A's Birth Story
November 18th was a crazy busy day. I got up that morning and got Lil B ready for school. I resisted the urge to lay back down, as had become my custom late in the third trimester. I wanted the house to be clean and all of the laundry washed and put away. Big B is a wonderful father and a great help to me, but has never actually had to deal with the day to day operations of taking care of our home and the children and this didn't seem the time to require that he do that. Around 8 p.m., Barry and I took the boys over to my parents' house. We had dinner with them and got them ready for bed. We came home around 10 p.m. to finish packing my bag and allow each of us to shower.
We arrived at the hospital at midnight and signed in. This was my first experience with this particular hospital, as my other two were born at the other hospital. We went up to Labor and Delivery and I changed into one of those lovely, bum baring hospital gowns, filled out a bazillion pieces of paper, left a specimen, had my blood taken and my IV started. I am a group b strep carrier so I was started on penicillin. Cervidil (used to soften the cervix) was then placed and they told me to try to rest. They usually prescribe Ambien to help you sleep, but I can't take Ambien, as it does bad things to me--I found that out with C--so I asked my doctor to not even bother this time.
At 6 a.m. I got the pitocin drip. Some people really despise the pitocin. I don't really find that it's all that terrible. My doctor came in at 2:30 to break my water and I was only dilated to a long 2, almost 3. I went in at a 1. They gave me my epidural and kind of prepared to be there for a while. I told any nurse that dared step foot in that room that if I got to 6 they needed to be ready, because I hit 6 and within half an hour I'm at a 9. If you happen to be a medical professional and you happen to be in the business of delivering babies, please note: If a woman tells you that in both of her prior pregnancies that she goes from 6 cm to 9 cm within half an hour and then from 9 to crowning in less than 10 minutes, it would probably be in your best interest to err on the side of caution and be prepared for that.
At 9 p.m. my nurse checked me and I was at 6. She called my doctor, who, conveniently enough, lives across the street from the hospital, and told her and she came right over. At 9:20 I told Barry to go get someone because I felt the urge to push. The nurses and doctor came in and my doctor checked me and I was at a 9. She told me to bear down to see if I could get past that last ridge and when I sat up to bear down, Aidan crowned. Nurses went into a frenzied hurry to get all of the equipment ready. That has happened every time--they aren't ever ready for how fast I crown. One nurse turned to me, grabbed my legs to pull me to the end of the bed, immediately turned to my doctor and said, "This baby's forehead is out!" YIKES! The nurse put her hand on top of his head and told me not to push. My doctor pulled her mask up and sat down and said, "Okay, push." Out came the rest of the head. "Again, Jennifer, you're doing great!" Out came the shoulders and torso. "Good girl, do it again." And he was completely delivered! And so in three pushes A made his grand entrance into this world on November 19, 2008 at 9:32 p.m. weighing in at a whopping 9 pounds and measuring 21.5 inches.
Peace,
Jen
AKA The Mommy
We arrived at the hospital at midnight and signed in. This was my first experience with this particular hospital, as my other two were born at the other hospital. We went up to Labor and Delivery and I changed into one of those lovely, bum baring hospital gowns, filled out a bazillion pieces of paper, left a specimen, had my blood taken and my IV started. I am a group b strep carrier so I was started on penicillin. Cervidil (used to soften the cervix) was then placed and they told me to try to rest. They usually prescribe Ambien to help you sleep, but I can't take Ambien, as it does bad things to me--I found that out with C--so I asked my doctor to not even bother this time.
At 6 a.m. I got the pitocin drip. Some people really despise the pitocin. I don't really find that it's all that terrible. My doctor came in at 2:30 to break my water and I was only dilated to a long 2, almost 3. I went in at a 1. They gave me my epidural and kind of prepared to be there for a while. I told any nurse that dared step foot in that room that if I got to 6 they needed to be ready, because I hit 6 and within half an hour I'm at a 9. If you happen to be a medical professional and you happen to be in the business of delivering babies, please note: If a woman tells you that in both of her prior pregnancies that she goes from 6 cm to 9 cm within half an hour and then from 9 to crowning in less than 10 minutes, it would probably be in your best interest to err on the side of caution and be prepared for that.
At 9 p.m. my nurse checked me and I was at 6. She called my doctor, who, conveniently enough, lives across the street from the hospital, and told her and she came right over. At 9:20 I told Barry to go get someone because I felt the urge to push. The nurses and doctor came in and my doctor checked me and I was at a 9. She told me to bear down to see if I could get past that last ridge and when I sat up to bear down, Aidan crowned. Nurses went into a frenzied hurry to get all of the equipment ready. That has happened every time--they aren't ever ready for how fast I crown. One nurse turned to me, grabbed my legs to pull me to the end of the bed, immediately turned to my doctor and said, "This baby's forehead is out!" YIKES! The nurse put her hand on top of his head and told me not to push. My doctor pulled her mask up and sat down and said, "Okay, push." Out came the rest of the head. "Again, Jennifer, you're doing great!" Out came the shoulders and torso. "Good girl, do it again." And he was completely delivered! And so in three pushes A made his grand entrance into this world on November 19, 2008 at 9:32 p.m. weighing in at a whopping 9 pounds and measuring 21.5 inches.
Peace,
Jen
AKA The Mommy
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