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Do you remember where you were 12 years ago today? I sure remember where *I* was! I was in the hospital. I had gone in at 10 PM the night before to induce labor to have my first child. Apparently my body can't maintain labor on its own, but that is a whole other post. Anyway, so I went into the hospital at 10 PM. They applied a gel to my cervix and..........nothing.
After an extremely long and boring day (during which they refused to allow me to eat), I told them that I was going home if nothing happened soon. I had been having slight contractions but nothing of excitment. I had been doing that for weeks. At about 2:00 or so they started pitocin. Contractions picked up a bit, but we still weren't getting anywhere fast. So at 3:30 they broke my water. Yowza. NOW we were getting somewhere. And how!
They kept telling me that it couldn't be as bad as I thought it was. At 5 PM my MIL went to get a nurse. The nurse chewed me out. She said that I still had a looooong way to go and if I didn't get a grip she was going to run everyone out of this room and make me stay in here alone for 30 minutes. (No, I wasn't hysterical or anything weird, just in a lot of pain and telling them I wanted some painkillers. Lots of Stage 2 Lamaze breathing, even though I wanted to go up to the Stage 3. She said I wasn't anywhere near Stage 3, so just toughen up)
15 minutes later I sent everyone out of the room. Our family likes to be there when a baby is born, so my room was full of people. Everyone knew that when things got serious, they had to leave. I sent them away at 5:15 and asked them to send in the nurse. I was sitting up and could have sworn I felt something pushing on the bed, like a baby's head perhaps. The nurse came in and rolled her eyes and said "FINE. I will check you. But you aren't any more than MAYBE a 4, tops"
She checked me and immediately yelled some vile language that I won't repeat here. She took off running out the door yelling to get the doc STAT. She came back in and began dismantling the bed. (it was one of those convertible beds. Bed for laboring, then the bottom half comes off for delivery) I kept asking what was wrong, what is going on. She just smiled and said "Well honey, you are having a baby!" Um, excuse me? I thought I wasn't anymore than a 4. Ha. My smugness disappeared when she was standing across the room and told me to push. Excuse me? Push? Doesn't someone need to be here to catch?? She just laughed and said nothing was going to happen on the first push. Just go ahead and push. So, I took a deep breath and pushed.....
At that precise moment the doc came running in the door. He said "WHOA" and ran across the room to catch the head that was now delivered. He didn't even have time to put on his gloves. He suctioned out the baby's nose and mouth a bit, slipped on his gloves, then said to push again. Out popped Mr S.
23 minutes after the nurse threatened to run everyone out of my room, I delivered my first child. After what I consider only 2 1/2 hours of labor. (I don't count anything that happened before my water was broken, because nothing was really happening. I was only dilated to 2 when they did that...and I had been for ages) And after 2 pushes. I decided we could have a dozen children, that was a breeze. I did it with no pain meds whatsoever. (not because I didn't WANT any mind you...but I still did it.)
This story wouldn't be complete without the near-death experience added on. During delivery I tore. Apparently I tore pretty badly. I lost a lot of blood. I could get pretty graphic here describing just how much, but I will spare you the visual. Just trust me, it was a lot. After all was said and done, I was laying there propped up on the bed and suddenly was very very weak. And very tired. I had been starving all day and now they had brought my dinner, (plus 2 other people brought cheeseburgers and strawberry shakes, what I'd been craving all day...) and I had lost all appetite. I suddenly knew that I was going to die. I was a bit sad that I wouldn't see my baby grow up, but I knew that he was in good hands with his Daddy. I was at peace with that. I laid my head back and started looking for the angel to come and get me. Just at that time the automatic blood pressure cuff inflated and took my BP. It was bottomed out. My MIL went to get a nurse. The nurse decided it was probably malfunctioning and took it again. It was even lower. By that time I only had the energy to smile at my hubby one last time.
The nurse immediately lowered my head to the floor. I'm not sure what all else she did, but I eventually lost that warm fuzzy peaceful feeling and stopped looking for the angel. I realized I was going to be allowed to watch my son grow after all. Apparently this was caused from too much blood loss.
And that, dear friends, was 12 years ago today. Now my baby isn't such a baby. He is growing into a wonderful young man. I am so proud of who he is becoming. He has grown and matured so much in the past year. I am especially pleased to see him growing in the Lord. He has presented himself for baptism and will be baptized by my husband as soon as we recieve our letters of membership from down south. Meanwhile, he is turning into quite the prayer warrior. I tear up every time I hear him pray. He has such a soft heart and is so burdened for the lost, the poor, and the soldiers.
Did I mention how proud I am of him?
Happy 12th Birthday, S!
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Posted by Anonymous
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