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(01/17/2001) Labor and Delivery

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The contractions started at 12:30AM on January 17th. They came and they went through out the night. Not much sleep was had that night and when morning came I made a doctor appointment with Dr. Ferguson to see if this was the beginning of labor. So at 10:00AM I had a morning visit with the doc. I was dilated to 3 cm! He told me not to get excited that it could take as long as 3 weeks until I went into labor. That was a little discouraging, but I was hoping it would be sooner rather than later.

My day was one of leisure for most of the day I talked on the phone while watching T.V. easily ignoring the contractions. Between 3:00-5:00 I couldn’t ignore them anymore. I kept thinking about what the Lamaze teacher Ruth kept saying over and over, eat something, go to the bathroom, or walk if any one of these stops the contractions than its false labor. They didn’t stop! I took three long showers hoping that would relax my body. I remember sitting on the sofa thinking I have to get up and go to the bathroom. I got up and slowly started walking, but ended up on my hands and knees breathing through the contraction. I called Hank at 5:00 just to make sure he was on his way home and wouldn’t be staying late for any reason. I was glad to hear he was walking out the door that very moment. When he got home I remember asking him if he wanted to grab a quick bite to eat before we went to the hospital. He thought that was a craziest idea ever. He threw everything in the car and we were off. I was still in denial that this could be labor. I figured the moment we got to the hospital they would say toughen up this isn’t even what labor feels like. They had us in the labor delivery room and in no time at all I was hocked up to the baby monitor and dilated to 5 cm.

This is when it really started to hurt. On the baby monitor you could watch when the contractions would come and see the line go down as they would go away. Hank makes the comment “That’s going to hurt when it gets to the top line” of course on the next contraction it hit the top line, and Oh my god was it intense pain. I couldn’t speak or move while a contraction was taking place. During the next two hours we tried every position, using the bar at the end of the bed, leaning on the bed, curled up on the bed. But the most comfortable position seemed to be lying on my side while I would breathe through the contraction while Hank would rub my back. It’s strange how a contraction feels. They start off slowly and increase in intensity until it unfolds into a complete all encompassing felling of pain. You try not to concentrate on it you try to breath through them, but not an inch of your body escapes the intensity. You’re frozen in a moment of time until your reach the end of the cycle. Then the intensity slowly goes away and you actually relax. The contraction only lasts about a minute, but you only get a minute to gain your composure as another one throbs through you. During this time Hank was such a support reminding me to take a breath when I would forget, talking me through the experience.

By 8:00PM I was already dilated to 10 cm. Before we got to the hospital Hank and I decided to try for a natural birth, but as soon as I couldn’t take it anymore I would ask for all the drugs they had in their arsenal. At 8:00PM I was more than ready, but when I heard it was time to push. I figured we are so close to the end that I could make it without the drugs. I was standing next to the bed when the urge came to push for the first time. It was a different sensation than before. Your body knows what to do and it takes over with every contraction your whole being is filled with the desire to push. Your body is pushing before you even think to push. The nurse said if you feel it go with it. I was afraid the baby would fall out right there on the floor. The nurse assured me it would take a little more work than that. I still couldn’t shake the feeling it would fall out so Hank helped me back onto the bed. As it was nearing 11:00PM I was completely out of energy I knew I wasn’t giving it 100%. As the contraction came he would slowly count to 10 during that entire 10 seconds of contractions you were suppose to push with everything you had. I was only lasting to about 5 before I would fall back on the bed deliriously exhausted. But within a few seconds another contraction would come and they would say push through it. If I had known it would take another three hours of pushing I would have taken the drugs at that moment, but by the time I asked for them he was already in the birth canal and the nurse said it was too late. You would think the next three hours would take a long time to pass, but it went by so fast.

Such a strange sensation when the head finally comes through. It is a complete release of pressure. Once the head was out, the rest wiggled right out in one push. As Dr. Ferguson pulled him out at 10:59PM Hank proclaimed, “It’s a boy!” You were immediately placed on my stomach. You were so purple and slimy not as white as I thought you would be. They handed Hank the knife to cut the umbilical cord. He said it was like cutting through leather it took a few cuts to get it all the way through. It took you awhile before we heard the first cry. We kept asking why he isn’t crying, but there was plenty of crying to come. You were only on my stomach for a short while before they placed you in a spot they had already for next to the bed. There they washed you up, checked vitals; put some goop on the eyes. While they were making sure everything was o.k. I was not yet done with the delivery. Even though I had not taken any drugs during the delivery they gave me a quick shot of Pitocin now so we could deliver the placenta. It only took a few pushes for this part to be over with. Hank recalls me being very white by this time a bit nerve racking for him as he stood between us both soon the placenta was out and Dr. Ferguson showed it to us while he explained how you had survived in there for nine months.

Everything went very quickly all the doctors doing what they knew they had to do. Then they handed us our new baby boy, Cade Thomas Donovan. Then in a moment all the commotion of the doctors and nurses ended, and it was just the three of us for a few minutes. What a beautiful moment it was.

Soon the family came in, and I felt wonderful. My parents, Hanks parents, Mark, Rachel and Kayla and Cindy were all in the room. Everyone took turns holding you. You were wide awake and alert, not crying just checking out everyone as you got passed around the room. We all talked about how perfectly beautiful you were. I felt great although I was starving it takes a lot out of you to be in labor.

Soon the nurse came by you were needed in the nursery for more tests. By this time it was pretty late and our famlies had to drive home. So one by one everyone left until it was just the three of us.

They moved me out of the delivery room and into a bedroom. Hank went to the nursery while they gave you your first bath. Our friend Jimmy stopped by about 1:00AM with some coke for me. What a treat that was I had not had any during the entire pregnancy. We talked while I waited for the nurse to bring you back to me. It wasn’t until around 2:00AM that the nurse brought you into the room. She said to me “I think your baby is hungry”. So together we learned how to nurse together. At first it took a nurse, Hank and me to get the job done. I never realized there is an actual learning process on both our parts. But we figured it out together. Around 3:00AM Hank left to go home the room they put me in had three other beds in it so he wasn’t allowed to stay the night with me. So he went home which was fine because he had to pick up Ty from the neighbors in the morning. After he left I took a shower and got all cleaned up. It wasn’t until around 5:00 that I finally fell asleep. The nurse came in at 7:00 with you so you could have a little breakfast. Hank was back at the hospital by 7:30. The next few days are a little blurry who came at what time. But we had visitors all day long. I was only able to get small naps here and there. The next night they moved me into a different room so that Hank was able to stay the night. Neither of us got much sleep.

We stayed at the hospital as long as we could the next day. After dinner we packed up all flower, and presents from all our friends. They wheeled me out to the car were the three of us set out on our new life.