- Josh - 2 March 2006
We went into the hospital at 5 PM on February 26th to be induced. After another non-stress test (NST), I got to eat some yummy (really, it was good!) hospital food, and at some point in the evening they induced me. Josh and I settled in for the night, and we watched Andrea Bocelli sing at the Olympic Closing Ceremonies and then went to bed. I woke up around 1:30 AM to use the bathroom, then I buzzed the nurse to come do another NST (they had asked me to call them when I woke up). I had felt some continuous aching when I woke up, but it was steady, so I didn't know if anything significant had started to happen yet. As the nurses watched the monitors, one of them asked me, "Wow. Are you feeling these contractions?" I told her, "I felt a steady ache, but nothing that seemed like contractions." They said that was the medication doing that. After they got me off the monitors, I started to feel more distinct pains. They were instantly strong and less than 2 minutes apart. So my labor jumped to being intense right away. They brought me some benadryl to help me sleep, but it didn't work. We tried a hot shower to try to ease the pains, but after a while they just got too intense. So I asked for something stronger to help me sleep, and they gave me a shot in the hip of some kind of drug or another. I slept pretty well after that. :-)
I don't remember all the details, but I know that at some point in the morning when they checked me, I had dilated about 3 cm, and I was still able to feel the pains. They had not lessened at all, and the midwife asked me if I had thought about pain relief options. I told her we had hoped to do as much of the labor naturally as possible, with the possibility of the epidural if the pain got too bad. I also said that judging by the strength of the pains this early on, I was pretty sure I would definitely want the epidural. So going completely drug-free was out the window. Bernice (the midwife) said I could go ahead and get the epidural anytime at that point, as I was progressing pretty well. So they called for the anesthesiologist and Josh was sent out of the room (they needed a sterile environment, and partners aren't allowed to be in the room when they put an epidural in), and the doctor came in to put in the epidural. Josh made some phone calls to update our parents and a couple friends, and I managed to get through a few contractions while having a big needle stuck in my back. It actually went pretty well. :-) Then they let Josh back in, and I felt no pain, and it was great! :-)
So we went through the next few hours pretty happily. I could feel the contractions when I put my hand on my (whale-like) belly, but I felt no pain. It was really wonderful. I was able to sleep a LOT. This was good, because it meant I could rest up for the harder parts of labor later. Well, it turned out I didn't need that so much. I did great until about 9 PM, when I woke up and felt very uncomfortable. I felt a lot of pressure in my bottom, and could not get comfortable. They had been checking me throughout the day, and they came and checked on me again, and by this time I was 7 cm. I had been 7 cm for a few hours at that point, actually. So I hadn't progressed in a while. They told us that we might have to consider a c-section. They called the doctor to come give an opinion, and he came by 10 PM. He said we could wait another hour or two if we wanted to see if I would progress further, but it was unlikely I would progress anymore since I hadn't changed in more than four hours. He said our other option was to go ahead and do a c-section. I started crying, and said I wanted to go ahead and do the surgery. I was extremely uncomfortable, and I felt like waiting would do no good. My attitude had changed drastically with the discomfort too, and I began to feel tired despite the napping.
The doctor had said we could have the baby out by 11:00, so we all started getting ready. I was a mess, crying and not being able to stop. Bernice sat with me while Josh went to give his parents an update. She was wonderful - she just held my hand while I cried, and she said, "Who do you trust? Who is in control?" I answered, "God." She went on to say that we couldn't know God's plans, but that He had something good that would come out of this. It was so wonderful to be in a hospital where they could talk about God and reassure me in that sense. Thank you, Bernice. :-)
When he came back, Josh had to get into his funny suit (you can see it in the "Our Pregnancy Journey" pictures under "Labor Time") to be sterile for the Operating Room. We were ready to go and they were wheeling me out of my room when one of the doctors came in and said it would be 10 more minutes because another woman had decided she needed to push, and she was a doctor patient, not a midwife patient (so the doctor had to go to her since she was more urgent). So we waited. It was about half an hour before they were ready to go. They took me and I said goodbye to Josh for a few minutes; he wasn't going to be allowed in the O.R. for the first few minutes while they gave me even more anesthesia. They hooked me up, and finally Josh was allowed in. I can tell you this much: I was scared. I never liked the thought of being cut open, and I'm very glad they don't let you see it. It was bad enough they strapped my arms down and I knew what was about to happen.
Josh was wonderful. He came in and I asked him to distract me. I didn't want to think about what was going on, so I needed him to tell me something to keep my mind off of it. He started talking about Williamsburg and filling my head with some memories from our honeymoon. Suddenly we heard someone say, "Dad, stand up. Do you want to see your baby?" and Josh got to stand up as they pulled the baby out. We heard, "It's a girl!" and Josh said, "It's a girl! Hun, we have a beautiful baby girl!" and all I could say was, "A girl?" and started crying all over again. It was 11:55 PM, so she was born in the last minutes of the 27th.
I struggled after that: I saw them take the baby back behind me somewhere for all the tests and stuff, but I was trying to keep myself from biting my tongue off since my whole body was convulsing from all the drugs. My arms were shaking, my jaw was going crazy, and I was scared I would bite my tongue. I was also exhausted - especially mentally and emotionally. They eventually gave the baby to Josh to hold while they finished stitching me up. That was the worst part: it took only a few minutes to get the baby out, but it took so long to get me off the operating table. I heard Bernice talking to Josh and telling him we made the right decision (to do a c-section), because the umbilical cord was around the baby's neck and would have kept her from progressing naturally anyway. That was reassuring also. Finally they were done stitching me up, and Josh took the baby out with the midwife to show his family so they could go home. They moved me from the table to a hospital bed and wheeled me down the hall to a recovery room. My eyes were closed and I felt like I was sleeping but fully awake. I was somehow getting rest, but I was fully aware of what people around us said. I heard them talking and running tests, but I couldn't open my eyes.
I didn't get to hold Annabelle until probably closer to 1 or 2 AM. I opened my eyes when they were going to let her nurse, and I got to get a good look at my baby girl for the first time. She was beautiful! Josh and I spent the next hour or so just looking at her and talking. We finally let the nurses take her to the nursery so they could give her a better bath, and around 3 AM they brought her in and showed her to us when she was all clean, and then they took her to the nursery to sleep for the first night. Josh and I finally got to sleep at 3:30 AM, and that was the first night of recovery at the hospital.
We stayed at the hospital until Friday afternoon while I recovered and we learned some things we needed to know to take care of Annabelle. It was a long week, but it was good. It was better to be home again, but it has all been overwhelming. I'm sure you'll be hearing further thoughts on parenting as we learn and have new experiences and write about them here. We've had lots of help, especially from Josh's mom and my own mum when she came to stay with me for a few days. Now Josh is back at work, about to start his grad school classes again, and we're more on our own with the baby. So the reality is setting in more; hopefully we'll survive! And hopefully Annabelle will start to sleep at night soon. ;-)
Thanks for reading my "book" here. If I missed anything, feel free to ask me for the details. Here are the normal statistics people ask for:
Name: Annabelle Grace Root
Birth Weight: 10 lbs, 8 oz
Birth Length: Officially 20 inches, but really 22 inches. She didn't cooperate with the nurse measuring her in the O.R. - didn't want to unfold her legs for her. :-)
Born at 11:55 PM on February 27, 2006.
Well, Annabelle is crying now, so I'm gonna go see if she's hungry (yet again). :-) Then maybe we can get to bed and get some sleep!
-Katherine, 24 March 2006