The Birth

The adoption agency that I went through included private birthing classes to the biological mothers.  This is so we don't have to go to the classes and learn how to diaper and bathe and what not, and not have feel the pressure to answer other couples' questions about how excited we(I) are.  I thought this was SO nice.  As it turns out, I never got to go to the class.  I had the meeting scheduled, but A1 decided to make her appearance before the class.

I went to my regular OB appointment.  My mom came along to this one, because I wanted her to meet my OB before the birth.  Good thing.  The OB was running late, something about a complication in a different delivery.  The nurse told me I could come back tomorrow for my appointment or wait, but she didn't know for how long.  I told her I'd wait, as my mom had to work the next day and we were just going out to lunch afterward.  It wasn't too long and we were called back for my appointment.  The nurse took my blood pressure and said it was high.  I think they took it 20 times before sending me to the hospital.  They had me roll to the left, roll to the right, stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight...wait, nope, that's a cheer, but it felt like what I was doing!  The OB asked if I was in pain.  They hooked me up to the NST and she asked if I could feel anything.  I said, "no, why?"  She answered, "because you're in labor.  That was a contraction."  Eventually, they sent me to the hospital to be have labor induced.  We stopped at my parents house on the way because I needed to pick up my bad and my mom called Family1 and my Pastor.  They all came.  A few weeks prior, I had asked The Mother (A1s Mother) if she wanted to be in the room when A1 was born.  I think she may have been hesitant, but said yes.  I was really glad.  If I remember correctly, she was not able to be in the room when her son was born, but I thought it would be a nice story for her to tell later.

So, me, my mom and The Mother are all my hospital room.  All three of us had never had a baby.  The nurse broke my water and told me to go for a walk.  That labor would not happen for several hours.  Well, she was wrong.  We went for a walk and I had this HORRIBLE pain in my side.  My mom said to keep walking, as that's what the nurse said to do.  As the three of us non-child-birthing people walked through the halls, my Pastor found us.  A few seconds after her found us, another one of those pesky pains came again.  Then, about a minute later, another one came.  My Pastor (who has three kids) asked if we were measuring how far apart my contractions were.  The three of us looked at each other and someone asked, "what contractions?"  My Pastor took charge and got a wheelchair and "drove" me back to my room, while telling us that I was in labor and my contractions were about a minute apart and there's no way I should have been walking around.

By the time we got back to my room, I was writhing in pain and in desperate need of an epidural.  The nurse ordered one for me.  It seemed to take F-O-R-E-V-E-R to get to me.  Well, that's because the nurse ordered it to the wrong floor...how nice of her, yes?  My birth plan called for NO IV drugs.  At this point, I was in so much pain, I didn't care where they put the drugs, as long as it would take the pain away.  My mom knew I didn't really want IV drugs and she was there to stop them.  The nice nurse, the who ordered my epidural to the wrong floor and told me to talk a walk while having contractions, asked if I wanted something for the pain while I waited.  I said YES.  My mom freaked out.  She was trying to remind me why I hadn't wanted IV drugs and when the nurse came to my room, she blocked her from entering.  I don't remember everything about that interaction, I only remember hearing my mom yell at the nurse, "SHE DOESN'T REALLY WANT THAT!  HER BIRTH PLAN WAS NO IV DRUGS, BUT YOU AND YOUR STUPID SELF ORDERED HER EPIDURAL TO THE WRONG FLOOR, NOW MY DAUGHTER IS DYING IN PAIN!  GO AWAY!"  To which the nurse loudly responded, "Ma'am, you are not the patient.  She is over 18 and can and did make this decision for herself..." and then the anesthesiologist saved that nurses @**.  He came around the corner and into my room just as my mom was about to let her have it again.

Now I'm pain free.  Looking back at my medical chart from that day, I was actually administered a spinal block.  Thank goodness, because if I would have gotten an epidural that hadn't worked, I think my mom would have seriously injured someone.  I have asked a few doctors since then and they have all said the same thing, if the patient was in as much pain as I was, they would have all ordered a spinal and skipped a bad epidural.  

So, four hours after they broke my water, it was time to push.  They got everything ready and called my OB to come to the hospital.  When she got there, two pushes later, out came baby A1!  The OB asked who wanted to cut the cord.  I asked The Mother, but she didn't do it.  I didn't want to do it.  I'm not sure why, but I didn't.  My mom ended up cutting the cord.  I also thought that was nice, as she never got the chance before.