strong, I felt I was either going to have the baby in the bed, vomit into my oxygen mask, or loose control of other unspeakables.  Then my water broke spontaneously.  Unfortunately, I knew enough to know that that only brings the contractions on harder and faster. Meanwhile, well-meaning nurse Eva kept trying to hold the contraction monitor on my convulsing abdomen or check my blood pressure. I'm afraid I was a little grumpy with poor Eva.  DH was my only port in that storm, and, while he tells me he felt helpless, I could not have made it without him.

Imagine then how thrilled I was when the anesthesiologist finally arrived, asked me to sit-up straight, sit still, and kicked DH out of the room for my epidural.  If he hadn't been the only man available to provide contraction relief, I'd have kicked his rude self to the curb.  BUT, the only way out was through.  My nurse actually talked me through the procedure well, and it was in in under 3 minutes. I was too close to delivery to use the usual meds, so I got only marcaine (like lidocaine), which was fine with me.  The only regret I'd had about getting the epidural with LO was feeling a little foggy about the first 24 hours in the hospital...I wouldn't have that problem this time.  I did, however, continue to feel the next 4 or so contractions.  I was worried the epidural wouldn't work and I'd be going natural after all, but it just needed a little time.  Fortunately only a little, because I didn't have a lot.

Grams and Aunt Cat arrived at 6:30, just as DH was let back into the room and my epidural was starting to take effect.  I did a "test push" as they arrived, and Dr Maddox said we were ready.  Just four contractions later, Newbie was born!  I swear the clock said 6:45, but the official time of birth was 6:50 am.  Apgars were 8, 9, weight 7 lbs, 15 oz, length 22 inches.  As the delivery nurses were cleaning Newbie up, they announced he had red hair.  Aunt Cat and Grams say the look on our faces was priceless, but too fleeting for a picture.  Never in a million years would we have guessed we could have a red-head, but we LOVE that he is.  It seems like an early warning that he has no intention of being his brother.  Look out world, Newbie has arrived!