Jamie's Birth

This is a weird way to start a birth story but its what happened. My grandmother who drove down to Florida 25 years in a row decided that she wasn't up to it that year. I wasn't pg or nursing a baby which hadn't happened since getting married so I offered to drive her down. I live in Canada so its a big drive. We had 5 kids and Reg was willing to let me go. I don't think I would have if I were him. My grandmother always drove 8 hours a day so the trip took 3 days and she needed help settling in Florida so I was gone a whole week. I had never been away from my family for so long before. The longest I was gone was 2 days and that was to have a baby at the hospital. The drive went well but I was bored and lonesome the rest of the time. Finally the week was up and I flew back home. Reg and the kids came to pick me up at the airport. I was so happy to see my family! Reg was happy to see me too. 2 weeks later my period was late.

I figured out my due date to be July 26th. By 5 weeks I started my usual morning sickness which was to throw up bile in the morning right after getting out of bed. The rest of the day I felt ok. It lasted till 20 weeks when my pelvic joint pain started. I had 2 routine u/s which said we were having a boy. I was hoping for a brown eyed boy as we had 2 blue eyed ones already. Also a boy would even things up so I was thrilled to have a boy again.

When I was 6 months pg I flew back down to Florida to pick up my grandmother. This time the deal was that we were going to leave the next morning so I wouldn't spend more time than I had to away from the family. I was comfortable driving back even though I was pg. All I got was a sore neck from staring at the road.

Since I was due in the summer I started to have swelling and spent most of the last 2 months sitting in my chair with my feet up. I was more comfortable than I had been with my 3rd so I was happy.

During my 38 week appt my dr stripped my membranes. I was at 3 cms and ready to go. We live 45 minutes from the office if the roads are good. The car seemed to hit every bump there was. By the time we got home I had lots of contractions but I thought there were just caused by the car. Back home they slowed down but then I started noticing some crampy back pain with them.

We called my friend who was going to babysit and she said bring over the kids anyway. All of our kids got along well. She had 4 and they were close in age to our 5. We got the kids ready, dropped them off and went back home.

I had more contractions and then suddenly my water broke. I went to the bathroom and sat on the toilet and let most of it drain. This time I grabbed my urine sample bottle and collected some. Last time they didn't believe me that my water broke and there was so much out it.

I used a toddler diaper as a pad and we left for the hospital. The contractions weren't bad but the car ride was no fun. We stopped for some Chinese take out and headed towards the hospital. One look at the hospital and all stopped. I'm glad my water broke as I would have had to just go back home.

We went up to triage and I gave them my proof. They thought that was strange to get a sample but it worked. I was attached to a monitor anyway to check the baby. He was fine so they showed me to a room.

First thing I noticed was the bed was different. Instead of the stretcher there was a birthing bed. No more transfering to a steel table! Better even was that babies are delivered in the labor rooms. The bed was brand new and was having a trial period. No more changing rooms as the baby is coming out. Reg wouldn't need to wear scrubs so no more of him leaving to put them on. I really liked all these new changes.

My dr came in and I told him how my contractions magically stopped as soon as I saw the hospital. He said he would get the pit started and I could have an epi whenever I wanted so I asked for one right away. My last 2 births were basically painfree as I had epis as soon as the pit was started.

The nurse got the IV in and the pit started. The anesthesiologist arrived not long after and I got my epi. This time they did my epi right in my room. Reg was asked to leave but it didn't take long.

We had a bad experience with a nurse at my last labor. I asked if she was working. The evening shift was almost up and I knew she worked nights. Unfortunately I was told she was working. I requested not to have her. The nurse didn't like what I said but said she would let the next shift know. Not long after the shift changed I got a new nurse but not the one I didn't want so I was relieved. A few minutes later the nurse we didn't like walks in demanding to know why we had a problem. We tried to not make a big deal but she kept insisting. Finally she left only to come back in a few minutes saying that there hadn't been time for my epi last time. Ugg Was this where I was suppose to say that I was in labor? Reg got angry and told her not to comeback. She took the hint and left.

The night past slowly. My epi wore off and the nursed top it up. At one point the nurse ran in the room apoligized quickly and turned off my pit. There were too many women delivering at that moment. Other than being bored I was comfortable so I told her that I didn't mind. She looked relieved and rushed out of the room.

Without the pit on the nurse wasn't always in the room checking it. I tried to get some sleep. I didn't sleep much. I was excited and not comfortable enough to fall asleep. After a few hours they started the pit again. Night turned to morning and shift changed again. I never had a labor last so long. I was comfortable but just bored. I was happy though as being bored 12 hours was better than intense pain for 20 minutes.

The head nurse came into see me as my nurse was on break. I guess she liked me as I never saw my other nurse again. The head nurse was lots of fun. Finally around 11:30 the baby's heartrate started to drop. The nurse popped back in my room and asked me if I was feeling any pressure. My last couple of babies the same thing happened so I wasn't worried. I told her that I felt a little pressure. She checked me and said it was time. The picture of me is right after the nurse checked me. I was happy it was time! They called my dr. I was the very first person to deliver on the new "break down" birthing bed but nobody had ever broke down the bed before. Reg and the nurse started taking the bed apart. They were having fun and making jokes. I was frozen from the epi and was comfortable so I was laughing right along with them. They finally figured out the bed.

My dr arrived and got ready to catch the baby. Reg got the video camera ready to record. The dr asked me to push. I gave a little push and he asked me right away to go slowly. I told him I wasn't pushing. He checked for the cord. Reg said that I was doing a great job and I said that I wasn't doing anything. The dr said that my doing nothing was working very well. The baby slipped out. The nurse suctioned the baby's mouth and the dr put him on my tummy. The nurse suctioned him again and he peed on her. He was all white he had so much vernix. He was also my smallest baby and looked so tiny. I always forget how small they are at birth. They clamped the cord and I was given a pair of sissors to cut the cord. For some reason the scissors were in my left hand and I'm a righty. I cut the cord and held him for a few minutes. The nurse asked if he looked like the rest of the family but he didn't. I remember thinking he had large features and a small face. He was really cute.

The nurse put the baby on the warming table to get him a clean warm blanket. His apgars were 9 and 9. The nurse wrapped him up and gave him back to me. I tried nursing him but he still wasn't interested. He kept his eyes closed too. We tried lowering the lights but he still wouldn't open them. There was vernix on his eye lids too. I wiped it off and he opened his eyes. The nurse came back with our bracelets. She put James back on the warming table to get his foot print and put his bracelets on. Reg and I got matching bracelets too.

They transfered me to my room to wait the 6 hours till I went home. I made a few phone calls. I tried nursing him again. He was very interested and it went well. I had asked my dr if I could leave early. He said yes but then the nurses didn't believe that I wanted to leave. I was looking forward to sleeping in my bed even if I was still full of energy from the birth. We got ready to leave and went to pick up the kids.

The other kids were excited to see their new little brother. My friend's 2 yo was very impressed with how small Jamie was. After visiting for a few minutes we headed home.

And then there were 6.

Jamie is 4.5 now. Looking back on his birth I have to say it was my most enjoyable one. We went to the hospital ready to fight since we had a hard time last time but everything went really well. We just had a few minutes with the nurse that we didn't like but the head nurse at delivery was lots of fun. I'm 38 weeks pregnant right now and hope to have a similar experience again. The changes at the hospital made things a lot better too.

Catherine (mabear)

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