Mommy talk

This week at Mommy Talk moms are sharing their children's birth stories. Want to join us?

Samuel James entered this world weighing 7 lbs, 15 ounces at 7:03pm on October 13, 2004 - 5 days late. We went out for Mexican the night before and tried many of the other old wives tales to get labor started. Besides being physically uncomfortable, mentally, I was shot. I'd been dealing with low amniotic fluid issues were requiring ultrasounds every few days. I would throw my suitcase in the car just in case they wanted me to send me to the hospital to get induced, but that never happened. The testing method for amniotic fluid is very flawed in my opinion and only served to stress me out. On the 12th my midwife scheduled an induction for the following week. That did the trick because I went into labor that night. I had gone to bed at 9, but was up again at 10 to use the bathroom. I didn't realize it at the time, but those frequent bathroom trips from 10-12 was actually the beginning of labor. By 12:30 it finally dawned on me what was going on and I went downstairs to time contractions and let Brian get some sleep. By 3:30 when the contractions were getting closer together and weren't stopping when I sat down, I called the hospital. Brian heard me on the phone and came downstairs to join me. I called my boss at 6:30 to say I wasn't going to be able to come to work and then I took a quick shower before heading to the hospital. I'd had no experience with false labor at this point so they weren't even sure if my labor would progress. I'd only slept one measly hour the night before so they considered giving me morphine and having me sleep for a few hours. It turned out to be the real deal and there wasn't time to rest up first. I had planned to walk, use the birthing ball, the tub, etc.... but what looks good on paper doesn't always end up being the best plan of attack. After one lap around L&D I used the ball for 30 minutes or so and then climbed into the tub.
I labored in the tub for about 3 hours before they broke my water. That really got things moving. When I couldn't breath anymore I decided it was a good time for the epidural. TWO VERY LONG HOURS later I got my precious pain relief. Yes, it takes time for the anesthesiologist to get there, but that wasn't the entire holdup. We had this code word for when I couldn't take the pain anymore. The problem was I was so tired that after I was done crying and moaning from the pain of a contraction I'd pass out until the next one came on. I was begging for that thing that makes the pain go away - I couldn't even remember the word epidural - there was no way I was going to be able to remember the code word (btw it was "fussy"). 12:30-2:30 was the worst two hours of my life. From 2:30-6:30 were pretty easy. I ate popsicles, tried to nap (nurses did their paperwork in my room so it wasn't quiet enough), Brian watched the Simpsons, and then it was time to push. I pushed for 30 minutes and didn't feel a thing. From the beginning I knew I'd want the epidural for the pushing part - I was just hoping to hold off as long as possible before asking for it. At one point Sam's heart rate dropped and the midwife paged a doc, but with an oxygen mask over my face it rebounded. I never thought I'd want to use a mirror during labor, but it really did help with the pushing. The staff was talking about all the hair as soon as the head was visible.

I only had to push for 30 minutes. It was a huge motivation that we didn't know the sex of the baby. I thought 17 hours of labor was pretty good for my first baby. He's worth every second of pain. If I'd known how much easier my labor with Julia was going to be, I might have complained more about Sam's birth experience. I was just so happy to see our healthy baby boy and to not be pregnant anymore. NO MORE THROWING UP!!!!!!

Julia arrived weighing a pound more than her brother (8 lbs, 15 oz) at 1:22pm on October 2nd, 2006. (Yes, we planned it so both babies would be born in the fall.) Brian and I had been sleeping in separate beds for months in hopes of getting some decent rest, so when contractions woke me at 5:30 I just stayed in bed and timed them. I'd had many false labor (read false hope) moments in this pregnancy so I didn't want to wake Brian unnecessarily. Sam woke up at 6:30 so I got up with him and went downstairs. When Brian got up at 7 I told him that he wouldn't be going to work that day. We called his sister and she made arrangements to come over as soon as possible. By the time she arrived at 8:00, I was really ready to go. After a quick kiss for Sam we sped off to the hospital. We hit every green light (thank you Lord!) and I was walking in the front door in under 20 minutes. Because I was a midwife patient they wanted me in the room with the tub, birthing ball, etc... but I said not to bother. I was ready for my epidural ASAP. It took 2 hours again - despite asking immediately. At least this time I had my epidural before they broke my water. There was meconium so they said the baby would have to go to the warmer and the had a second team waiting in the wings. They didn't want the baby to take it's first breath until they'd had a chance to suck out the mouth. This of course had me all worried.

As if throwing up during my entire pregnancies wasn't enough, I have thrown up during both of my labors as well. In the car, while in the tub (over the side into a dish), laying in bed..... I also had some trouble with the medication they gave me. They couldn't' call the anesthesiologist until they had an IV in.

This is no easy task with my tiny veins. While they waited for yet another nurse to take her turn at digging for a vein, I was given a shot of stadol. My body didn't take to this very well at all. My blood pressure dropped dangerously low so
they had to give me a shot of ephedrine. (Isn't that what meth users take????) Everything moved much faster this time around. I was fully dilated by 12:30 and then they just waited for the baby to move down.
I only had to push for 10 minutes before meeting our beautiful daughter for the first time.







Now our family is compete.