JoieLovesAlex: Addy's Birth Story

Posted Tuesday, April 08, 2008 12:05 PM

"Suddenly it seemed like a million things happened at once...I remember the nurse saying that if the doctor didn't get there soon, she was going to be delivering that baby herself!"

The Beginning

I woke up at about 4:30 a.m. with contractions. This had happened twice before, so I wasn't about to get excited, but this time felt different. I got DH up and he reluctantly got into the shower. We started getting ready faster and faster as the contractions were getting more and more intense. At about 7:30, I tried to eat half of a bagel because I figured I would appreciate the calories later. I got about three bites down before I just gave up because it made me so sick. When I stood up from the couch, I had a really bad contraction (the worst so far) and when I looked down, my legs were all wet. I was so embarrassed; I thought that I had peed from the pain! DH cleaned it up and even smelled the rags to verify that he didn't think it was pee. I went upstairs to change, and just after I got cleaned up and was walking downstairs, it happened again -- only this time it seemed like gallons! We called the doctor and started getting out the door to the hospital. The contractions were much worse now and I was grabbing DH's bathrobe with each one and gritting my teeth. The worst part was that I couldn't sit down! It just made the pain 10 times worse.

Heading to the Hospital

It just so happened that this was the morning of the first snow of the year. DH was trying to clear off the car and I was leaning over the trunk when one of our (brilliant) neighbors came over and started chatting with DH, asking if we had had the baby yet. Uh...I was right there -- still pregnant and panting in pain. (I thought, “What do you think, genius?”). He helped DH finish clearing off the car and we were on our way. The roads were awful and it was rush hour, so the 20 minute drive ended up taking over an hour!

Keeping it Light

We got to the hospital and I was so relieved to stand again (remember, the sitting was painful!). We got inside and a well-meaning nurse caught up with us and put me in a wheel chair. Ugh. I was polite though and accepted it until we got up to Labor and Delivery. We were so excited that I was cracking jokes with the registration nurses. She called someone and said that I had a "gross rupture of membranes" and I thought that it was funny because it's not supposed to be pretty! (I didn't say my jokes were any good!).

Partying Through the Pain...

My mom met us at registration and we were taken to a labor room. (Again, I was offered a wheel chair but this time I wanted to walk). We met our nurse, Stacy, on the way. She was so nice! I was upset because I hadn't gotten to shower before we left so she brought me soap and shampoo and let me hop in the shower (DH came in to help!). We were having a great time for a few hours. It was a like a party or something with me, DH, my mom and Stacy. Of course I would stop every few minutes to hold onto DH and punch him in the chest, but it was okay! We had a great view of the neighborhood and all the snow-covered roofs. DH went to get some lunch at about 12:30. By the time he got back, about 20 minutes later, things got serious. I hurt... a lot. At that point I started screaming each time I had a contraction, and the monitor that I had to wear for 10 minutes out of every hour hurt! I didn't want anyone or anything touching me. I kept begging Stacy not to make me wear it, and every time she checked me, I would cry because I knew how much it would hurt to lie down.

Bathroom Break! 

By about 4 p.m., things were at their worst. I was getting tired from standing for nearly 12 hours and all of a sudden I had to poo. I went to the bathroom and pooed (though Stacy had to come to make sure I didn't have a baby in the toilet!). Then it got embarassing. Every contraction I would poo myself. Yes, poo myself... standing up, in front of DH and my mom. We had a steady supply of wet rags for me to wipe myself before the next contraction.

Time for Baby

By about 4:30 or so I was pushing with each contraction just to relieve some of the pressure. Stacy had given me permission and it seemed to help with the pain. She kept saying that it was probably time to get on the bed and have the baby, but I was too scared to lie down! Finally I got on the bed and kicked my mom out (just DH for the delivery). She went to check me and laughed because the baby's head was already almost crowning. She paged the doctor and had me pushing with each contraction. Suddenly it seemed like a million things happened at once. My memory says there were about eight nurses, but DH swears there were three plus an OB resident. Stacy kept paging the doctor but evidently she was having lunch in the break room and was taking her time! I remember Stacy telling the person of the other end of the page that if the doctor didn't get there soon she was going to be delivering that baby herself! Finally the doctor came running in just in time.

The Pushing

I pushed through about three contractions and DD was born. The head was hard but the doctor kept pouring cold water over my vagina, and that helped so much! It was like natural anesthetic. They told me to stop pushing once the head was out and they suctioned her just in time before the rest of her just sort of fell out on her own! (I swear that was the weirdest part...I wasn't expecting to feel arms and legs and stuff!)

Here at Last

Adelaide was born at 5:31p.m. She was absolutely perfect. They put her on my chest and I just remember marveling at the fact that I had a baby. It was so strange for some reason. They took her away to clean her up and the doctor proceeded to deliver the placenta. The doctor told me that I had torn and that she was going to inject me with anesthetic to numb the area before she sewed me up. I freaked out. I didn't want a shot down there! (weird logic!) I was bleeding quite a bit though so she turned her attention to that. She was sticking gauze up in my uterus (OW!) to test how much I was actively bleeding, and kept telling me to calm down or I was going to die of blood loss if I didn't get a grip. I suddenly got really serious and told Stacy that my blood type was O+. Everyone laughed and the doctor told me that I wasn't dying but I did need to calm down. I did and the bleeding slowed down. She then sewed me up. But since I had said I didn't want the anesthetic, she did it without. Ouch! It was only 3 stitches, but it hurt worse than the delivery. I was stupid to reject the shot in the vagina.

Meeting Baby Addy

After I was sewn back up, DH handed Addy back to me. It was the most incredible moment of my entire life. I really thought that the descriptions of that moment I had always heard were really lame and overly sentimental. But it was just like I had always heard...life-changing.

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