My Birth Experience: Sept 3

Birth Experience:

For two days I woke up to contractions starting at 2am in the morning and ending at
6am. Expecting to break out into full labor I stayed up these two days,
hoping for something to tell me "it is time!"--but promptly at 6am the contractions
stopped occuring, and I fell asleep exhausted from all the temporary excitement.

On the day of, I walked around the apartments with my sister in law. We ate
pizza--I got mad, they forgot my peppercinnis. Baby still did not want to come out,
so we watched 2 movies that made me laugh--The Back Up Plan and Date Night.

My hubby laughed at me because everytime I laughed really hard, I would get a really
painful contraction. His sister started timing and writing down the contractions.
She would look at me every 7 minutes, and then 5 minutes, and down to 3 minutes.
On the ride down to the hospital, I joked that this would be our "weekend getaway"--and
he responded that would bring home a souvenir.

Our little girl loves a 2 am schedule. That is the time my water broke. "Such a strange
sensation", I remember thinking. "Now they cannot send me home!"

My husband prior to this was as unhelpful as in our birthing class, but now he was in full
"going to be a daddy" mode. During labor he was the husband who doted on my every whim. Holding hands,
offering me a sip of water, on one knee---It was as if we were newly wed! He spoke
He whispered in my ear encouragements, and it was very nice. We took walks and we held hands
....in the lighted hallways. It was truly a different romancing experience. I know I would
not have gotten through with delivery without him. He encouraged me to just give everything
to God and not to worry. I was afraid of getting a cesearean, or having a breach.

With every contraction, I focused on relinquishing my body to sheer relaxation. I

Once the time came to deliver, I sent everyone out of the room. His poor little sister
came in the room with food for him, not knowing what she was walking into. I looked at her
and bellowed loudly, "Lizzy! GEt OUT NOW!" She froze in mid-step. Looked scared. "GET OUT!" I yelled again
and she said, "Ok, I'll get my bag" and immediately I responded with "NO! Get out now!"
I was not really pushing yet, but the pains were getting more intolerable. My husband told her to go ahead
and get her bag, and just wait outside. So funny how I protested, and yelled.

There was one nurse that I remember kept making mistakes throughout my delievery.
She finally called my doctor when I was really feeling the urge to push--baby was not going to
wait. I got red hot mad and irritated at her. She started putting up the stirrups when my doctor
walked in the room and told her to do this. In the middle of a contraction, she lowered the bed, and made
my back fall, which really hurt. She stopped putting pressure on my foot in order to adjust the baby monitor
while I was ACTIVELY pushing the baby out. This was very frustrating. I kindly and nicely asked her
to keep pressure on when I was pushing. She said, OK. She let go again, to adjust the monitor--I yelled at her
not so nicely in a deep unheard of voice that had authority I never thought I had. She listened.

The next few moments I did not care who saw me or heard me. I let out the most loudest screams I have ever heard.
I did not have any pain medications. I did not care about anything, but just the word "PUSH". I did not even think
about what I was pushing out, all I could visualize was the word. With every contraction rippling down and hard, I did the word, "push".
I dug deep into my husband's arm, and with the whole world waiting, she came. The physical relief I felt was incredible.

I can remember the first look I took as they laid her for a moment on my belly. It was a moment so fleeting and delicate. It was hard
to take in the similarities she had to me. I could not believe how shocking it was. She had a hard time breathing, so they
quietly took her to the nursery where they hooked her up to a breathing machine. Little Sophie was breathing, but having a hard time.
They said that she was going to be alright. As they left my husband summarized in the most wonderful of sentences he has ever whispered to me: "she's here".
I could have never been more happier, tired, and relieved at once that...she's here!