Valerie's Birth Story
Ok...backflash...October 5th, 1998...are you there, yet?
My husband, Chris, and I decided to hit the sack after a long day of riding down BUMPY dirt roads. (Don’t laugh, but...we were trying to make me go into labor!) He drifted off to sleep rather quickly. I, on the other hand, am a “Night Owl.” At exactly 12:31am, my first contraction hit. BOY DID IT HURT! That is the only contraction that I could remember the start time. After that, by the time one would FINALLY finish; I’d forgotten what time it started.
Ok, anyways, back to the REAL story. Well, this being my first labor and all; I assumed that the “books” and my DR had to be right... and I quote... “Your contractions will start off mild. They should come every 10 or 15 minutes, at first. Then gradually they will come closer together and become stronger. The average contraction lasts anywhere from 45 to 60 seconds, in beginning labor. In hard labor, they will be 60-90 seconds.” Boy was I wrong!!! That paragraph did NOT describe ME or MY labor! By my fifth contraction, I was on my hands and knees, SCREAMING at my poor hubby, “MAKE IT STOP!”
Ok, enough of that. Fast forward..... we arrive at the hospital at 2:11 am. My DR had already called them and told them, “Please have some kind of pain medication available. WHEN SHE GETS THERE!” (LOL .. Guess I was kinda hateful when I called him to tell him to “ MEET ME AT THE HOSPITAL, NOW!”) So, I had my blessed epidural. (I send my thanks to God for the creating the person who created this WONDERFUL drug!) The nurse informed me, “No WONDER your having such a hard time, hun. You’re contractions are coming every 5 minutes and they’re lasting 90 seconds. Since your only dialated 2cm, this is still called EARLY labor!” At 7cm, they broke my water. By now, my epidural is starting to wear off. It’s starting to get “ugly” (hehehe), so they gladly give me another. Once they broke my water, I went from 7cm to 10cm in 30 minutes! Now comes the “hard” part they tell me. Boy, were they RIGHT about that part! I pushed and pushed as HARD as I could for 2 and 1/2 hours; to no avail.
I was crying and exhausted, so the Doc told me he was going to use forceps. He said he didn’t want me to get upset and cause “stress” for the baby. Oh, by the way: when they broke my water, they realized Valerie had her 1st bowel movement in the womb. So they had 3 pediatric nurses in the delivery room and a ER ped waiting at the hospital, “just in case.” Of course, that just scared the daylights out of Chris and I!
At 10:31am, October 5, 1998, after 10 hours of labor (to the minute...LOL), my lil’ Valerie Brianne entered our great big world. They had to pump her stomach because she had ingested some of the amniotic fluid (POOR BABY). Other than that, she was as healthy as any mother could hope her baby to be!
One more thing: for NINE months, I teased Chris..”I’m gonna get to hold the baby 1st! They ALWAYS put the baby on the mom’s tummy right after it’s born!” Pout, Pout. After checking her out and pumping her tummy; they handed her to CHRIS!!! Can you BELIEVE? LOL
I extremely admire those mommies who can do this whole labor thing, without drugs. I, unfortunately, was not one of them.
That’s all, I promise! LOL
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