Arthur's Written Word

Pictured in the bottom right corner is the word 'cat', which Arthur wrote entirely on his own.  I meant to crow about this earlier, but he wrote this just before he turned three this year.  It looks like he's going to give Maggie a run for her academic intelligence!

Nellie's Birth Story

Steve and I went to bed early on Saturday the 12^th of July since there were terrible thunderstorms coming through and we were tired from a busy day prepping for Nellie.  I hadn’t felt well all day, and trying to sleep felt bad on my hips and middle.  The storms rolled through and finished around 4:30 which is when I felt some gurgling in my uterus.  I got up to go to the restroom and when I went to lie down again I felt like something had popped.  I got up to go again and realized my underwear was rather wet.  I was fairly certain that meant my water had broken, so my adrenaline started to kick in. 

I woke Steve up to tell him my suspicions and he was less than enthused.  He was foggy and I was jittery, and together we worked out that I should call a doctor.  I called the afterhours number and  left a message.  I was still nervous and so watched some music videos to help me calm down, specifically David Bowie’s  “Life on Mars”  and Cocteau Twins “Heaven or Las Vegas.”  After a half hour the doctor was able to get back to me.  It was Dr. Edokpayi, and she suggested that I get myself admitted to the hospital.  I hung up and contacted my father in law to tell him that it was time for Nellie.  He was surprisingly awake sounding, which was more than I could say for my mom when I called her shortly after.  She sounded so sleepy that I had to double check that I had called the correct number.

With the phone calls out of the way I decided I should get packing.  That’s when the contractions started, unfortunately, so I had to hobble around getting things together while timing and recording each twinge.  I watched the sunrise and thought about how Maggie was getting out of “the horror” of going to church, how Arthur would get to take a nap (finally), and how I was getting out of having everyone groan at my arrival and ask irritating questions.  I was nine months pregnant during a hot and humid season and had little humor left.  When my in-laws arrived I tried to eat a protein bar, then promptly threw it up.  We woke Steve up with our chattering and he made himself breakfast while I rounded up items and gave instructions.  Then we were finally on our way to the hospital a little after 6 AM.  I was not too surprised at being rather calm and determined feeling.  Nellie was on the way, I wouldn’t need to be painfully induced, and I’d had a pretty decent night’s sleep.

As we arrived at the hospital Steve went to park and I impatiently asked him, “Are you seriously going to make me walk?”  He drove over to the main entrance and I pointed out that it was too early for it to be open, so he circled the van around again to the Emergency entrance.  I stepped out and witnessed a shabby chap being patted down by a police woman and producing weapons and drug paraphernalia from various pockets.  I had to sidle past them nervously to get to the admitting desk.  I had a contraction at the desk and asked to wait to sit in the wheelchair.  An extra nurse was called in to accompany us with an emergency birth packet in case I dropped the baby en route.  I made it to the triage though without dropping anything and was quickly/mercifully checked out and admitted swiftly into the maternity ward at about 7 AM. 

Once we were settled in we called my mom again and left a message for my Aunt.  We assumed that she was still in Wisconsin and might be out of cell phone range.  I sipped on water and powered through the early contractions quite easily.  My strength training this time around made the early stuff feel manageable.  The nurse attempted to put the heart monitor on my belly to find Nellie, but she kept slipping out of range whenever they located her.  In the end they had to insert a cathode into the top of her scalp to keep track of her.   The pain intensified and I was worried that my mom wasn’t going to get there in time.  She called to let us know that she was halfway to town at 9.  When she got to the hospital at 10 we had to turn Gary around back to the waiting room since I had kicked off my covers and was not covered up.  Steve and Mom helped me to keep focused on my breathing, but the pain my back was becoming unbearable.  I finally caved and asked for some pain relief around 11 and the anesthetist was called for a pain block since I was about 7-8 centimeters dilated. 

I was weeping weakly and whining over and over about “My back hurts, my back!”  Each contraction was making me more and more drained of energy and my initial adrenaline surge had definitely warm itself out.  I was almost asleep between contractions, I was so tired.  Suddenly the urge to push came, but I hadn’t had a transitional rest phase.  The urge to push wasn’t a relief like it had been during my last two labors, and I was feeling excruciating pain along my lower back and tail bone.  I breathlessly announced that I intended to push and they checked my dilation.  The room was hurriedly prepared and the doctor called in to catch Nellie.  At this point the anesthetist comes and says brightly that she’s here to help me with the pain.  I shouted at her that I was starting to push and she shrugged her shoulders and answered sympathetically that there was nothing that  she could do.

Steve was called upon to be my stirrup and some nurses came to instruct me on how to push effectively.  Steve and my mom kept trying to remind me to breathe instead of yell, but I was wild with pain and kept howling.  One nurse grabbed my chin to bring us face to face and told me that my position and direction of pushing were wrong.  I managed to relax enough to open up my hips and bring my chin down instead of arching my back like Linda Blair from the Exorcist.  And so the burning ring of pain appeared in my screwed tight eyelids.  I think I heard Steve say her head was coming but I was panting and reeling.  Another push and she was out.  Though it felt like forever, the nurse said I only pushed for ten minutes. 

I opened my eyes blearily to see a reddish blob screaming lustily on my chest.  The universe came back into focus and I gasped out “Nellie!  You’re here! Hi Nellie!  We’ve been waiting for you!” Steve grabbed the camera as they suctioned out her breathing passageways to record her first cries.  Slowly the pain and spinning world slowed down and I passed the placenta with very little trouble.  The great irony with all of my deliveries has been that nearly immediately I feel fine and pleasant. 

This delivery was rather intense, but Nellie has been well worth it.