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Jamie's Birth Story By KJ Macking |
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Birth Stories -
First Baby Birth Stories
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Wednesday, 18 February 2009 09:13 |
Jamie's Arrival 4/9/98 - 4/13 - The contractions began Thursday April 9. The contractions lasted anywhere from 2 to 12 hours, 5 to 7 minutes apart, but never really got anywhere. They were strong enough to keep me from sleeping or walking but I could still talk through them.
4/13 - I went to the hospital after talking to Dr. Wolff on Monday April 13 in the early morning but the contractions weren't going anywhere and disappeared again. Linda Philips was the nurse that checked me out in the examination room. I called the school where I teach later that morning and decided to take my leave a week earlier than I had planned.
4/14 - Dr. Marks saw me in the office for my regular appointment on Tues.
4/14. I had a non-stress monitor, sonogram, and exam. I was incredibly exhausted from the nothing contractions and he promised it would happen before a week had passed and asked me to come in on Fri. 4/17 since my blood pressure was up to 138/80.
4/16 4 P.M. - I was taking a nap on Thursday 4/16 and woke to two stronger contractions and a trickle of "wet stuff". With all of the starts and stops, I called Dr. Wolff's office saying I thought I might have broken my water. Then the contractions pretty much stopped! I called James and left a message to let him know I might be going to the hospital and would call him back later. The 'wet stuff' kept trickling every time I moved but there wasn't a gush.
4 p.m. - The office, Sonja, put me on the fetal monitor and Dr. Wolff came in to check on me. As I moved to comply to a request to put my feet up, my one and only gush of water happened. Dr. Wolff told me to go to the hospital. I remember someone asking me if I knew how to get there and thinking that was a silly question but it did focus me.
5 p.m. - I drove out thinking that I had everything except money. When I looked to find change to call James, Amanda Clark (doula), and mom, I discovered $4.23 in my purse. I drove toward the bank in the shopping plaza, parked, and toyed with the idea of a cash machine or going home but was stopped by a tiny gush. I just drove to the hospital.
6 p.m. - I got to the hospital before Dr. Wolff had time to call at about 6 p.m.. A familiar face greeted me, Kathryn, a postpartum nurse that had given me a tour of the department on April 1. She and I had joked about my impending labor because when I walked in for the tour she thought, by the looks of me, I might have been in labor then. I kidded on leaving that I would see her in a couple of weeks. I guess we were right!
6 p.m. - Georgette checked me in, started the paperwork, and hooked me up to a mobile monitor but there really wasn't much to monitor. Jamie's heartbeat was about all that was there. Nisa completed the paperwork with me. She also drew blood and installed a heparin lock. My veins were their standard difficult selves and I ended up with the IV in the back of my hand just below my pinkie knuckle. That is a very unpleasant place for a needle! I finally called James, mom, and tried to get Amanda. Amanda's phone wasn't working properly but at the time I thought I had miss written her number. My suitcase was still out in the car with my paper work with phone numbers and I was feeling a bit stranded. My mom was on her way to fetch Tiny (my dog) to her house and bring in the things that I'd left outside. I would have to wait on calling until later.
7 p.m. - Another familiar face came in. Linda from Sunday evening was my labor nurse. She did an exam, finding me high, station -1, and 1 cm dilated. She told me Dr. Wolff would be in later.
8 p.m. - Dr. Wolff came in and made some suggestions for starting up the contractions; warm shower of up to an hour, walking, breast stimulation. She planned to start pitocin at 2 am if nothing worked. Ampicillin was scheduled for 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. for beta strep. Mom arrived with suitcase and Tiny in the car. Debra (19 year old sister) came in too. She seemed as though she wanted me to have the baby right then but on thinking decided not to force the issue. After they left I called and left a message on Amanda's beeper. She called back and we decided she should get some rest and come in at 2 am.
4/16 - 17 9 p.m. - 2 am - Nothing happened and with the IV I was limited in mobility. The few times I got up its rolling and my waddling didn't seem to make for walking the halls. I kept sipping on water and finished two pitchers full, Linda had told me I was dehydrated when they did the urine and blood at the beginning. I told her that made sense since I hadn't drunk anything since before noon on Thursday.
2 am - The pitocin arrived on schedule and was increased every 15 minutes. Amanda arrived at 2:15 and we mostly talked; Laurie Goodrich (Lamaze Teacher) and her husband's surgery, philosophies of labor like natural vs. drugs and epidurals, bad experiences with people insisting on natural to the detriment of mother or child, her son..... The contractions still didn't start and I was getting a bit anxious that I hadn't slept and this could go on for what seemed like forever. I tried to close my eyes and relax but it just wouldn't happen.
3 am - The contractions started. In terms of pain, they were no worse than the ones in the week before but there was a different quality to the pain. It was sharper from the beginning to the end with no real building or relaxing. The contractions were either there or not there. I found it difficult to anticipate and I asked Amanda to tell me from the monitor when they were coming. They were still pretty regular at 5 min.
3:45 am The contractions became increasingly more painful after the 2nd increase in the pitocin.
From here my memories are either very vivid or completely gone and my sense of time passing disappeared. So, this is more a list of the memories.... I dealt with the pain by acknowledging it, isolating it, and moving on to breathing. It didn't lessen the pain but once I felt it I turned my attention elsewhere. It was as though the only parts of my body that existed were my contraction and my diaphragm, everything else no longer existed. Amanda said I had done a good job or you're doing good and I replied that it was NOT nice or good. I remember talking through some of the contractions and another part of my mind saying that is impossible because everything I had read and been told said people didn't talk through contractions. Amanda and I discussed the heart rate of Jamie. It dipped down into the 80s with every contraction but it did bounce back up to 130. The fetal monitor kept losing the heartbeat unless I held it down and the later contractions made that impossible. Linda came in to put in an internal monitor. I asked her why and she explained the difficulty and importance of the monitor with pitocin. As she explained I remembered looking at the monitor in the Lamaze class and the process of attaching it. I wanted to remember to look for the spot on Jamie's head and hoping that she had hair to cover it. The monitor was attached and it felt odd, like a pulling or tugging at my vagina and on my leg where it was secured. I remember asking Amanda to get some blistex from my purse because my lips were so dry and telling where the camera was and how to open the lens and operate the shutter. I wanted to sit up straighter and moved the bed. The vibration of the bed was unpleasant and I moved me then brought the bed up. I wanted to lean forward but the handles of the bed were too far out. Amanda offered to go out and get a birth ball from her car and she did. I think I leaned forward onto the ball for all of two contractions before I felt the first urge to push which I announced. Even here I was talking through the contraction even though I knew I wasn't supposed to. Amanda went out to check on her house and Linda examined me after I told her about the urge to push. She told me she better get Dr. Wolff since I was 8 cm dilated. Amanda had a look of surprise or shock when Linda told her I was 8 cm dilated. I asked Amanda to tell me what to do during the contractions so that I wouldn't have to think about what I was supposed to do, I remember thinking it would be one less thing to concentrate on. I sat with the soles of my feet together through a few contractions. I asked for pain medication in one severe contraction.
4/17 5:24 a.m. I remember them taking out the bottom of the bed and asking me to put my feet on the rests on the side. I tried to put them up but missed the support. I was too relaxed. I asked someone to help. Someone said that a basin was missing under the bed. Dr. Wolff, Linda, and Amanda all gave me the same direction in a contraction and I told them to get their act together and just one of them tell me what to do. Dr. Wolff wanted the bed back further. The vibration of the bed irritated me and I asked them to move the bed where ever they wanted it and then help me to lean back later. I think I grabbed Amanda's hand to ease back. Someone told me to pant and I told them I couldn't. Holding my breath was difficult. I don't think I was very successful with it. Dr. Wolff told me to push again in one contraction and I said I'd wait for the next one. Someone bumped into or leaned onto the bed and I asked them to back off for a minute. I remember being aware that I was sweating incredibly and my brow felt sopping wet. I told someone that I'd rather use my hands to lean forward and have someone move my legs. I asked if someone could move my legs so I could just lean and breathe and push. I said I was going to vomit, someone asked when and I said it was just a bile taste in my mouth. Dr. Wolff told me to put my hand down and I felt Jamie's head for the first time. Dr. Wolff asked me to cut the sound and push.
4/17 5:36 a.m. Dr. Wolff told me to open my eyes and she had Jamie in her hands. Jamie Kathleen, 6 lbs. 2.8 oz. 19.5 in. had arrived! 12 minutes and 4 contractions! I remember Dr. Wolff asking me if I wanted to cut the cord and grabbing the scissors. They felt heavy and awkward in my hands. I remembered Laurie's Lamaze advice to the father's that the cord was tough and difficult to cut. I remember the blood spraying out and onto my thigh and washing it off later in the shower. Amanda asked me for the extra film and said something about staging a weighing in shot. I remember being incredibly cold and shivering all over. Linda came through with a couple of blankets. Jamie was in my arms and Nisa told me to keep rubbing her back. I felt a nothing contraction and a tugging or pulling. I asked Dr. Wolff what she was doing and as the words left my mouth I mentally called my self ten kinds of fool since I knew she was delivering the placenta. Dr. Wolff was pushing my belly and I told her to stop because it hurt. Dr. Wolff complemented me on a job well done and I asked if that meant I could remain as her patient. She only accepts obstetrical patients in her practice! I asked Dr. Wolff if the IV could be removed immediately. She said it had to remain for an hour in case I bled. I told her I wasn't a bleeder. Amanda and Linda helped me breast feed for the first time. Jamie was so awake and alert. Her eyes were big blue pools that followed sound and light. They fixated on mine. She squiggled and squirmed and cuddled into my arms. She turned toward my giggles. Linda kept pressing down on my tummy and that hurt. It felt like all the muscles from the diaphragm down had been twisted into knots and didn't want to be asked to do anything more or messed with in any way. Amanda left and said to call if I needed anything. I couldn't imagine needing anything since I had my daughter!
6:40 am 4/17 - Jamie was taken away and the IV was taken out 5 minutes late! I told Linda she was late. Linda asked if I wanted to eat or drink anything, she brought me toast with jelly and coffee.
6:45 a.m. 4/17 - I called James in New Jersey and told him he was a daddy as soon as the IV was gone and I could get to the phone card and a phone.
7:00 a.m. 4/17 - The shower felt so good! As did rolling over onto my tummy to go to sleep.
8:00 a.m. 4/17 - Grandma arrived to see Jamie. Jamie was still on the warming bed when I went into the nursery. She brought a cute little piggy bank and a bunch of flowers.
9:00 a.m. 4/17 - My teaching assistant, Myra arrived to say hello to my daughter.
Later 4/17 - My lunch arrived and my nurse, Marge, was upset that they hadn't sent the correct meal. I'm a vegetarian and they sent beef tips on noodles. My mother and father arrived to say hello and take some pictures.
4/17 11:00 p.m. - I guess it was because I was doing so well or because I had to stay until Sunday that the staff decided to move me out of the Labor/Delivery/Postpartum room and into a Postpartum room down another hall but I think that they could have chosen another time to do it. I had finally started to relax and get some sleep. My new nurse on the floor was Belinda.
4/18 5:00 a.m. - A good nights sleep with Jamie sleeping in beside me. I fed Jamie and headed for the shower. Everyone showed up to see me within the next 30 minutes. Someone from the food service wanted to check on my breakfast. The nurse wanted to take Jamie to see the pediatrician, Dr. Rommel. The photographer wanted to take Jamie's picture. The nurse wanted to take my vital signs. Dr. Marks, Dr. Wolff's partner, wanted to check on me. The birth certificate needed to be filled out. I told them all to come back later from my shower! At 11:00 when they had all come back, Dr. Marks returned and I must have had a particularly nasty look on my face and I was just getting to breakfast. I had to explain that I was just feeling like Grand Central! I had even started answering the phone that way. I was discharged but Jamie had to stay an extra day because of the beta strep. I told everyone we would only stay if I could stay in my room without being moved at 11:00 p.m. Grandma & Aunt Debbie came to visit! Everyone was calling or visiting to discuss who was going to drive me home. The contenders were: Aunt Debbie, Grandma, Myra, etc......... I decided that I would drive myself home. It avoided any hassle and kept a family eruption from occurring. Besides, I had gotten myself to the hospital!
4/19 Another good nights sleep with Jamie sleeping through 4 hours. I fed her and began packing us up to leave. She spent time in the nursery while I moved the car toward the entrance, got breakfast in the cafeteria and moved the majority of the collected "stuff" out to the car. Bernice, the floor nurse, came in to teach me about infant care. Her first question set me to giggling. She asked me if I knew how and when to change Jamie's diaper. I gave her my first giggling answer about waiting for it to be so heavy it fell off. We went on through dropping her to make sure her brains were scrambled, holding her under water for 5 minutes to make sure she was clean, putting the thermometer in up to its end, laying her on the edge of the bed and leaving her, feeding her only every 6 hours, bathing her 4 times daily, dousing her umbilical cord in water. etc.... I finally left the hospital at 12:30 after what seemed like an interminable wait for her last bilirubin test to come back. As we drove home, I marveled at the change in my driving habits. We arrived home to a lunch provided by Grandma and Pop-pop. The dog, Tiny, was very curious about the new being and had to check out the toes and fingers. Visitors left at about 3:00 p.m. and Jamie and I had our home to ourselves for the very first time.
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