I love looking at old photos. Remembering where you were, who you were with, what you were doing. Memories 🙂 I especially love looking at old photos of my kids. Time really flies! I mean it was just yesterday we were anxiously awaiting the birth of our first. I was due Christmas Eve :-0 I so did not want a Christmas baby. My birthday is always the weekend of Thanksgiving or early the following week. I hated it as a kid. Too close to Christmas. I didn’t want my baby to have a birthday on a day that would be spent driving to grandparents houses, etc. Birthdays are a big deal in our house. All of your favorite things to eat, you pick the events for the day, a day all about you. Not that sharing it with our Savior would be terrible, but you wouldn’t necessarily get to have a day all about you.
The Dr told me she was 99% sure our baby would be born by Dec 18. All the signs were there-contractions, already dilating a few weeks before. I was covered with hives from my chest to my knees! Just a little stressed you know, first baby and all! I had been in the delivery room when my nephew was born. I had seen how hard the process was. I think I had good reason to be concerned.
Christmas Eve came and still no baby. Friends of ours sat with us at Christmas Eve service at church because it was a full moon that night. He was an ambulance driver, she was a nurse. They had me covered if I went into labor. My feet were so swollen the only shoes I could get on were pumps. By the time service was over I couldn’t get my feet back in them!
Christmas day still no baby. I made dinner, celebrated with family, and waited. I was having contractions at this point for 4 hours or so every night. They were regular contractions, spaced 4-10 mins apart depending on the day. My mil was with us, waiting, watching. This child would be her first grandchild. We didn’t know if we were having a boy or a girl, just a shy baby who wouldn’t cooperate during ultrasounds 🙂
December 27 came and I had a scheduled drs visit that morning. My mil was scheduled to fly out the next day to return to NY. The Dr monitored the baby for 30 mins or so as I was past my due date, just to be sure everything was okay. She asked my mil when she was leaving. She looked at me and said, let’s send you to the hospital. Then looking at my mil said maybe you will get to meet your grandchild before your flight out tomorrow.
Off I went next door to the hospital, it was 12 noon. We checked in, changed into the lovely hospital gown, the Dr broke my water, and the nurse sent dh and mil off for lunch. Now I was scared! The Dr and nurse said it would be hours. They wouldn’t let me eat, which is why they sent dh away for lunch. They wanted him to be well-fed so he could help me later.
So there I am all alone in the hospital room. I had never been admitted to the hospital before for anything. I think I had been to the ER four times in my life-one car accident, one bee sting, once I fainted and my dad insisted my mom take me and once for a piece of tree bark in my eye! Nothing major, no surgeries, no tests, nothing. Immediately the contractions get stronger and 5 mins apart! The nurse comes in and suggests that I begin stimulating my n*pples to get the contractions going. I tell her the contractions are pretty good already and I don’t think I need to do anything to get them moving along any faster. She was a retired Navy nurse and told me that what I was experiencing was nothing yet! :-0 Not the words a woman in labor wants to hear, especially when she is already having to breath through the contractions!
Dh came back about 1 pm and I told him they were getting stronger and that the nurse didn’t seem to believe me. At this point, my mil left to go back to our apt and get my bag. I had not planned on delivering that day so I had not brought it along. Dh sat at the table and began working on the mountain of paperwork they had given us. I labored. Dh came over and talked me through, rubbed my back and arm, all those things he had been taught to do in child birth classes. We had decided to go for natural child birth so breathing was going to be important. I think I told him I didn’t think I could do it as the pain was pretty intense and I was only at the beginning stages. The Dr and nurses had warned me it was unlikely I would give birth before midnight 😦
About 3 pm, I remembered the nurse rushing in the room, yelling to call the dr behind her, putting an oxygen mask on me and putting the head of the bed down and the foot of the bed up high. I remember complaining that I had really bad heartburn. Dh’s face was white. I had no idea what was going on at the time, but apparently the babies heart rate had dropped dramatically, and the alarms on the monitors had gone off at the nurse’s station. I recall the nurse pushing between my legs to move the baby up to relieve the pressure and stress. The Dr arrived as things settled back down. They returned the bed to a normal flat position and the Dr explained that the labor was progressing rather quickly. I was 6 cm dilated already and it put too much stress on the baby. I think I asked how much longer it would be and she suggested an epidural to ease the pain and to slow the labor down. At this the nurse, remember retired Navy, said, ” No! This woman asked for natural childbirth why would we offer her meds.” The Dr told me it was my decision. The nurse told me I didn’t need it. I think I must have said something to the effect of I didn’t think I could go on in labor anymore. They discussed it and compromised on a shot of something in my IV.
The Dr returned to her office and the nurse to her desk. Dh returned to the mountain of paperwork. I preferred to be alone without anyone talking to me or touching me.
A few minutes later I told dh I had to push. He was hesitant and I told him to get the nurse. She came in and told me I wasn’t ready yet, it had only been 30 mins or so since the Dr checked and I was 6 cm. I told her I needed to push. She told me not to! She agreed to check me and realized the baby’s head was almost crowning. She rang for someone to call the Dr back and told me not to push again:-/ At this point I didn’t care what she said, there was no way I could not push. Thankfully the Dr’s office was right next door to the hospital and she made it there in minutes. After 3 hours and 40 mins of labor, at 3:40 that afternoon and 2 real pushes(that I was finally allowed,) my beautiful baby girl was born. She struggled to breath at first, which was another scary situation, but by the time they administered oxygen and recorded the second APGAR scores, she was great.
My mil came back right about then, to the sound of a baby crying. She was in the hallway just as she was born. Perfect timing. My little almost Christmas baby was here.
Yesterday she turned 15! Legally old enough to learn to drive here in Florida! And three more babies have made our family complete! They all followed her lead and kept me guessing and wondering, ultimately leading to inductions everytime! She is still an example to each of them, a wonderful example of a godly young lady, with a big heart and a beautiful spirit. A Christmas gift a few days late but yet right on time 🙂
Wow, this all sound familiar. Much of the same experience. Especially, “it will be hours”. lol! I was 33 (the day before my 34th birthday) when my first child was born and they kept saying, “It is a first child, you are over thirty, this is going to take hours, relax.” Relax/ lol! The bottom of my body felt like it was separating from my core. It did not take awhile. I left my house at 5am (45 min. drive) and my child was born at 6:20am. I kept saying, “this baby is coming, can we get the doctor, please?” Finally, when the set up nurse saw a head, she frantically called everybody. sigh. What do I know? I am just the one in labor.
Proof that there are exceptions to the rule 😉