Kristy's Birth

I had always wanted lots of kids, about 6. My husband wanted to get married and I wanted a baby so we did both. Right after getting married I had an early miscarriage. Just a few months later I was delighted to find myself pg again . I had been very regular so I didn't take a test. We were both students in college at the time. I started my prenatal care with an OB around 7 weeks. I went for a u/s around 17 weeks. They couldn't tell yet what the sex was so we were going to have a surprise. The baby was due Dec 17 one week after our last day of school which was our first anniversary!

At 39 weeks I had an internal and was 2 cms and were told it was soon. As soon as classes finished on Wednesday, Dec 10th, I became very impatient for the baby to arrive. Thursday passed very slowly. I couldn't stand waiting and having nothing to do. Whenever I was active I would gets lots of braxton hicks (which I nicknamed horrid hicks) so we decided to try to get things going. I did some sit-ups and then we went out shopping. Ugg. Boy did I get lots of hicks! The malls were packed as it was almost Christmas and Friday. Nothing happened and we went to bed.

At 1:45 am I woke up and went to the bathroom. As I got back into bed I got a cramp in my back that lasted a few seconds. I laid down and tried to go back to sleep. 20 minutes later I felt another cramp in my back and my tummy tightening! I woke up my dh and we waited for 20 minutes to go by. Sure enough another one. This time it started in my back and came around the front. They weren't painful yet and we were both excited thinking today was the day! after timing them for a hour they started to get closer together so we got up and started to get ready to go to the hospital. I ate a huge breakfast as I knew that they wouldn't let me once at the hospital. Around 6 am my contrax were 5 minutes apart so we called a taxi and headed to the hospital.

The streets were very quiet and it was still dark out. We lived downtown and it was less than a 10 minute drive to the hospital. The taxi driver didn't seem to notice our excitement. The contractions slowed down during the ride over. We went arrived and went up to L&D. We were shown a labor room and I was left to change. The nurse said she would be back to check me and then they would decide if I was going to stay or not. My dh was a nursing student like me at the time had checked me and I already started to dilate more so I told her I was sure as I already started to dilate more. She wasn't very nice, with an annoyed look on her face told me that arrived at the change of shift and went out into the hall where we over heard her laughing to another nurse that I had said my dh already checked me. Well that was the end of me wanting to be a nurse! The picture is me taken 6 hours berfore giving birth. I was still smiling then.

I was left to labor in my room. My contraction picked up and were starting to hurt. Just as I had bad contraction a dr I never met walk into the room announcing he was going to be my dr for the day and wasn't it a great day to be having a baby! Well after being insulted by the nurse and finding out a stranger was going to deliver my baby all I had to say to him was No! As MY dr wasn't there. He frowned and left the room. I never did see him again. The shift changed and I ended up with a wonderful Scottish nurse who used to be a midwife.

We had taken prenatal classes. We had a good instructor who gave us some ideas on how to manage pain. The best thing that we did was Reg put hot face clothes on my back. The nurse/midwife was very supportive and let us do our thing. Around 7 cms the water just wasn't hot enough and I started panicking. Reg was at a lose as to what to do. The nurse came in and tried to help but I just started crying. She asked if I wanted an epi and I nodded. They transferred me to a delivery room to get the epi. Being transferred while in that much pain was no fun but coming back I felt fine. I had really wanted a "natural" birth but I was happy not to be in pain anymore. After a couple of hours I started feeling pain again. Another nurse came in as mine was at a delivery of another patient. She checked me and said that I was 10 cms and no time to have a top up of the epi.

Back to being transferred to the delivery room. I had to get off the bed I was in and move over to a thinly padded steel table. The nurse put my legs in the stirrups and went to look for the dr. I was left there alone as my dh was putting on his scrubs. Well the dr I met earlier was delivering with my first nurse. At this point the janitor could have shown up and I wouldn't have cared! Dh comes back and the nurse gets him to hold my back up so I won't be flat on my back. Everybody starts telling me to push. Well I do but that's hurts even more! They keep saying push when ever I have a contraction so I start complaining it hurts. The dr asked where. Down there I say. Somebody finally got the bright idea of setting up the mirror and I can see the head. Wow there is a baby coming out! I figured pain or no pain she had to come out so I started pushing like mad. Of course they all tell me to stop! The baby's head is out and they want to check for the cord and suction her. OK one more push and she is out. Its a girl! We had picked Kristy-Ann for a girl. They put her on my tummy and dry her off. They clamp the cord and dh cuts it. She pinks up nicely and they take her away to examine her.

Ah no more pain. The dr then realizes my bladder is very full and catheterizes me and I pee for a long time into a bucket which makes quite a racket. He asks me to push again and the placenta comes out. Dh rolls the warming table over so I can see our new little baby. I'm amazed at how beautiful she is. The dr stitches me up. He gave me a small episiotomy. The nurse bundles her up and gives her back to me. She is wide awake and looking around. I try to nurse her but she is not interested. The dr and nurse leave us alone for a while. I unwrap her to take another look at her.

After a few minutes the nurse comes and takes Kristy to the nursery to bath her and measure her. The take me to the recovery room. I thought that I would be really bothered when they took her to the nursery but I felt very week and drained and didn't mind at all. The nurse came back and told me she weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces and was 21 inches long. She then massaged my uterus. Ouch!

I was then transferred to my ward. It was early afternoon and visiting hours for siblings. Everybody stared. I felt like a zoo exhibit. I got settled in my bed and Reg went home to study. Good thing it was only him that had final exams.

Around 10 at night the mother across the room from me suggested to me that I should vista Kristy at the nursery. She had just had her 4th and was used to the hospital. I went to visit Kristy. I held her and her blanket came undone. I wasn't used to holding such a small baby. The nurse took her back and wrapped her up expertly making me feel like I knew nothing. I kept expecting her mother to show up and thank me for babysitting!

I hated being in the hospital and Monday morning I asked my dr if I could leave. He said sure. This was back in the days where you spent 5 days in the hospital for a first baby and I was leaving after 2. The reality of being a mommy started to sink in as I dressed her to take her home

It was great to be home. The only problem we had was that I didn't make enough colustrum and Kristy stopped peeing. I gave her a bottle of glucose water from the hospital and she peed. The next day my milk came in and I had way too much. Kristy was a easy baby. She nursed every 4 hours and grew well. By 6 weeks she was sleeping 8 hours at night and nursing every 3 hours during the day. Don't worry she has since made up for being such a great baby!

I wrote this story 13 years after it happened. I'm surprised that I still remember it so well. Catherine (mabear)

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