A Memorial Day Labor

Well, as most of you probably already know, Little Bird was born on Memorial Day, May 31, at 4:18pm Pacific Daylight Time. It was a difficult labor weekend all around. Here's the lowdown.

Thursday morning, Craig and I went in for our 37 week appointment. While there, our doctor checked us and said that I was dilated to about 1.5cm and had various other signs of imminent labor. She said that if I had strong contractions five minutes apart for two hours to go to the hospital. Well, Friday evening, strong contractions started coming. They came every 15 minutes for about two hours while we watched The Soloist (that movie will now be forever linked in my mind!). After the movie ended, they were coming every 7 minutes. We went on a walk, they came every 3 minutes. We washed dishes, every 5 minutes. I sat in the tub and drank water and rested on my side and Saturday morning, when the contractions were still 5 minutes apart, we went on to the hospital. Much to my disappointment, after all those hours of contractions, I was still only between 1 and 2 cm. They let me stay for two hours, checked me again, and sent me home, telling me to come back when I had "difficulty walking and talking through contractions."

Although we were told that "active" labor could still be days away and that we should continue our holiday plans, the contractions by this point were strong enough I didn't want to do anything. So we rested the rest of the day. Sunday, the contractions were still 3-5 minutes apart and MUCH stronger. I had extreme difficulty walking around the park and had to stop speaking when the contractions came. So we went back to the hospital. I was STILL only 1-2 cm. They kept me two hours, checked again, and prepared to send me home again.Since I wasn't yet at 38 weeks, they didn't want to induce me and since I was further than 36 weeks, they didn't want to stop the contractions either.

This is when I hit my low point of the weekend. I cried. I said, "I don't know what I'm supposed to do." The nurse said, "Let me call your doctor." A few minutes later, she put me on a narcotic, Nubain. I knew from our Lamaze class that the purpose of these narcotics is to calm a panicked woman, provide rest for tired women, and just SLIGHTLY take the edge off the pain. That's exactly what the meds did and it's exactly all I really needed at the time. They kept me another two hours, the only two hours between Thursday and Monday that I managed to get any sleep at all.

When they sent us home at 6pm Sunday, I told Craig I was absolutely NOT returning to the hospital that weekend. I was determined to power through these contractions until my doctor's office opened after the holiday Tuesday morning. I even ate a cheeseburger (I love cheeseburgers).

Well, it was only a few hours before my plans of waiting til Tuesday flew out the window. By 9pm, I was rocking on my hands and knees on the floor and yelling at both God and Craig. (To God, I said, "Why are you doing this to me?" To Craig, I said, "Quit breathing on me.") At 2:30am, Craig said, "Get your bag. I'm taking you to the hospital."

I continued yelling and rocking from the pain in the car. I never thought 7 minutes could last so long. As we pulled into the parking lot, though, I started crying. I said, "I just know I'm only at 2cm. God is trying to kill me."

It didn't help when we walked in through the ER room and the lobby girl looked at me and said, "You don't look big enough to be ready for labor."

Well, I staggered up to the admittance desk, where I continued to cry and rock and Craig did all the talking while several of the nurses said, "I remember you from before." Thank God, this time I was at 5cm! When they asked if I wanted an epidural, I said "yes," and had one in place within 45 minutes. I promptly proceeded to sleep straight through the next 2.5 hours and I continued sleeping throughout most of that "active" labor phase.

Nurses came in throughout the day and at various times had me switch sides and/or put on an oxygen mask. Apparently, Little Bird's heart rate decelerated infrequently and irregularly but often enough that by the time I was fully dilated and felt her head pushing down on me, everyone involved was hesitant to continue with a vaginal delivery. Three nurses plus my doctor checked me and everyone felt her head "right there." Even I, pretty numb from the epidural, could feel her head "right there." They had me push every other contraction while they watched her heart rate and half an hour later, Craig was dressed in sterile clothes and I was spread "crucifixion style" on an operating table.

I threw up during the actual C-section but it only took them 5 minutes to pull her out of me. Craig was swabbing my lips from the nausea when we heard her cries for the first time. I wish I could have spent more time with her after her delivery, but they did let me hold her a few minutes before the nausea returned and they took her and Craig to the nursery. Next thing I knew, I was in a big empty recovery room with one nurse, still vomiting into a pan and trembling uncontrollably all over. That's when my mom showed up and I'd never been so relieved to see her before!

Anyway, we're all doing fine now. Evelyn Grace weighed 6 lbs, 13 oz, and was 19 inches long at delivery. Mom's still here helping out while I try to recover from the surgery. I'm just glad the weekend's over.

Here's our Little Bird at 36 hours of age: