I kicked him off just as soon as I felt the next contraction begin. Seriously, I know he was trying to comfort me, but laboring with an animal lying on your uterus just doesn't compute.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Oscar helping me through early labor
I kicked him off just as soon as I felt the next contraction begin. Seriously, I know he was trying to comfort me, but laboring with an animal lying on your uterus just doesn't compute.
Early labor
Twelve days after the delivery I started writing the story of Sylvia's arrival. Then my computer crashed and I lost it. Now I am starting again, nearly 50 days after her arrival and will be a bit more conscientious to SAVE my work instead of putting my computer to sleep with documents open.
On April 30th, I woke with a start from sleep. I looked at the clock and it was 3:23 am. I was having my first labor contraction and I was excited. I lay in bed for the next hour, keeping an eye on the clock and trying a little bit to rest, but it was so hard because I knew that in a short time (ha. ha-ha.) I'd be meeting our daughter. So I got the laptop out and opened up contractionmaster.com to start keeping track of the frequency and duration of my contractions. They were about 10-12 min apart and lasting about 45 seconds. I decided around 4:30 or so that I couldn't sleep so I started reading blogs, to get fully caught up before things got too intense. At this point I was dealing with the contractions, lying on my side, and breathing through them. Around 5:30 I woke up my husband and told him that I was in labor (we were sleeping in separate rooms which we'd been doing for a while because of his snoring). He soon got up and got ready for work. You might think this strange, after all I was in labor. However, he only had 4 days of paternity leave and I had planned in advance for a friend to come over and hang out with me while I labored at home.
I was just looking over a chat I had with Bea that morning around 6:30 am. My contractions at that point were 7-10 min apart and lasting 1 to 1.5 min. In the interest of sharing everything that was happening (oh, don't worry, this will get much more graphic), I let Bea know that I was sweating like crazy, especially from my feet. And now you know, too. Around 7 am I got on the birth ball and my contractions went down to 6 min apart but were a bit shorter. I got a shower and had breakfast around 8 am or so and my contractions went down to 4 min apart but were even shorter in duration. At some point I set up camp on the sofa, unlocked the front door and waited for my friend Z to arrive. At about 10 am she got to my house and we hung out in the living room all day, me laboring, she watching and fetching me water and gatorade. I should mention that Z is also pregnant, she was about 15 weeks or so when I went into labor. She was impressed with my ability to breathe through the contractions and I kept thinking, hey, I can totally do this. I can get through this labor focusing and breathing, etc. Around noon I had some lunch, cottage cheese and yogurt. I was laboring at this point between the sofa (lying on one side or another with a waterproof cloth underneath) and the yoga ball (leaning on the ball with my knees on the floor or the exercise mat I guess) but in all honestly mostly lying on the sofa because that felt the best. Throughout the day my contractions were about 5-6 min apart and lasting a minute or so. Every time I had a contraction I would report to Z and we would discuss how it went, how I was feeling whether it was more or less intense than the last and so on. I don't recall how often I was going to the bathroom and I am also uncertain how much I was drinking (not enough as I found out later). In the afternoon, I had Z phone triage and the midwife on call phoned back. Lucky for me, the midwife on call was the one I had seen for most of my prenatal care, she knows me well and we have a good rapport and I was glad to be talking with her. I told her what was up with the contractions and asked whether a tub room was available. A tub room was not available, much to my chagrin, and my midwife said I could keep laboring at home and to call back later.
My husband called periodically throughout the day as I was sending him text messages on his pager to let him know how the contractions were going. He finished work around 3pm and stopped off at an electronic store to pick up a Flip video camera. He got home by 4pm and Z took off, wishing us luck and a speedy (ha. ha-ha) delivery. Labor was picking up. The contractions were about 4 min apart and were getting more and more intense. I was still doing pretty well, breathing through them and so on. I was either in the bathroom or on the bed when I told him to call triage and page the midwife again. When she called back we gave her the update on the contractions and after some hemming and hawing and a particularly intense contraction I had my husband tell her we were coming in--she thought I could probably still stay home for awhile, but I was ready to get to the hospital. I already had the car packed with the bags (it was packed for weeks, honestly, except for the birth plan which I carefully printed out and carelessly left on the kitchen table) so we got in and were on our way at about 5 pm. My contractions sped up to 2 minutes apart while we were in the car and I begged my husband to pull over at least once.
When we arrived at the triage parking area, we just happened to see a neurology resident we know who ran into the hospital to get a wheelchair and then kindly helped me get in it and then wheeled me inside. He wished us well as the elevator doors closed and up to triage we went, leaving our car in the triage parking spot, completely ignoring the valet parkers and basically acting like we owned the place. The elevator stopped on the main floor and about 20 people got in with us, at which point I shouted: I AM IN LABOR PEOPLE--HOW DARE YOU GET ON THIS ELEVATOR WHEN I AM HAVING A CONTRACTION??? Ok, I did not say any of this but I was thinking it especially since everyone seemed to be staring at me although how I knew this through my closed eyes and downturned head is simply quite amazing, no?
And then we all popped out of the elevator on the Labor and Delivery floor and we arrived at triage where the next installment of the story will pick up...
On April 30th, I woke with a start from sleep. I looked at the clock and it was 3:23 am. I was having my first labor contraction and I was excited. I lay in bed for the next hour, keeping an eye on the clock and trying a little bit to rest, but it was so hard because I knew that in a short time (ha. ha-ha.) I'd be meeting our daughter. So I got the laptop out and opened up contractionmaster.com to start keeping track of the frequency and duration of my contractions. They were about 10-12 min apart and lasting about 45 seconds. I decided around 4:30 or so that I couldn't sleep so I started reading blogs, to get fully caught up before things got too intense. At this point I was dealing with the contractions, lying on my side, and breathing through them. Around 5:30 I woke up my husband and told him that I was in labor (we were sleeping in separate rooms which we'd been doing for a while because of his snoring). He soon got up and got ready for work. You might think this strange, after all I was in labor. However, he only had 4 days of paternity leave and I had planned in advance for a friend to come over and hang out with me while I labored at home.
I was just looking over a chat I had with Bea that morning around 6:30 am. My contractions at that point were 7-10 min apart and lasting 1 to 1.5 min. In the interest of sharing everything that was happening (oh, don't worry, this will get much more graphic), I let Bea know that I was sweating like crazy, especially from my feet. And now you know, too. Around 7 am I got on the birth ball and my contractions went down to 6 min apart but were a bit shorter. I got a shower and had breakfast around 8 am or so and my contractions went down to 4 min apart but were even shorter in duration. At some point I set up camp on the sofa, unlocked the front door and waited for my friend Z to arrive. At about 10 am she got to my house and we hung out in the living room all day, me laboring, she watching and fetching me water and gatorade. I should mention that Z is also pregnant, she was about 15 weeks or so when I went into labor. She was impressed with my ability to breathe through the contractions and I kept thinking, hey, I can totally do this. I can get through this labor focusing and breathing, etc. Around noon I had some lunch, cottage cheese and yogurt. I was laboring at this point between the sofa (lying on one side or another with a waterproof cloth underneath) and the yoga ball (leaning on the ball with my knees on the floor or the exercise mat I guess) but in all honestly mostly lying on the sofa because that felt the best. Throughout the day my contractions were about 5-6 min apart and lasting a minute or so. Every time I had a contraction I would report to Z and we would discuss how it went, how I was feeling whether it was more or less intense than the last and so on. I don't recall how often I was going to the bathroom and I am also uncertain how much I was drinking (not enough as I found out later). In the afternoon, I had Z phone triage and the midwife on call phoned back. Lucky for me, the midwife on call was the one I had seen for most of my prenatal care, she knows me well and we have a good rapport and I was glad to be talking with her. I told her what was up with the contractions and asked whether a tub room was available. A tub room was not available, much to my chagrin, and my midwife said I could keep laboring at home and to call back later.
My husband called periodically throughout the day as I was sending him text messages on his pager to let him know how the contractions were going. He finished work around 3pm and stopped off at an electronic store to pick up a Flip video camera. He got home by 4pm and Z took off, wishing us luck and a speedy (ha. ha-ha) delivery. Labor was picking up. The contractions were about 4 min apart and were getting more and more intense. I was still doing pretty well, breathing through them and so on. I was either in the bathroom or on the bed when I told him to call triage and page the midwife again. When she called back we gave her the update on the contractions and after some hemming and hawing and a particularly intense contraction I had my husband tell her we were coming in--she thought I could probably still stay home for awhile, but I was ready to get to the hospital. I already had the car packed with the bags (it was packed for weeks, honestly, except for the birth plan which I carefully printed out and carelessly left on the kitchen table) so we got in and were on our way at about 5 pm. My contractions sped up to 2 minutes apart while we were in the car and I begged my husband to pull over at least once.
When we arrived at the triage parking area, we just happened to see a neurology resident we know who ran into the hospital to get a wheelchair and then kindly helped me get in it and then wheeled me inside. He wished us well as the elevator doors closed and up to triage we went, leaving our car in the triage parking spot, completely ignoring the valet parkers and basically acting like we owned the place. The elevator stopped on the main floor and about 20 people got in with us, at which point I shouted: I AM IN LABOR PEOPLE--HOW DARE YOU GET ON THIS ELEVATOR WHEN I AM HAVING A CONTRACTION??? Ok, I did not say any of this but I was thinking it especially since everyone seemed to be staring at me although how I knew this through my closed eyes and downturned head is simply quite amazing, no?
And then we all popped out of the elevator on the Labor and Delivery floor and we arrived at triage where the next installment of the story will pick up...
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
So many stories to tell
But first a photo of my kids lying peacefully together for the first time:
Sylvia is doing wonderfully. Mom has had a pretty rough road these past 2 weeks. I have started writing a monster post or 2 to tell you all about it. I finally got my ass sewn back together today (this statement will make sense soon, I assure you) 13 days after the first sewing and 8 days after the unsewing. Thanks to Percocet, Oxycodone, Motrin, and a wonderful nursing relationship with my child, I am getting by. I hope you are all doing well and will start trying to catch up on blogs very soon.
Sylvia is doing wonderfully. Mom has had a pretty rough road these past 2 weeks. I have started writing a monster post or 2 to tell you all about it. I finally got my ass sewn back together today (this statement will make sense soon, I assure you) 13 days after the first sewing and 8 days after the unsewing. Thanks to Percocet, Oxycodone, Motrin, and a wonderful nursing relationship with my child, I am getting by. I hope you are all doing well and will start trying to catch up on blogs very soon.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Welcome to Sylvia Grace
Here is our darling daughter at 1 day old. Sylvia was born at 2:23 pm on May 1, and measured 7 lbs 2 oz with a length of 20 inches. She's an absolute delight!
I have a long labor story story to share with you all, but not today. I hope you are well, thanks for stopping by. I'll be home tomorrow from the hospital. Talk to you soon!
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