I had worked through my pregnancy until 3 weeks before she was due. We decided not to find out if the baby was a girl or a boy. We were in the
process of moving to another city at the time. She was due January 8 and we moved our furniture and belongings on December 14. Since our insurance would not cover anything that happened outside the coverage area we had to stay and wait for her to decide to be born before we
went. So we (my husband and a very pregnant me) moved into my
mother-in-law's spare bedroom to wait.
I went for my doctor's
appointment the end of December; she said I was 2 centimeters dilated. I'm thinking "yes! I might get to have this baby and go home!" I went back to the doctor's on my due date.... no change. They did another
ultrasound and measured the baby to be almost 7 pounds at that point.
The doctor told me that they wouldn't let me go more than 2 weeks past
my due date, particularly with the baby already measuring so large (I'm
very small).
They made an appointment for me to get induced. I was to
go to the office and have the Cervidil insert done on the evening of the
15th and then go to the hospital the next morning where they would start
the pit. drip if I had not gone into labor. Whatever the reason, the
scheduling got mixed up and I ended up having to go in to the hospital for the insert. I was the first one in that night, so I got my pick of birthing suite rooms. I chose the one with the whirlpool tub. Wouldn't that be nice! What a waste.... never got to use it!
The appointment was supposed to be at 6 PM. As things do, it got messed
up and it was 9 before the doctor came in to give me the insert. He
told me there would be some mild cramping and it would go away and then,
hopefully, after a while contractions would start. He gave me the
insert and the cramping started. My first thought, this is NOT mild!
My second, after about 10 minutes, this is NOT BRIEF! I was determined when I went in that I would not have any drugs to help. I had these constant, un-orderly, strong contractions for a few hours. One would
not let up when the next would start. They paralyzed me. Shortly after
midnight (3 hours of this ridiculousness) a nurse came in to do a
pelvic. There had been NO change. I was not taking any more of that
when it was doing no good! I asked for something and they gave me Stadol. Ohhhh, heaven! I went to sleep...
I woke up at 5:30 AM. I still had contractions, but they were orderly and even. They hurt, but there was relief in between. After a while I
started thinking "if these aren't working, there is no point here." I
asked the nurse could I have some more of the Stadol? She said sure,
but lets do an exam first to see. She did the exam and says "well, no
more meds for you!" I was (finally) about 8 cm dilated!! The relaxing from the meds had done the trick.
By now it is shortly after 6 AM. At about 6:45 or 7 my water broke. At
7:10 the nurse told me I could start to push. They told me all the
normal things "gentle, take it easy," but she really wanted out I
guess. They were worried about the size of her head, it looked too tight to them. The doctor never made it to the hospital. At 7:25 AM on
January 16, 1996, Michelle Nicole made her entrance after a mere 4 pushes
from her momma. She weighed 7 lb. 15 oz. and was 22 in. long. She was
a gorgeous baby with a headful of thick, black hair. At birth her eyes were brown. She looked around the room, took everyone in. She held her head up the moment she was born.
The cord had been wrapped around her neck. She was turning blue. My
husband had been able to hold her right after she was born, and he
showed her to me, but I didn't get to hold her. They took her over
under the light to work on her and try to get her to breathe and get her
color to return to return to normal. Her blood glucose was very low.
Deathly low. They took her to the nursery.
We had left standing orders
with EVERYONE that this baby was NOT to get a bottle. My husband went
into the nursery and saw the nurse giving her a bottle. He let them
have it. The whole bunch... doctor, nurse... everyone! He is a big man
and I wouldn't want him going off at me if I didn't know him! They said
they needed to give her formula and sugar water to raise her blood
sugar. They had already put an IV in. I asked was there any way to
give her what she needed without a bottle. The answer was a stomach
tube put down through her nasal passage. Even with all this, she was
the most beautiful newborn. She had none of the newborn
characteristics. Perfect head, no wrinkles, good color.
I finally got to nurse her that evening, almost 12 hours after her
birth. She latched on immediately, no trouble knowing what to do here! My nipples were sore, cracked and bleeding for a week or so afterward!
Meanwhile, I had 2 large tears from her birth and had lost an enormous
amount of blood. I tried to get a shower, but almost passed out when I
stood up. My husband and mother-in-law say I was blue. My platelet
count was very low and they had me taking double doses of Iron.
We both got to leave the hospital 2 days later. I was sick for the first 4 or 6 months of her life. We did nothing but sit and rock and nurse. She ate every hour to hour and a half. She slept through the night right from the start. She never cried for anything. My husband
did most of the diapering the first month or two and then my mom came
during the day and helped till I could get up and take care of things on
my own.
I now have a beautiful, intelligent 3 year old whom I love dearly!
Copyright 1999 by author
Used by permission
Previous Story Next Story