I found out in December 1995 that I was expecting our first baby. We were super excited because we had been trying for awhile and I was finally pregnant. We told our families on Christmas. What a great Christmas present for us. In January I had my only ultra sound that gave me a due date of August 16, 1996.
My entire pregnancy was totally uneventful. My due date came and went with nothing exciting happening at all. A week after I was due my dr went out of town for 2 days. He had just brought in a partner. I saw her on Friday the 23rd. At that appointment my blood pressure was slightly elevated. So she sent me home on bed rest, with instructions to check my blood pressure over the weekend.
So Saturday morning we woke up and drove to Fred Meyer to check my blood pressure. It was still up. So I called the dr and was told to come to Labor and Delivery to be monitored. My mom, sister, and in laws were all in town awaiting the arrival of the first grandbaby. We got up there, and I was hooked up to the machines and we waited. After a couple hours the dr came in and said my blood pressure was fine, but there were some wierd dips going on with his heartbeat. She was going to give me a choice about being induced, but changed her mind and just said I would be induced that day.
Everyone went and got lunch, and we ate. It would be the last meal till much later. At 1 PM I was ready to be induced. So they started the pit and the contractions came right away. They were pretty mild though. When we started I was 2 cm dilated. They came in and cranked up the pit every half an hour as is customary. At about 8 oclock I was only dilated to 4. So the dr came and broke my water to get things moving. I also got my epidural shortly after that. I had had Stadol earlier and I really didn't like it. I felt like I was floating around the room and had no control over my body. And it didn't take any of the pain away.
I tried to rest since I couldn't feel anything, but I was too excited. So we just layed around watching tv. At about 11 they started to let my epidural wear off. The dr came in and said that I would be pushing soon and that she was going home because it could take about 2 hours. I was in shock that my dr would just leave me when it was time to push. Luckily, she came to her senses and decided it would be best if she stayed.
At 11:30 the dr went and told our families that I was going to start pushing and that they would update them in half an hour. They never got the update.
I started pushing. I was so freaked out, I had no idea what to do. All I knew was that in the LaMaze class they said in order for pushing to be effective it needed to be silent. So I tried to put everything I had into pushing. But I was so hot, and it really hurt. I remember telling the resident that my eyeballs were going to pop out. She assured me they wouldn't and if they did she said she would pop them back in for me! :) I kept complaining about being so hot, and they would say, it was warm in the room.
I am not sure how many times I pushed, but it was less than a half an hour. Matthew was born at 11:53 pm. At that point they took my temperature. Both Matthew and I had fevers. So we were treated with antibiotics, and we both got to stay 2 days. I was so glad. My real dr was home and on call Sunday morning at 8. I just missed him.
Matthew weighed 7 lbs 6 oz, and was 21 1/2 inches long. He was the first person to bring us such joy. |