Birth Story Part 2...

On the way to the hospital at 3 a.m. I ring up my mom so that she has adequate time to get ready for a day at the hospital. We arrive at St. John's and tell Ron to back me up when refusing the wheel chair and thankfully he does. I don't know what it is about wheelchairs... if I can walk, let me!

My mom arrives at the hospital around 4:15 a.m. and waits with us as my contractions stick to being 2 minutes apart but never getting any more intense and I am becoming fully aware that this could be another long labor ahead of me. At 6:30 a.m. we are moved from a triage room to a room that I will see nothing but the walls of for the next few days. Nurse Christine is at the end of her four 10 hour overnight shifts and is obviously ready to call it a day. She attempts my IV in my right arm, but can't get the vein. She pulls the needle out and decides to try my left arm, however when she tries to put the band aid on the first entry point, she misses by oh... three inches!

Ron settles in for a nap and I try to pass the time between a NY Times crossword and People magazine. I am thankful that the nurse tells me I should order a light breakfast, as I am starving! I am happy to eat my English muffin and fruit parfait... hoping that I won't end up vomiting them later.

Nurse Jessica starts her shift by checking my cervix, I am at 4cm and starts the Penicillin drip for the prevention of Group B strep, which I tested positive for just weeks before. Jessica says they are having trouble measuring my contractions and baby so they will insert an internal measure and attach a monitor on baby's head. Holy Moly!!! PAIN! I don't know what this woman is trying to do but I am cringing in pain and all I can manage vocally are a couple tiny-voiced ouches when in my head the swear words are rattling out at incredible volume. It takes the nurse two tries, fitting the procedure in between contractions, and I am so thankful when she is done. It is decided at around 11 a.m. that I will be given Pitocin to start kicking these contractions into high-gear, and it does! My light lunch comes around 12:30, but it's not soon enough... it is followed by the anesthesiologist with a lovely European accent, there to administer the epidural... ah, epidural.

Now contractions are coming regularly and they are intense... but because of lovely European-accent-man I don't feel anything but some pressure. The nurse gets me comfortable on my side, checks my cervix to find that I am at a six, tells me that if I feel like I need to push or go number 2 to push the nurse button. So there we sit: Jan (my mother-in-law), my mom and Ron waiting through contractions when I suddenly feel like I have to poop! Oh No! I can't feel my legs and I have to poop?!? Are you insane? I don't poop but once a week, does it have to be right now?

So, we call nurse Jessica and tell her that I need to poop. In she comes, but I'm expecting her to come with bedpan in hand... and no bed pan. She's going to check my cervix. My cervix? But I have to poop! What do you know... in the last 20 minutes my cervix has dialated from 6cm to 10! That's right, 20 minutes! It's time to push! Jessica asks the nurses to call Dr. Ye and tell her that I am about to begin pushing. Dr. Ye is at United, but something gets lost in translation: she thinks I'm actively pushing and that she needs to high-tail it to St. John's, so she does.

Yay! Because that's all I want to do is to push... I just wish I would have prepared myself a little more... what? another contraction? I need to push! And push I did for about an hour. Dr. Ye checked in on us and realized that she would not be needed for some time, so she went about some other errands throughout the hospital. My nurse and coach Jessica's shift ends at 3:00 and I am hoping that I can deliver this baby before she goes, but it's not looking so good. Baby Addie is moving down with each push, but comes back out of the birth canal in between contractions. At 3:00 p.m. Jessica is replaced by Marianne. Marianne switches my positioning around a bit, encourages me to push a bit harder and longer on each contraction. Three contractions later... this baby's head is crowning! She calls out for the doctor: "We need the doctor in here now!" Ron pushes the nurse button, Marianne tells me not to push, I relax my legs and Addie literally pops her head right out! Marianne catches baby Addie, tells us we are going to do this and tells me to push one more time through the next contraction and out come Addie's shoulders and the rest of her body at 3:15 p.m.

I'll tell you what happens next in a coming post... but that is how Addie made her first appearance: completely unexpected and sunny-side up!