Read this mom's birth story in her own words below.
A brand new baby is born.
The doctor cuts the baby's umbilical cord.
Mom cuddles with her new baby.
(The details of my labor are very fuzzy because I accepted many
"pain-relieving" drugs.)
Lets start off with me confessing that I was VERY ready to have this
baby--I was so tired of being pregnant! Pregnancy was really hard for me: I
had 24-hour morning sickness for 4 months, then my stomach became SO heavy
and I had stretch marks all over and felt UGLY...and I was really anxious to
SEE the baby and hold him and make sure that all was well with him. Gaining
so much weight was hard for me b/c I'm 5"1 and before pregnancy, I'd never
been in the hundreds with weight...I was a 93-lb weakling! I gained up to
about 130 pounds during pregnancy, and I was so scared the weight would never
come off. I was SO ready to go into labor that I considered using herbs such
as blue or black cohosh or red raspberry or even caster oil. I decided
against doing anything like that, since I did not want to jeopardize my
baby's health. I did walk a LOT and I walked up and down stairs and cleaned.
(Hey, people said it would make me go into labor, and I was willing to try
just about anything!)
On Friday, July 2,1999 I had my last pre-natal visit. They checked me out
and saw that I was having mild contractions. They were concerned about the
amount of amniotic fluid that the baby had, so they scared me to death and
sent me to the hospital to have an ultrasound to make sure that was okay and
see if I needed to be induced. Shannon and I were so scared! (He's the father
and my fiancee, by the way!) Everything was okay, but we had to wait there
FOREVER and the contractions were really starting to hurt, although they
weren't consistent, yet. ( I had been going to the hospital since mid-July
thinking that I must surely be in labor, I was that anxious!) So, they sent
me home...again.
By Sunday, July 4,1999 (my expected due-date), I was going crazy. Was I
never going to go into labor ?????!!! I had contractions all day, but they
didn't seem to be in a set pattern. My friend Mary and I went walking, but my
ankles started aching, so we had to stop. Shannon kept asking if it was time
to go...but no. By 11 that night, I was SURE I was in labor, so my mom and I
went to the hospital. They said that I was not dilated far enough, but I was
having contractions, so I should walk around the hospital for an hour to see
if that sped things up so they could admit me. So, in agony, I walked the
floors of the hospital until about 3 am. They checked me again and told me to
go home, that I'd probably be back the next day. They gave me some sort of
shot to ease the pain and it would stop false labor. So, we went home at 3
am, and by 5 am July 5th, I woke up with horrible cramps. I did not want to
go to the hospital right away just to be sent home again, so I walked up and
down the basement stairs. BY 7 am, I could not stand the pain any longer.
Shannon took me to the hospital (again) and since I was VERY sure that I was
DEFIANTLY in labor this time, he stopped by McDonalds to get some food since
he knew it would be along time before he could eat again!
We got there and I could not even walk, I was in such pain. They had me
lay in one of the "waiting room beds" to wait for a doc to check me out. I
was screaming and howling in pain, and scaring the poor nurse to death. They
could not find the doctor, so I had to wait a while. Shannon's aunt came to
sit with us, and she was crying because I was crying and she was upset
because I seemed to be in so much pain. The doctor checked me and I was only
2 cm dilated! Unbelievable. He decided to admit me because of the pain. They
gave me some sort of shot for pain, I think it was Demerol. Didn't do much,
just made me sleep in between the horrible contractions. I was put into a
room, and family members began showing up to visit. It was sort of humorous,
here I lay dying in pain, and everyone is standing around the room! They
broke my waters at some point, and catherized me, but I don't remember much
about that part. I had to use a bed-pan, which was really disgusting... At
some point, they gave me the epidural shot, and Shannon held my hand. It was
extremely painful for me, I yelled at the nurse who was standing there
because she had told me that they wouldn't give me the shot while I was
having a contraction, and they did. The epidural worked on one side of my
body, slightly. Needless to say, I was less than pleased about that.
At some point, Shannon disappeared into the bathroom to take a shower,
and I kept waking up in-between contractions thinking that he had left. I
was very relieved when he came back in the room! Finally, they got in touch
with my best-friend Mary at work and she came. She really calmed me down a
lot. I was so thirsty, my lips were cracked and I kept trying to lick them,
but there was no moisture in my mouth. They gave me ice-chips, but no water
or liquids and they said that I couldn't have any water. I have no idea why.
I woke up before one contraction and asked Shannon to brush my hair. I was
SO out of it!
The epidural wore off completely....and I really wanted to push. The
nurse said that she would get the doctor. Everything about this part is
blurry, but he apparently asked me if it was okay with me for medical
students to watch. On my labor-plan I'd specified NO, but no one showed
anyone my labor plans. So, I said, " Sure, let anyone who wants to watch come
in!" There were like 10 doctors in the room, my mom, Shannon, Mary, and my
stepdad video-taped it. I could feel when to push because I could feel the
contractions, and I think that made it somewhat easier. They had me sit up
and spread my legs and hold onto my knees. That sucked because I really
wanted to squeeze Shannon's hand like they do in the movies and make him
suffer right along with me! I did not take Lamaze, but my mom tried to help
me breathe, since I kept holding my breath because of the pain. I got
frustrated with her and told her to stop blowing in my face! (I was breathing
all of her used-air, if that makes any sense...I was just grumpy.) Within
about 25 minutes, my baby boy entered the world at 2:38 pm on Monday, July 5,
1999. I was so scared when I first saw him come out because no one had told
me that he would be blue-ish, purple-ish, and I thought something was
wrong...then he let out a scream! He weighed 7 lb, 10 oz and was 20 1/2 in.
long! The doc handed him to another nurse, who cleaned him up and weighed
him, and placed him on my belly. I was so tired I could barely hold him. I
was so out of it that I was just babbling away to my new baby, Thomas. And
lucky me, it was caught on video. Everyone was remarking about the fact that
he had a little dimple in his chin, like me. (By the way, I leaned down while
he was being born and took pictures myself. I'm that into photos!) They had
to help me onto another bed because my leg was completely numb. They wheeled
us to our room and Thomas and I successfully breastfed. That is pretty much
all I can remember!