After a ridiculous number of days with no rain, a thunderstorm rolled in early Sunday morning. I know this because I woke up realizing I had a wet leg and heard the thunder. Apparently a change in pressure was just what Cora needed to decide to make her way into this world. I woke up Jamey and we called the doctor. As we waited for the call back, I remembered my friend Valerie's story that the best thing she ever did when her water broke was to take a shower before leaving the house. I jumped in the shower and even took the time to blow dry my hair. By the time the doctor called back, I was dressed and ready to go. As luck and possibly a nesting instinct would have it, my parents were visiting us to help me check off the last items on my prepare for baby list so we didn't have to worry about what to do with Ruby. Jamey left them a note and we headed out.
As we left we commented on how great it was that there would be no 280 traffic at 1:45 AM. To our surprise 280 was filled with cars. Eventually we figured out it was traffic departing from an Auburn game. Despite the traffic we arrived around 2:30 AM to labor and delivery. Contractions had started in the car and were about 5 minutes apart. I was hoping there would be time for all the painkillers they had to offer. After last time, I was ready for a birth experience like Karen's where they had to wake her up to push.
The great thing about a middle of the night labor experience is the fact that there is no concern about who to call. Jamey did, I later found out, post a Facebook status that he was eating Triskets at 4 AM which may have given it away, but only to a serious Facebook stalker.
Once we settled into the room, they started the IV and gave me what my sister Kim affectionately calls the "groovy juice". It was like being instantly drunk. I would move my head and then my head would move kind of experience. I still could feel the contractions, I just didn't care. Jamey pulled out a box of Triskets and had a snack while I happily chatted away about who knows what to him. (He later exclaimed I was primarily fascinated with how many clocks I could see where there is one clock.
All good things must end and the groovy juice was no exception. Later, Jamey would comment that "Stacy only had to feel like 1 or two contractions". It's always nice to peek into Jamey world. It's a pretty interesting place and surprisingly upbeat. In reality I had about 45 minutes of strong contractions maybe 2 minutes apart. Anyhoo, it was enough to be really happy to see my good friend the anesthesiologist. The nurse filled him in on my previous experience and he analyzed me carefully before deciding I had a long back that was a little bit crooked, but not really. Whatever dude, start the epidural! He, having taken it as a personal affront that an epidural had not worked at this hospital last time, decided to play it safe it and set it up higher on my back than normal. Delicious numbness set up from my pinkie finger on down. It was awesome. The constant question I was asked by hospital staff after telling them epidural didn't work last time -- "Was it was here?" This makes me wonder if some other local hospital has a chronic problem with epidurals? An epidural tease of some type?
Giddiness is probably the best description for how I felt as the labor proceeded. I could actually feel the baby moving down my body and positioning itself for delivery but there was no pain. It was very neat. With Ruby's very I couldn't feel the baby at all because the pain kind of kicks any nuance out of any other feeling out of you.
Around 7:30 AM the nurse told me she felt like it would be time to push soon. I tried to call my parents to see if they were up yet and had seen the note. They didn't answer. My mom called Jamey back and told him she had seen the note and assumed Jamey was kidding. Only after walking into our bedroom and seeing it empty did she realize it really was time.
The doctors were changing shift around 8:30 so a new doctor walked in, introduced himself and caught the baby after 2 contractions. Jamey cut the cord and Cora "TBD" Taylor entered the world at 8:46 AM weighing 6 lb 13 oz and measuring 19.5 inches long.
Best things packed for labor - lip balm, Triskets
Least useful thing packed for labor - Kindle
Tomorrow's post - Telling the family, the party in room 238, learning the meaning of Code Brown and Cora gets a middle name.
No comments:
Post a Comment