Monday, September 14, 2009

The Birth Story

As mentioned in my last post, my water broke with a "whoosh" at 4:50 am ish yesterday morning.  After waking up Adam (who had only been home and in bed for 2.5 hours), he helped me to the bathroom and we started with a couple of phone calls.  I called the OB department to find out what we needed to do... as long as I'm not having contractions, I could wait a while and then come in.  We called Linda, our daycare lady, to find out if she would be willing to take Julia a little earlier than scheduled.

After that, we had some things to do... we packed my hospital bag (hadn't been done yet), stripped down the bed (needed to be washed now), and packed up the computer.  Julia woke up around 5:30 am, so we packed a bag for her as well, and then began packing the car (thanks, Adam!).  We were over to Linda's around 5:45 am or so, and then off to the hospital.  I wasn't have contractions, but I was uncomfortable, and thankful that Adam had the foresight to jump in the driver's seat.

The ER was expecting us, so she was able to send us back quickly after signing one quick admission paper.  Upon entering the OB, we were directed to the room I had toured on Wednesday... yay!  I was hooked up to the monitors (no contractions and steady heartbeat for baby) and we proceeded to wait.

My OB was out of town until last night, so a decision needed to be made as to whether to wait until he returned or to go ahead.  I'm glad the decision was made to go ahead...!  I really like my doctor, but goodness, I didn't want to chance contractions and full-on labor without meds for the next 12 hours only to have it end in a C-section (again).
 
Adam was scheduled to talk at church, but a quick call took care of that.  I believe the phone conversation started out with, "How good of an excuse would I need to skip speaking at church this morning?"  Hee.  Otherwise, we waited for some time.  Finally we met the attending physician, Dr. P; the surgeon, Dr. B; and the anesthesiologist, Andy.  My nurses yesterday morning were great too... Kayla followed by Kim.  And, the OR surgeons were very kind as well!

I was wheeled to surgery around 8:30 am, where I received my spinal.  After I was draped and numb, Adam was allowed into the OR.  Up to that point, the morning had been pretty uneventful... and it continued to be so!  It was a smooth and almost relaxing delivery in terms of how well things were managed and how orderly it all went.  We were able to enjoy the birth as opposed to fearing the C-section.

Raven Marie was born at 9:07 am.  She cried and cried from the get-go, cleared out her lungs good, and her Apgar scores were 9/9 right off the bat... what a blessing to have a healthy baby!  Adam and the nurse brought her over to meet me before heading to the nursery.  I was stitched up and then sent off to recovery.  And so the story of our Life as Parents of Two begins.
 
erin

1 comment:

Katie said...

What a wonderful delivery, Erin! You've given me hope for #2. ; )