On Wednesday, March 18, 2009 I started my maternity leave. On Thursday around 6:00 p.m., I woke up from a nap and thought it weird I had only slept an hour. I had usually been sleeping around 3 hours. Around 8:00 p.m. I heard a neighbor knock at the door. When I stood up to answer it, a gush of water came. I wasn’t sure what was going on and since the neighbor saw me, I still answered the door. We talked a few minutes. He then asked when the baby was due and I said in two weeks, but “anytime, anytime.” I called the doctor on call and she said to lie down for 30 minutes and then sit up, if water came out again, then it truly was my water breaking. As I waited, I tried calling Chad. He didn’t answer. I then called Lisa and we talked and laughed (her role in the whole l&d). After 30 minutes I sat up again and more water came and I called the doctor and she said to call Chad and once he got home to come on in to the hospital. I tried to call him again and still no answer, so I called the dispatcher room and they sort of freaked out when they realized what I was calling about.
[insert Chad’s story here]
I finally got a call from Chad and he started home. Lisa was happy b/c she could watch the NCAA Tournament game until half time and then head down. Once she got to the hospital she then finished the game.
Upon arrival around 10 p.m., I was 4 cm. After an hour they finished breaking my water and started the pitocin drip. (11:00 p.m.) Once this started the pain suddenly progressed. I indicated I wanted an epidural and they had to order it, start a bag of fluids…after about 1 ½ hours the epidural and catheter was in and I was very comfortable. Dr. Banks came in to check on me and I was 6 cm. The catheter kept bothering me and they couldn’t adjust it to get it comfortable so checked me again and I was fully dilated (around 2:00 a.m.). He was only at -1 station, so I said I could wait a bit before I started pushing. A period of time went by and Dr. Banks came in and said we were going to do this. As we were setting up, the nurse came in and indicated that Dr. Banks’ patient next door was really feeling the urge to push. The only other ob there was also delivering a baby at that time. I pushed for 30 minutes and he was out, cut the cord and then Dr. Banks had to run next door to deliver the other baby. I waited about 40 minutes before she came back. I was up in the stirrups and unable to hold Steven as he was getting cleaned up. About the time they were giving him to me Dr. Banks came back and said I couldn’t hold him while they stitched me up so I had to wait more. Then about 5:00 a.m. (he was born at 4:03 a.m.) I was able to hold him. He had been rooting quite a bit and latched on for 50 minutes.
Delivery was an amazing experience and quite “easy” comparatively speaking to what I was anticipating. After the delivery I couldn’t sleep all day. I just sat and stared at Steven, listening to his noises. I can’t believe that we are parents even after 12 weeks. Steven has been the greatest baby anyone could have wanted.
[insert Chad’s story here]
I finally got a call from Chad and he started home. Lisa was happy b/c she could watch the NCAA Tournament game until half time and then head down. Once she got to the hospital she then finished the game.
Upon arrival around 10 p.m., I was 4 cm. After an hour they finished breaking my water and started the pitocin drip. (11:00 p.m.) Once this started the pain suddenly progressed. I indicated I wanted an epidural and they had to order it, start a bag of fluids…after about 1 ½ hours the epidural and catheter was in and I was very comfortable. Dr. Banks came in to check on me and I was 6 cm. The catheter kept bothering me and they couldn’t adjust it to get it comfortable so checked me again and I was fully dilated (around 2:00 a.m.). He was only at -1 station, so I said I could wait a bit before I started pushing. A period of time went by and Dr. Banks came in and said we were going to do this. As we were setting up, the nurse came in and indicated that Dr. Banks’ patient next door was really feeling the urge to push. The only other ob there was also delivering a baby at that time. I pushed for 30 minutes and he was out, cut the cord and then Dr. Banks had to run next door to deliver the other baby. I waited about 40 minutes before she came back. I was up in the stirrups and unable to hold Steven as he was getting cleaned up. About the time they were giving him to me Dr. Banks came back and said I couldn’t hold him while they stitched me up so I had to wait more. Then about 5:00 a.m. (he was born at 4:03 a.m.) I was able to hold him. He had been rooting quite a bit and latched on for 50 minutes.
Delivery was an amazing experience and quite “easy” comparatively speaking to what I was anticipating. After the delivery I couldn’t sleep all day. I just sat and stared at Steven, listening to his noises. I can’t believe that we are parents even after 12 weeks. Steven has been the greatest baby anyone could have wanted.
