Flashback: The Birth of a Blythe Baby

Elizabeth Suzanne Blythe, December 7, 2010, 7 lb, 10 oz, 19.75 in

So all three of you my faithful followers know that Izzy was born, but I feel like I must tell the story--it's all out of order and should have been done ages ago, but it wasn't, so the anal-retentive part of me is going to have to deal with the fact that this blog is not always going to be chronological (because let's face it, life is just going to get busier from here on out). So, without further ado, the story of Izzy's birth!

The Friday before Izzy was born (one week and one day before her due date), I said to my co-workers on the way out the door, "I think it's going to be Sunday night. I don't know why, but I think it." We all laughed, because really, who can ever know when nature will decide that baby is going to be born?

Aaron and I ran errands over the weekend, nothing too exciting. I was feeling to huge to spend much time on my feet, but on Sunday afternoon we went out to Best Buy because they had a small deep freeze on sale, and I wanted to get one for our house. This specific model was small enough to fit down our agent basement stairs and upright rather than chest-style, and it was a pretty good deal, so we bought it. It isn't huge and it isn't that heavy--Aaron could get it from the Best Buy shopping cart into the SUV by himself.

When we got home we decided we needed an appliance dolly to get it into the house and down the basement stairs (especially since Aaron was doing this all by himself since his over-nine-months-pregnant wife was going to be no help at all). We ran over to the Home Depot to pick up a dolly and then Aaron got the freezer into the basement, but it was late in the evening so we couldn't return the dolly till the morning.

In the course of moving things out of the way to get the freezer downstairs, Aaron pushed a trunk we have in the kitchen into the main walkway, and my big old pregnant self decided to step over it instead of moving it--I'm not really sure why. Maybe I felt a little proud of myself that I COULD still do such a thing...who knows. By the end of the evening, I started wondering if maybe my water had broken...I just felt a little like something was going on. I told myself it was because I had made that statement to my co-workers on Friday, so I didn't think much of it, but had a tiny bit of spotting so I called the doctor, who said unless it got more pronounced, just to stop by the office in the morning.

In the morning, we had to return the appliance dolly to Home Depot (or risk a late penalty), so we ran there before we stopped by the doctor. I fully expected to be told to head on to work after I saw the doctor, so I didn't eat any breakfast and called to let my boss now I'd be about an hour late.

Then we saw the doctor. "Your water might have broken," she said, and sent me over to the hospital to have a little swab test done that would tell us for sure. I still thought there was no way (I hadn't felt a single contraction and I still felt as awesome as I had the whole pregnancy) so instead of stopping for a bite to eat, we went over to Labor and Delivery. I still expected to be sent on to work in just a little while.

Well, lo and behold, the nurse does her little swab test and voila, my water HAS broken. They tell me I am staying and that they will get me started on pitocin ASAP since I'm not having any signs of laber. Aaron says he will go get our bags (which are at home). I ask the nurse if I can have some food. She says I can have a popsicle, and no, they do not have red. My choices are orange and green. I am irritated and hungry.

Aaron eats something and gets back just as I get into a hospital gown and get settled in my room (which is nice and big--St. Luke's has recently remodeled Labor and Delivery and it is really nice). Around 2 they start me on pitocin, and pretty much all I can do is sit in my bed--once they give you something to induce your labor, you're required to be on a baby monitor. Thankfully my sister has burned the entire season of Glee onto DVDs for me, so I have that to do. Then we wait.

Around 8, Aaron decides to go get dinner (at this point, I have not had anything to eat for 24 hours). While he is gone, I start to feel the contractions, so I call him and check to be sure he'll be back soon--things are getting a little uncomfortable.

I should mention that my "plan" was to try labor without any medication. When the contractions started getting noticeable, I thought to myself, no biggie, I can do this. Around midnight they were pretty intense, but I still felt good. They stopped my pitocin so I could rest (seriously? People can rest while they are having those sorts of labor pains?) and at some point I got up to go to the bathroom--and then the contractions moved to my back.

The baby must have moved into a different position--but after that point things got REAL. I have never felt anything like those back contractions. The nurse told me I was dilated to a 2, and that I would likely be in labor for at least 18 more hours. Just thinking about feeling that way for even one more hour made me start crying. I asked the nurse to please send in the anesthesiologist to answer some questions about an epidural--I was kind of afraid of the idea of that needle in my spine.

When the anesthesiologist finally arrived (it must have been around 2:30 a.m.) he started explaining the process to me, but I was in so much pain I couldn't even listen. Finally I said "I don't care, just give me the papers to sign." I though the guy was sort of unfriendly--as soon as he was almost set up, another guy came in, and I learned that the first guy is new at this--an intern or something. While he is sticking a serious needle directly into my spinal column, I am watching Aaron's face--he looks ready to punch the dude in the face. Apparently he had to reset the needle three times--I was focusing so much on breathing through my contractions that I didn't even notice.

Then the drugs kick in...and life is glorious. I felt SO much relief that I almost immediately fall asleep. Aaron says "I thought that wasn't supposed to make you loopy, since it doesn't go in your bloodstream?" I felt so great, I was giddy and giggling. They woke me up every hour or so to have me switch which side I am lying on, but mostly, I just rest.

They restart the pitocin around 5:00 a.m., and at 9:30, Mary (our great Labor and Delivery nurse) checks me and says I am now dilated to a 3. A THREE??? Seriously? That many hours later? Mary tells me that I should keep getting rest, because at this rate, it will be late evening before the baby arrives. She says she will come check me at 12:30, so Aaron goes to take a shower and eat lunch.

At 12:30, Mary comes in and checks me, just as we planned. "Oh!" she says, sounding surprised. "Well!"

Apparently, I am now completely dilated. I call Aaron.

"What are you doing?" I ask him. He's just about to hop in the shower. "Well," I say, "I'm a 10, so you might want to speed it up."

"Should I come now? What do I do?" Aaron starts to freak a little. Mary tells me that he can take a shower, but not to dilly-dally, so they get the room all ready and call the doctor while we wait for Aaron to return.

It's about 1:00 when Aaron arrives, and they page the doctor and tell him I am ready. In the meantime, Mary has given me a quick verbal tutorial about pushing, and I sort of start to feel the contractions enough to know it's time to do this. The doctor arrives.

At 1:20, I push for the first time. Five or six pushes later, Elizabeth Suzanne Blythe is born at 1:38 p.m. She weighs 7 pounds, 10 ounces, and is 19 and 3/4 inches long. She is beautiful and amazing, and I hold her on my chest and Aaron and I both cry. We are amazed and in love at once.

After about an hour, they give her a work-up--measurements, Apgar test, clean her off, etc. I eat the most amazing cheese and peanut butter crackers and have the most glorious Sprite that ever existed. (I hadn't eaten in 43 hours).

We did it! Silly me to think I needed to do it without the drugs--they were amazing! More power to you ladies who can do without them, but it made my experience SO much better. I can't believe my body is capable of such things.

So that's the story! Mainly I wanted to record it somewhere so I wouldn't forget. Hopefully it wasn't TMI. :)