May 5, 2008
38 Weeks along…exactly!
I started to get mild contractions during the day but assumed they were still braxton hicks contractions so I didn’t think much of them because I was still 2 weeks from my due date. We had dinner and then I went to the restroom where I saw what's called the "bloody show" (a blood tinged mucus that indicates labor is coming soon…could still be a while though). I went to bed and then around midnight felt a small "pop" in my belly. I just assumed he kicked me weird or something so I got up to go to the restroom. I finished peeing but a little bit more just seemed to keep coming but I chalked that up to more pee that I didn’t know was in there. It stopped so I went downstairs to call the Labor and delivery nurses to see if what I was experiencing was early labor signs. I was on hold with them and then I thought I was peeing all over myself so I started to catch it and ran to the bathroom. Well, obviously it wasn't pee, my water broke...all over me and all over the floor. This was around 1:10am. I yelled upstairs to Brad that my water broke and we needed to go. The contractions almost immediately started up frequent and hard. Brad started packing frantically and loading the car while I made the phone calls to all the people we wanted in the birthing room. We rushed out the door for the hospital soon thereafter. We live about 40 minutes away so thank god there was no rush hour traffic! Brad must of been a little nervous watching me clench the handle of the car with pain from the contractions because he was driving around 85-90mph. I kept trying to tell him to relax and that I didn’t want to get a speeding ticket but I really did want him to get me there with a quickness. Brad's cousin-in-law, Tina was on her way to the hospital and actually saw us on the freeway and sped up to catch us. We finally got there at 2:15am. Tina has been a nurse for 11 years and she actually used to work at the Kaiser we were delivering at so she ran inside and got me a wheelchair. I was wheeled inside and at this point my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart so I was in a significant amount of pain. After what seemed like an eternity, I was finally wheeled to the labor and delivery ward where the nurses took me back to change into the fashionable cotton hospital attire. She checked my cervix and we discovered I was already dilated to 4 centimeters! They strapped me up with the monitors to make sure Andrew was doing good and before I knew it, we were in the delivery room where my mom, my sister, my dad, Diana, Ken, Danielle, Darcie, and Tina were waiting for us. My contractions became super intense after only a short time and I knew I needed help with focusing so I could keep to my guns about the no medication decision. Brad made sure I continued to breathe (most of the time I wasn't because it hurt to). The only focus point that would work for me was to stare into Brad's eyes and really listen to what he was saying. He honestly was my rock and I couldn't of done it without him! The nurse checked me again and I was almost fully dilated and in an insane amount of pain. The nurse kept pushing medication on me and I caved a bit and agreed only to use a small amount to take the edge off…well, all it did was make me puke. It took no edge off anything…everything was still felt! All I could say to Brad was how I was totally over this whole labor thing and it hurt. I just wanted it all to end! A couple hours went by and then I really felt like I needed to push during contractions. A midwife came in and informed me that she would be delivering the baby, not a doctor. I was pretty happy about this because she really got me to focus and really knew what she was talking about. She had me hold my legs back and push as hard as I could as many times as I could. Let me tell you…the rumors are true. You do more than push out a baby if you know what I’m saying. I swear I was more concerned with that than anything else! I pushed for a good thirty minutes and experienced the wonderful “ring of fire”…and Holy crap! It really did feel like I was on fire as he was crowning! I closed my eyes and pushed hard. I heard Brad say “push one more time baby!” so I did and before I could say “I can’t do this” Andrew was out and using those healthy little lungs! Now it was daddy’s turn and he got to cut the cord. Andrew was then placed on my chest and lightly cleaned of by a blanket. He was finally out…now came the “afterbirth” of the placenta…let me just say wow, that was gross! It felt like I birthed my guts out and I’m sure it didn’t look much different. Andrew was born at 6:35am…I consider myself lucky for having such a sort labor and delivery because I know it could have been MUCH worse! He got to hang out on me for about an hour without any intervention from the nurses. I was able to breastfeed him right away and that was really special! He took to it right away and I was pretty happy about that! While I was bonding with my new son, I was being stitched up by the midwife. I had asked that during delivery they not give me an episiotomy because I would rather tear naturally if I was going to. I didn’t rip that much considering what had come out of me. They rated my tearing a 2 out of 4 (4 being the most severe). It’s amazing what you can go through but you don’t feel a thing because you are distracted by this little person that has been living inside you for so long.
Poor little Andrew was quickly introduced to the paparazzi-like flashes of all of the cameras almost immediately and he took it like a champ :) The whole family were making bets at this time to too see how much he weighed and how long he was…we all overbid! He was only 6 pounds and 6 ounces and 19 inches long. His apgar score was 8/9 (this is a scoring system that assesses certain things about a baby’s health. The larger the number the better and less medical attention they need) Andrew got a point off for being born a little blue in color and a point off for an initial respiratory thing. 8/9 is still a good score though!
We waiting in the delivery room for a couple hours and they served me breakfast and let me just say…the most delicious meal I have ever had! That also could be because it was so long ago that I was able to eat. We were wheeled to our post-pardum room where all of our visitors came throughout the day including all of the wonderful nurse staff. The lactation consultant came and helped with more with the whole breastfeeding thing because Andrew was so sleepy, he was not wanting too feed.
I told Brad that he should go home for the night and try to get some sleep because the “sleeping quarters” for the new dad’s just sucked. It consisted of a skinny chair that folded out enough for someone who is no longer than a midget. He said he would probably go home but then it got to be late and he didn’t really want to go so he stayed. I have to be honest in saying I was relieved he stayed. I slept a total of 1 hour during that whole night because of my own paranoia for Andrew’s safety and the nursing staff coming in to check on me every couple of hours. Just did a bunch of baby watching and TV watching. Brad got a few hours of sleep in but I’m sure it wasn’t quality sleep...welcome to the life of new parents I guess :)