Labor and Delivery

Time to share the story of Jamie's delivery. I am still shocked at how it all went down and still can't believe how she chose to enter this world. Nothing like I had planned and nothing like I expected.

On Friday, August 7th I woke up disappointed and frustrated I hadn't gone into labor the night before. I was surprised because I was so terribly miserable and uncomfortable and had been for days, weeks, months before. But I knew time was getting short and my patience was even shorter. That Friday Katie, Pete and I went to the mall to walk the baby out. We had a goal of how many laps around the mall we would take and our reward was going to be donuts afterwards. I made it one lap around the mall and couldn't go any further. The aches and pains were pretty much unbearable. So we stopped and let Pete play at the kids area. When we went to leave the area I noticed my purse wasn't in my stroller anymore. Can you say panic? We looked everywhere then went to security to report it stolen. Long story short, it wasn't stolen. I left it in Sears while getting Cheerios out for Pete. How? I don't know. I blame my ridiculously absent minded pregnant brain for most of the unexplainable things I have done over the past few months. We spent the next few hours dealing with canceling credit cards, changing accounts, etc. It was terrible and I felt horrible for all the problems I had caused. Stress on top of a lot of walking must have done the trick.

That night P. went to play poker with the guys. I stayed up knowing I wasn't going to be able to sleep anyway. At midnight I was laying in bed and my water broke. Not a little like it had with Pete. But it broke. There was no question. We were on our way. I texted P., "My water just broke." He responded, "I'm on my way." I got up from bed and with quite a bit of excitement and nervousness started getting ready. I called my doctor who told me to not waste any time and get to the hospital. I called Karen, our family friend, to come stay with the kids. I woke up Katie to tell her that her baby sister was on her way. And then I finished packing for the hospital. My legs were shakey. I was smiling but scared. Ready but not. I had a million things going through my head. Do I have everything covered for 2+ days away from the house and kids? How do you breathe through contractions again? My contractions quickly reminded me how unprepared I was for the upcoming experience.

Karen arrived, P. got home, we said goodbye to Katie and Pete and headed to the hospital a little before 1am. By 1:20 we were in our triage room changing into a hospital gown. Contractions were intense and I was scared. I could tell, things were going fast. By the time we got to our delivery room I was experiencing contraction on top of contraction. They were long and hard. I asked for an epidural but they were unavailable. My doctor was unavailable. He was in the c-section with my epidural. I remember at some point coming to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to get any help and I was on my own. At 2am I was 5cm dilated. At 2:15am I was fully dilated and pushing whether they liked it or not. The pain was unlike anything I could have prepared for. Only those who have delivered naturally can understand. I couldn't breathe and I was scared to death. But it didn't last long. An attending entered the room, put on gloves and a gown and caught my baby. I pushed one giant push, with a few quick breaths in between and she was out. She was on my chest, just like I had imagined. I hadn't imagined the pain I was feeling but I was just as thrilled to have her out and on my chest like I had imagined so many times.

How do I feel about having a natural birth? I am proud of myself for living through it but the truth of the matter is I didn't have a choice. It's not like it was my plan so I can't take credit for the accomplishment. If I could go back and do it again I would prefer an epidural. I am no super woman. The nurses and doctor said I did great but in my eyes I was a hysterical mess, requesting help from everyone around me, pushing when they said not to and not breathing when that was the best thing I could have been doing for myself. All I can say about the experience is thank God it wasn't longer. If you are going to go without drugs it better be fast. I accept it was all in God's plan for Jamie to join us this way. He doesn't give you anything you can't handle. At the time I was questioning that. But Jamie is here and no matter how it happened I am thankful for a safe, successful delivery and feel extrememly blessed to have a strong, healthy baby.

And boy does she have a good "birth day" story to tell someday. She can say, "When I was ready, I was ready." It seems this characteristic still applies to her today. When she wants to be held or fed, she wants it now. And she is not quiet about it. They say girls are more demanding babies than boys. Jamie lives up to that statement. But overall I would say she is an incredible newborn. Besides those few loud moments she is mostly quiet and sleeping or quiet and eating.

Funny, both of our children were born on Sat mornings. One labor was 16 hours with 3 hours of pushing and one was 2 hours with one big push. Pete is light skinned, light haired, a light sleeper and a terrible eater. Jamie is dark haired, dark skineed and eats and sleeps like crazy. Pete was laid back, Jamie is not quite as quiet. But they look the same. Their newborn faces are so similar P. and I can't hardly believe it. They both have my asian eyes. Jamie's are a little more slanted than her brother's. Jamie's hands are just like mine and Pete's are big with short fingers like his dad's. Jamie doesn't look like a 9 lb baby. Her features are skinny and limbs long and slender. I am looking at my little angel right now and she is the most precious thing I have ever seen. My babies are beautiful and I am so proud of them.

So that is my story. It was quick but not painless. But it is over and we have our baby girl.