It’s a Virtual Baby Shower!

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No, silly, not for me! For Janice and Susan at 5 Minutes for Mom! Susan’s baby is due in another week or so, and Janice’s baby Olivia arrived last week! Congratulations to Janice! And I can’t wait to hear Susan’s good news soon!

Now on to the games!

For the first game, I’m supposed to post a sympathy inspiring photo of myself during labor or immediately after. Well, I have absolutely no labor photos of myself, so an after photo will have to do.

Do you see those tubes sticking out of my arm? They were there because I was SUPPOSED to get drugs. Unfortunately I was too far progressed to get my drugs, so I had to face the pain head on.

That’s not exactly what a woman in pain who thinks she is going to get drugs wants to hear!

Ok, maybe that’s not the most sympathetic picture, but it’s the best I’ve got!

For the second game, I need to post my baby bump. I couldn’t decide which one to post, so I’ll post them both. Can you tell which one is the boy and which one is the girl?

And finally, I need to post a birth story. I’m going to tell you Liz’s birth story, because it’s almost Sam’s birthday, and I’m sure I’ll retell his at that time.

February 5th was a Thursday. I was one day past my due date, and anxious to meet my baby. I had found out the night before that my two pregnant friends had both had their babies….and both had been due after me. I was a frustrated, cranky pregnant woman when I walked into my doctor’s office for my 40 week appointment.

The day got worse when my doctor informed me that nothing had changed since the last week. I was still 2 centimeters dilated. I had been 2 centimeters dilated for 6 weeks! I begged my doctor to induce me the next morning, and he agreed. I know. In retrospect that wasn’t a very wise move on my part, but I was pretty irrational at that point.

I went home thrilled to know that I was going to have a baby the next day. February 6 sounded like a good day for a birthday. I took a nap when I got home, and then I started calling all my friends and family to tell them to get ready. One of my older, wiser friends didn’t sound too thrilled that I had chosen to be induced. “I’m going to pray that you go into labor on your own anyway,” she told me.

As the day wore on, I barely had time to notice the slight ache I felt in my back. It was no doubt due to the internal exam I’d had that morning. I finished packing my bag, and made a lovely lasagna dinner for my husband and I on our last night living alone in our house. My mother in law called to get the final details and wanted to talk to my husband. I told her he’d be home in about 10 minutes, and then we’d probably be home for the rest of the evening.

Shannon got home, and we enjoyed our last dinner together before baby chaos hit. As I was taking the last bite of my lasagna, a pain hit. A pain so sharp, I had to stand up. But even standing up didn’t help. And then something felt a little wet. Shannon stopped chewing his food as he stared at me. “Are you OK?” he asked.

“Um, I think my water broke…but I could be wrong,” I responded. I headed down the hall to the bathroom, hoping I hadn’t just peed my pants.

I came out of the bathroom to find Shannon madly throwing the dishes into the dishwasher. “Put your shoes on! We’re headed to the hospital,” ordered the nervous, soon-to-be first time dad.

“But the doctor said to wait until contractions were 2-3 minutes apart for an hour,” I told him. Everyone knows the pregnant woman always knows best.

“Call Jem to see what she thinks,” suggested my husband. I called Jem, my friend and doula.

“I think this could be it,” Jem told me. “I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

As we started to head out the door, the phone rang. It was my mother-in-law. “No time to talk,” Shannon practically yelled. “I’ll call you from the hospital.”

The 10 minute drive to the hospital was sheer agony. I never realized how bumpy the roads were. When we got to the hospital, we were told that there were rooms available, but they hadn’t been cleaned yet. We were ushered to the doctor’s lounge. There was already another couple laboring in the front room with the couch and TV, so we were sent to the back room. There was a bed that didn’t adjust, and that was about it.

I was doing OK, breathing through contractions, but I really wanted a more comfortable setup. After about an hour, the nurse finally came to move us to our permanent room. As I was walking down the hall, I had to lean on the wall and stop to breathe. At that moment, my doctor walked by. “What are you doing here?” he asked, obviously amused.

“Apparently this baby doesn’t want to wait until tomorrow morning,” I retorted.

When I got to my room, the doctor came in to break my water. As soon as my water broke, I was in so much pain, I was just sure I was going to die! I begged for drugs, but the doctor wanted me to hold off for 20 minutes. He told me he’d see me in a few hours.

20 minutes later I was still begging for drugs, so the nurse called the anesthesiologist, who was across town. During the 20 minutes it took him to get there, I kept crying that I was going to die. Finally the anesthesiologist arrived. Relief was in sight! After struggling to sit up on the side of the bed, I got ready to be stuck in the back with a needle.

Then the words tumbled out of my mouth. Words that I would wish to take back 5 minutes later. “I think I have to push.” There must have been 7 people in the room at that point, and they all went dead silent.

“What did you say?” asked the nurse.

“Um, I think I need to push….but I could be wrong,” I replied.

The anesthesiologist told the nurse to check me again before he gave me some drugs. I struggled to lay down again, and the nurse checked. “She’s ready to go,” the nurse declared. “Sorry, honey, we can’t give you any drugs, but you get to meet your baby soon.”

No drugs? No drugs????? I was in PAIN!

Everyone told me to push. I’d feel better. They were right. Pushing felt good. It felt great, actually. So I pushed. Hard.

10 minutes later the nurse told me to stop pushing. Just breathe. Yeah right, just breathe. Do you know how hard that is???? Apparently nobody could get a hold of my doctor, and the nurse, who was new, didn’t want to deliver my baby without him.

Finally after 5 minutes that seemed like an eternity, the doctor showed up.

“Just breathe through one more push, and the doctor will be ready,” assured the nurse.

“Forget that!” I thought. The doctor is in the room, and that’s good enough for me. I pushed my baby girl out as the doctor was pulling on his latex gloves. At 10:03 pm on February 5, 1998, my beautiful daughter came into this world. At 8 lbs, 12.5 oz, and 21 inches long, she was no small baby! It was a wild ride, and a night I certainly won’t ever forget!

Whew! There are more baby shower games I could play, but this post has gotten long! I’ll have to take another walk down memory lane another day!

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