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October 24, 2002
Before I post Camryn’s Birth Story, since this diary is for dual purpose, I am going to post Hannah’s Birth Story since she is my first precious angel.
Without further ado. . .Hannah’s Birth Story
Without the slightest flutter, twinge, or even mild cramp, my due date came and went like a breezy spring day. DH called me about one hundred times that day at work just checking on me, we were both expecting just any minute to make a mad dash to the hospital which was approximately 15 miles away. Where we live usually there is no traffic to speak of so we could have been to the hospital in 10 minutes had we been really in a hurry. The days came and went, and went, and went. . .Finally five days after my due date I woke up for one of my million bathroom trips about 4 am and felt different. No pain, nothing describable, just different. I thought, I felt different because I was approaching the gestation time of a horse, so it was just part of the pregnancy woes. It honestly never crossed my mind that today could be the day. I went back to bed.
At 6am DH and I are trying to roll out of bed and get ready for work. I am feeling mild muscle aches, not the proverbial contractions where I writhe in pain as the women do in the movies. (Throughout my pregnancy, I never had braxton-hicks contractions or anything, so this was new to me.) I was so excited to finally be feeling something happening. The excitement was enough to get me dressed and go to work, I was scared that if I stayed home, nothing would happen. I meet DH for lunch and we head off for our weekly Dr. appt. and non-stress test. Since I finally am progressing, we are praying that Dr. R is going to send us straight to the hospital for delivery. Dr. R comes in and we are so excited to tell him the about the “muscle aches” we are having about every 5 to 7 minutes apart. He immediately tells me that by the look on my face he can tell, I am not in labor. Dr. R diagnosis--muscle aches and pains from my body preparing itself to go into labor. I am dilated to 2-3 cm and 100% effaced, but I have been to that point for a week already. We make an appointment for induction on Thursday, since I am a week overdue.
On the way home, I get weepy, I am tired, the “muscle aches” are finally making my back hurt and I told DH, if this is not labor, I cannot handle it, I am tired of being pregnant, etc. (You know the normal complaints) Trying to make me laugh, DH replies, “Jamie, don’t be a pansy.” Instead of taking DH’s humor for what it was worth, I became furious by his remark, the rest of the ride home was REALLY quiet!! I get home and send DH back to work, I called my SIL to take me to Wal-Mart. I don’t know why, but I was scared to drive. At Wal-Mart I notice that these pains are starting to feel more like contractions and that sometimes I was unconsciously using the breathing methods learned in childbirth class. My SIL started to pick up on my contractions getting stronger and commented that she thought I was in labor. I relied solely on what Dr. R told me and insisted that this wasn’t it; after all, it had only been two hours since he had checked me. Later that evening, my SIL and a friend of hers, Cassie, who is a nurse in L&D at a local hospital came over to check on me. We timed the contractions for a few hours and Cassie said that I would probably need to go to the hospital by early morning. I decided that we should get ready for bed, I take a long bath and when I get out of the bath tub, I had this huge pain that made me double over. DH insists that we go to the hospital. I did not want to go for fears of being sent home and the nurses thinking I was a “pansy” as well.
We call our parents and tell them that we are going, but not to come to the hospital until they ear from us. (Both sets of parents beat us to the hospital!)
We get to the hospital and I make DH walk around the parking lot a bit as he tries too coax me inside. I have never been afraid of hospitals, I had just convinced myself that Dr. R was correct and I was not in labor. This just proves how irrational I was--I am literally 10 months pregnant, having “muscle aches” in my hips and tummy, but I am not in labor! Finally, DH convinces me to go in, they check me and I am dilated to 4 cm. WE ARE STAYING!!! I AM IN LABOR!! I was the only woman in labor on the night of March 19, 2001. They put me in a room and we wait. . .and wait. . .and wait. . .I had no concept of time.
They requested my epidural immediately, the nurses did this in order to ensure that I received one because sometimes the anesthesiologist would get tied up, and some women have missed their epidural opportunity. Not me sister, No WAY! Sign me up. I was hardly feeling any pain, but did not want to chance it! I am assuming that as my labor progressed, so would the pain, but for me it did not. Meanwhile, the dr. comes in and wants to insert an internal monitor because my contractions did not appear to be very strong. I am dilating at a normal rate, but the contractions are only hitting 70-80 on the monitors. They start a Pitocin drip to increase the strength and productivity of my contractions. Looking back, I never felt a great deal of pain, I never screamed as the women do on TV, I received the epidural at 6 cm and was able to completely relax after that. I laughed, talked, even slept through active labor. As it turns out, my contractions never really were productive enough, even while pushing; Dr. R had to use the vacuum to help my sweet girl come into the world. I began pushing at 4 am and at 6:50 a.m., on March 20th, 2001, an angel arrived on earth.
Hannah was absolutely beautiful. She had a head full of thick dark hair, and very petite features! She weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces and was 19 ½ inches long. From the beginning, Hannah had a deep, loud cry and she was very alert all through her examinations by nurses and doctors. Hannah became very offended by their constant poking and prodding. Her APGAR scores were 8 and 9. Hannah was born right at the time of shift change so the room was flooded with nurses for both Hannah and me. She was able to stay in my room for the entire exam.
I remember being in absolute awe at what I had just witnessed. Across the room lay a beautiful creature that DH and I had created. A precious angel that I had prayed for, for so long, one that when I spoke, her cries would become softer--as if she were actually trying to find and listen to her mommy. What an amazing moment! I felt absolutely WONDERFUL! I was in a complete euphoric state nothing could have made the moment any better.
DH loves to tell everyone, the first thing I said to him, was, “Let’s do this again soon, I am ready for more!”
Next time I will post Camryn’s birth story.
Have a great weekend,
Jamie
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