Full Moon Baby, Part III
Part I
Part II
All along, my plan for labor had been to stay at home as long as humanly possible. And that I did. At this point my surges were about 2 minutes apart, so I was definitely past the point when you're normally counseled to go to the hospital (when they're 4-5 minutes apart). I had no idea how far I was dilated, and of course like probably every pregnant woman I was scared the answer was, like, 3 cm. (10 cm means you're ready to push, for the uninitiated.)
I had called the doctor and she had told me to come to the hospital when the surges got really painful. Check. I was there. So, around 3 or 330 I was like, "IT'S TIME." What I was really thinking is, "I don't know if I can do this without some outside help."
Walking out to the car was my one and only shot at seeing the lunar eclipse. Oh, there it is... the lunar AAAUUUUUUUHHHH!! I mean, It was nice, but I had other things on my mind.
The car ride was um, intense, what with potholes, speed bumps and so on. Up until this point, I had dealt with the surges by sitting on the toilet (sorry if that's TMI) or doing the hippie dance. Obviously, this was not an option in the car. So I just hung in there.
When we got to the hospital, I gave a few people a good scare. At this hospital, the majority of moms give birth by planned c-section. So, the night watchman and nightttime admissions people are not used to seeing large pregnant women who have to sway around every few steps. They kept trying to get me in a wheelchair, but that sounded like a horrible idea at the time.
We went straight to the labor room (this hospital has the labor room, the delivery room and your regular hospital room. I was never crazy about all this changing rooms but like many things, at the moment I could not have cared less what room I was in!) I have to say, this was the worst part of the whole thing, because they wanted me to stay still on my back to examine me and monitor the baby. My doctor was on her way, so a resident-type checked me. He seemed surprised, and so were we — I was at 9 cm!
That was definitely good news, but it didn't take the edge off the surges I was feeling. I felt like my pelvis was literally about to split in two. Natural childbirth people say when you feel like you can't take it anymore, that's when the baby's about to come! I guess I sort of temporarily forgot that. Or maybe I didn't believe it? I felt like I couldn't take it anymore. And I sort of regret it now, but that's when I asked for an epidural.
Part II
All along, my plan for labor had been to stay at home as long as humanly possible. And that I did. At this point my surges were about 2 minutes apart, so I was definitely past the point when you're normally counseled to go to the hospital (when they're 4-5 minutes apart). I had no idea how far I was dilated, and of course like probably every pregnant woman I was scared the answer was, like, 3 cm. (10 cm means you're ready to push, for the uninitiated.)
I had called the doctor and she had told me to come to the hospital when the surges got really painful. Check. I was there. So, around 3 or 330 I was like, "IT'S TIME." What I was really thinking is, "I don't know if I can do this without some outside help."
Walking out to the car was my one and only shot at seeing the lunar eclipse. Oh, there it is... the lunar AAAUUUUUUUHHHH!! I mean, It was nice, but I had other things on my mind.
The car ride was um, intense, what with potholes, speed bumps and so on. Up until this point, I had dealt with the surges by sitting on the toilet (sorry if that's TMI) or doing the hippie dance. Obviously, this was not an option in the car. So I just hung in there.
When we got to the hospital, I gave a few people a good scare. At this hospital, the majority of moms give birth by planned c-section. So, the night watchman and nightttime admissions people are not used to seeing large pregnant women who have to sway around every few steps. They kept trying to get me in a wheelchair, but that sounded like a horrible idea at the time.
We went straight to the labor room (this hospital has the labor room, the delivery room and your regular hospital room. I was never crazy about all this changing rooms but like many things, at the moment I could not have cared less what room I was in!) I have to say, this was the worst part of the whole thing, because they wanted me to stay still on my back to examine me and monitor the baby. My doctor was on her way, so a resident-type checked me. He seemed surprised, and so were we — I was at 9 cm!
That was definitely good news, but it didn't take the edge off the surges I was feeling. I felt like my pelvis was literally about to split in two. Natural childbirth people say when you feel like you can't take it anymore, that's when the baby's about to come! I guess I sort of temporarily forgot that. Or maybe I didn't believe it? I felt like I couldn't take it anymore. And I sort of regret it now, but that's when I asked for an epidural.
Sloane, congratulations, again, for your beautiful and healthy baby!! I loved the pictures of you with the baby and Fran looking at him too!
I was surprised to see you had time to actually write about the birth of baby William, I thought you were going to take a few weeks to do it, so I thank you and appreciate it a lot!!! Thank you for the honest and heartfelt depiction of how you, Fran and the doctors welcomed the baby. I will have to ask you sometime to do the hippy dance!!! ;D
A big hug for all of you!!
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