I am not sure how many people will be interested in reading this, but I feel writing about the events leading up to and the actual birth of Julianne is important. Sitting down to write it has been a challenge with my ever fading memory and lack of spare time, but after many writing sessions I am going to call it done. So sit back, relax and enjoy a birth story. I have left out most of the gross things that happened. Or if birth is a subject you try to avoid please go to another web page now.
If you read this blog at all, you may recall that as I approached my due date my doctor was concerned that Julianne had failed to drop into my pelvis and was going to be too large to deliver. The Thursday before my due date, I had my last doctor appointment. My doctor checked me and to my great disappointment I once again failed to show any signs of labor (no dilation no dropping). She was worried that my failure to progress would ultimately lead to a c-section. I was fearful of this possibility and we prayed that Julianne would come on her own but prepared for the section. I was due on Monday and we scheduled an induction for Wednesday/Thursday. My doctor told me I would have a 50/50 shot at a normal delivery based on how things looked on Thursday morning.
gosh I almost forgot how huge I was!
Meanwhile I was doing everything possible to go into labor but never believed any of it would work. I bounced on an exercise ball all day at my office while working, I walked miles and miles, ate spicy food, and all other home remedies I had read about. At the time I thought I was going to be pregnant forever and honestly felt a little depressed that my body was seemingly uncooperative.
The Friday before my due date, I went to work as usual. It was a day like any other uncomfortable work day in the last weeks of pregnancy. I typed, made calls, and bounced on the exercise ball. Waddled to the bathroom, resumed working, etc. Around lunch time I started to feel a little crampy but dismissed it as nothing to worry or call home about. Later in the afternoon I was beginning to feel the cramps a bit more frequently but fully expected them to go away. Since I always did grocery shopping on Fridays after work, I went to 2 stores on the way home for the week's groceries. By this time I was pretty worn out from the work week and my marathon day at the office and shopping. I was looking forward to the weekend to get some rest and catch up on some last minute baby things.
That night our friends the Phillips asked us to dinner. Lauren had had a baby and was pregnant with their second at the time. I mentioned the cramps to her and she suggested I begin to time them. I assured her they were nothing but as we sat down to eat steaks the cramps got a little worse. After dinner I was definitely more uncomfortable and finally agreed to begin timing the things. This was more to oblige Lauren and Andrew because I was positive I was not in labor. I mean wasn't it supposed to hurt really bad? This was just some minor cramps I experience every "time of the month"...surely I wasn't in labor. At 9PM they were 7 minutes apart and we decided to head home and get some rest in the off chance this was the real deal.On the way home we called our folks and told them what was going on. I assured them that I was still positive this was not "it" and for them to plan on coming the following week for the induction. When we got home though things changed.....
By this time it was 10PM and the cramps were a little worse and consistently 5 minutes apart. This is the time you are supposed to head to the hospital, but I was still in denial anything was really going on. Andrew wanted me to call my doctor but I didn't want to bother her on the weekend for a false alarm. He thought that reasoning was ridiculous and called my doctor himself to let her know what was happening. She reassured him that if I was still happy we could stay home and to come in if that changed. I decided to take a bath and see if the cramps would fizzle out. Nope...by the time I got out of the bath I was no longer a happy camper. The cramps I was now comfortable calling contractions were getting a lot worse. They were also 4 minutes apart at this point. I was ready to head to the hospital...the worst they could do is send us home if it was a false alarm. Andrew packed up the car and we headed out around 12 AM Saturday morning.
When we arrived I was shocked to discover I had already dilated to 4 CM! I looked at the nurse as if she had 2 heads since I was positive our baby would never come on her own! Andrew wanted to know if this was the "real deal" and she assured him it was! Both of us were completely amazed that we were in that delivery room and were going to meet our baby in a matter of hours. What a miracle! Especially since the day before I had not dilated at all. We labored for several more hours and I began to understand the meaning of labor pains. The contractions were intense and all in my back coming in 2 minute intervals. I made Andrew push on my back to relieve some of the pressure and yelled at him to tell me when the contraction was peaking on the monitor. It was exhausting for both of us and finally at 3:30AM I had enough. It seemed working a full week, grocery shopping, dinner with friends, and laboring for hours through the night had done me in. I asked for the epidural and was not sorry I did! Once that lovely thing got going I was able to take a much needed nap and was very happy with my progression to 6 CM without any drugs. Looking back, I think I could have endured it longer if it hadn't been in the middle of the stinkin night, but I also know there is no shame in the epidural. It is God's gift to modern medicine and obstetrics in my humble opinion. I also don't know how I would have survived the 1st week with a newborn without those precious last hours of sleep.
Now, if you don't know 7AM is when hospital nursing staff does a shift change. I think this is pretty universal. Our night nurse was a perky, young, cute girl named Kristi. She was so sweet and good to us through the night making sure I had water to drink and blankets to keep me warm. She also told me what was happening before she examined me which made me feel very at ease. When 7AM came around Kristi was long gone and a Chinese woman named Na was suddenly at my bedside. This was all good and fine except that I could not understand a word the woman said! Our dialog was always some variation of the following:
Na: My nam Na...ho u payn?
Me: What was that?
Na: ho u payn?
Me: I am sorry I have no idea what you just asked me
Andrew: She is asking how is your pain babe
Me: Oh.... fine thanks...sorry
Good thing Andrew was there to translate! She also poked and checked and turned me without any warning at all. I always had to ask her what she was doing and then never understood the response. We learned that she practices as a doctor of obstetrics in China once a month but in the states she is just a nurse. So she seemed to know everything and lets just say we didn't exactly click.
Around noon on Saturday I saw my doctor who was very surprised but excited to hear from us the night before. She let us know it was time to start pushing and said she'd be back in a bit to deliver Julianne. Na instructed me on how to properly push and I did my best to understand her directions. I took the frowns on her face 10 minutes into it to mean she was not pleased with the work I was doing. She kept telling me everything was fine I just needed to pull on my legs more. Easy for her to say! Did she not see the gigantic belly between my arms and my legs? Sheesh! I pulled though and I pushed and pulled and pushed for about an hour. Thanks to the epidural I really didn't feel much at all. Na was instructing and Andrew was cheering me on. As he saw the contractions on the monitor he encouraged me to push and then told me to do it again and that I was doing great etc... On a side note Andrew was highly complemented on what a supportive husband he was in the delivery room. His enthusiasm and participation in those hours impressed all who witnessed it. Once I had made some good progress (about an hour later) my doctor arrived with a whole team of people to help with delivery. Julianne had had a bowel movement in utero so the NICU team was there to suction her lungs. A few other nurses I hadn't met until that moment were also there. It is true what they say about losing all modesty when you give birth...
Sometime between Na correcting my pushing technique and my doctor arriving, I apparently became an "excellent pusher". Several people in the
audience room told me so and even suggested I stop pushing at one point. Andrew told me later that he knew we were close when the doctor put on a hat and mask. This part of the story is kind of a blur now but I remember pushing a few more times and suddenly feeling a big gush, then hearing our baby's sweet cry. She was here! Our doctor held her up for us to take a look and then quickly handed her over to the NICU team at the table next to us. Andrew assured me that she was perfect and doing great while my doctor attended to me. Na leaned over and told me that she turned off my epidural a while back so I could feel to push (somehow I understood her when she said this). I appreciated her in that moment and thanked her for not telling me. I guess that is how I achieved the "excellent pusher" title. I honestly don't remember it hurting but imagine I would have if she had told me the pain meds were turned off.
Julianne's stats were:
Weight: 7 pounds 6 ounces (not as big as was feared by my doctor)
length: 18 inches
They finally handed her to us and we began to get to know our little lady. Everyone commented on how beautiful she was and I had to agree. She was so small and sweet and we looked at each of her features in complete awe. I would like to say I was able to cherish this time but it was almost too much to process in those first moments. It was all so surreal and lovely but overwhelming too. Before we knew it they moved us to a recovery room where we began life as a family of three.
One last thing I need to mention. Julianne turned out to be smaller than expected and really was no trouble at all to deliver. Praise the Lord! I don't fault my doctor on assuming Julianne was huge though because according to my belly measurements she was to be. It turned out my girth was due to an abnormally large amount of water around the baby. This was discovered only when Julianne came out and about a gallon of fluid immediately followed. The reaction from the entire room of medical professionals was "wow that was a lot of water!" Andrew was a little freaked out and shocked by it as well being an inexperienced witness. They all assured him it was fine although very unusual. I was just glad there was an explanation to my largeness and that I was no longer carrying all of that around!
Alright if you made it through the entire story I commend you. Again, I mostly wanted to get this documented since it was a significant day for our family. Glad I am finally done writing it all down!
