Susanna's Birth: The Untold Story-Part 2

OK, so part 1 ended with the nurse telling me that based on the contraction log, my contractions didn't seem that intense. Of course, she meant that she thought they weren't doing anything. However, she did say that the doctor on call (who, thankfully, was MY doctor) would come in once she finished up a delivery to check things out. I was nearly in tears when she left because a) the contractions were REALLY hurting by now-my legs were shaking when they peaked and b) I had been having contractions for nearly 16 hours, and was devastated at the thought of being sent home.

An hour or so later (around 8:30), the doctor came in. She checked out my contraction log, checked my cervix, and proclaimed me in "active labor." I was 4-5 cm dilated. Yay! Things moved really quickly then. My nurse admitted me to the hospital (which took 1/2 an hour), I watched the epidural video, signed a bunch of forms giving them permission to do everything and anything to me, received a hospital bracelet, etc. Around 10:00, the anaesthesiologist came to do the epidural (the actual procedure sucked, but the pain relief was worth it) and by 10:45 I had complete pain relief. My nurse did another cervical check, and I was 6 cm dilated.

I settled in for a nap, because I was quite exhausted and knew I'd need strength for pushing. I didn't really sleep, but at least I got some rest. Every once in a while, James would go over and look at the monitor. It was amazing to see how intense and close together the contractions were coming. I was grateful for the epidural. I knew that I could have gone without pain relief if I had no choice (like women did 200 years ago), but the epidual made things so much bettern. I could feel the pressure, but none of the pain. Before, I had been a zombie from the pain, and all my energy was focused on surviving each contraction. Now, I was able to rest, regroup, and enjoy the experience. Since it had taken almost eight hours for me to dilate four centimeters, I thought Susanna might not arrive until daybreak. But I was wrong...

Around 1:30 a.m., my nurse came in and checked on me (she might have checked earlier too, but I don't remember). I mentioned that things felt a little different "down there", so she did a cervical check. Wahoo! I was fully dilated and ready to go. Of course, the doctor had gone home, so they had to call her in. Meanwhile, they began prepping the room for delivery. It was amazing to see how they totally transformed the room in about half an hour. Cabinets were opened and equipment removed. Surfaces were covered with sterile cloths. A big, bright light was brought in to shed some light down where the sun doesn't shine. :) The doc finally arrived around 2, and I began pushing immediately. There were three (3) nurses in the room along with the doctor. Apparently there are always two nurses present for a delivery, but I think my doctor was worried that I'd have trouble giving birth, so she requested an extra nurse. Once everything was in place, I began pushing. I had been afraid that I'd be "bad" at pushing; that my muscles wouldn't be strong or something like that. They were great about talking me through the whole thing, which made it much easier. Apparently I did fairly well, because Susanna came out relatively quickly and I had no bloodshot or black eyes and only one tiny hemorrhoid.

I pushed for forty-five minutes, and then finally I heard the doctor say that the head was out and then heard her tell James (who had wanted to cut the cord) that she (the doc) was cutting the cord (apparently it was around Susanna's neck). Another push or so, and I heard something along the lines of, "here we go" and "it's a girl, alright." However, they detected some meconium in the amniotic fluid (which hadn't broken yet, so it came out with her), so they immediately transferred her to the incubator and began suctioning gunk out of her and the like. Apparently she was a "blue baby" when born, but within a few seconds we heard her crying lustily. Her first Apgar score (at one minute) was a 7; the five-minute score was a 9.

While the nurses worked on Susanna, Dr. G and another nurse began working on me. They delivered the placenta (which James termed, "disgusting"), cleaned me up a little, and then the doctor proceded to begin stitching me up. She let me tear rather than have an episiotomy, which was fine with me. When I heard her say, "I'm calling this a third degree tear", I asked her how many degrees of tears there were. She told me four...so Susanna did quite a number on her mommy! It took her a while (close to an hour) to stitch me up, so once Susanna had been suctioned, scored, weighed, and cleaned up a little, James held her and bonded with her. During the stitching, we (the nurse, Dr. G, James, and me) talked about dogs...because it turns out that we're all dog people. It helped pass the time, anyway.

Finally, sometime around 4:00 a.m., we were both declared "done." James handed Susanna to me, and the nurse helped me with my first attempt at breastfeeding (which, ironically, went very well, given our later problems). I called my parents and James called his mom. We waited until 8-9 am to call everyone else (I'm sure you appreciated that). We stayed in the L&D room for another hour or so, and then Susanna got sent to the nursery for observation and I was transferred to my postpartum room. My nurse got me settled in, my IV lines were removed, and we went to sleep for a little while (they had a futon-like thing for James to sleep in). I was sore, we were both exhausted, but we were SO thankful for our beautiful little girl.

The End.