Labor and Delivery

The time was 4:00am on July 22^nd when I felt for the first time a genuine labor contraction. As I was half asleep, I didn’t think much of it until about 12 minutes later when I had another one. And another one. And another one. I woke Devin up around 4:30 to inform him I thought I was going into labor. He immediately started timing my contractions. Devin went to work at 7am, and while at work, he continued to text me asking me how far apart my contractions were. At about 7:40am, I began to bounce on my giant blue exercise ball. I had heard that bouncing can alleviate some of the pressure in your pelvis and speed up delivery. When I stood up after a good bouncing, there was a gush of water! My water had broke. I immediately texted Devin saying that I thought my water had broke. He was home in 10 minutes flat. He scrambled like eggs around the apartment gathering the essentials and the non-essentials for the Hospital. Devin gave me a blessing and by 8:20am we were off to the hospital. When we got to the hospital there was a valet service that parked our car for us, and then Devin wheeled me in a wheel chair to Labor and Delivery on the 5^th floor of the hospital. That was my first legitimate wheel chair ride. I’m not going to lie, it made me feel important. “Out of the way, this lady is gonna have a baby!!!”

I was admitted to the hospital, and shortly there after received an IV (my first one… it wasn’t as bad as I imagined it would be) and a variety of other tubes were put in other orifices. I waited a few hours before requesting the epidural. The nurse said that the anesthesiologist would be in in just 5 to 10 minutes. I waited for the anesthesiologist for what seemed like an eternity, by the time he came in I was dilated to a 5.

When the anesthesiologist walked in, he was wearing green scrubs with red and pink Valentines Day suspenders on. My first thought was, “this clown is going to be putting the giant needle in my spine?” But leaving his less than professional outfit aside, he did a wonderful job because I hardly felt a thing.

The epidural, I might add, was amazing! When I arrived at the hospital I had been enduring contraction after contraction for the past 4 hours, and endured them for yet another 4 hours before receiving the epidural. The contractions were close to unbearable. When one would come along, Devin would try to comfort me by saying something funny as I sat there with my eyes closed, fists clenched, and wriggling in immense pain until the contraction subsided. Before the epidural I spent every minute dreading the time when another contraction would come. All I wanted to do was die… lay down and die! But after the epidural, I suddenly had the will to live again! Labor actually became a somewhat pleasant experience. As I lay there waiting to dilate to a 10, Devin read to me (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows) while he hand fed me ice chips and I couldn’t have enjoyed myself more. In fact, my mom came around 1:30 and was disgusted by how much pain I wasn’t in and she still insists that she was born in the wrong generation and wishes she had been able to enjoy the luxuries that an epidural offers.

By 3:30pm I was dilated to a 10 and ready to push. My doctor was nowhere in sight. The nurse insisted that he was on his way and that we should proceed without him. I thought that was kinda strange. What does this guy get paid for? Devin the nurse and I pretty much had the baby on his way out when the doctor finally peaked his head in. I pushed for about 25 minutes and baby Silas was born at 4:07pm. The heavy weight champ weighed in at 9 lbs 4 oz and was 20.5 inches long! Big babies run in my family, but I hardly imagined myself giving birth to such a large baby, especially with it being my first pregnancy. Everything about him is a bit bigger than average I’d say—his hands, feed, and head—are all quite big. When he finally came, I noticed that my belly immediately deflated like a balloon, and when the doctor placed the baby on my belly immediately after entering this world, I thought someone had placed a bowling ball in my lap. It’s still hard for me to believe that I carried him around in my belly for so long.

When the doctor was sewing me up he mentioned that I was a grade A pusher. I thought that maybe he said that to all his patients to make them feel better after the whole ordeal, but he said that I really did do a good job. I’m thinking about putting that in my resume as a skill. Skill: Grade A pusher during child birth. What do you think? I think it will really impress potential employers.

Anyway, the whole labor experience really wasn’t as scary as I imagined it would be. Devin did a wonderful job! He didn’t even come close to passing out. He helped during the pushing and he also cut the umbilical cord. My mom was able to stay for the birth as well. She was so excited! She said, “It was so interesting, I’ve never seen child birth from that angle before!” I was glad to make my mother’s day, even if it meant being overly exposed and gawked at. Devin’s parents had initially decided not to come to the birth and were just going to come to the baby blessing. Deep down inside though, I knew it would be hard to keep the anxious first time grandparents away. Devin texted them that morning telling them that my water had broken and that we were on our way to the hospital. Devin’s dad replied with, “we are on our way.” Within 9 short hours they drove up from Heber, AZ and were at the hospital to welcome their first grandchild. It was nice to have them here for a few days, even though they spent most of their time hanging out in the hospital room and cooped up in our small apartment.

Well folks, that’s a wrap. Baby Silas is alive and well. His favorite past times are eating, pooping and sleeping and we couldn’t be prouder parents. Until next time, you stay classy.