Lots of emails asking for The Story - and since I'm too lazy to type it out several times, we'll just go with the whole "public forum" type of deal. I have no shame.
(If you don't like icky gynecological details, or your name is DaNae, or both, feel free to skip this post and just ooo and aaah over the pictures.)
So. Thursday morning I had a doctor's appointment. By that point I had been having constant (minor) contractions for a good week, and I was TIRED. They weren't super strong, but they were every 5-10 minutes. For a week. I WAS NOT SLEEPING. The doc gave me a prescription for Ambien and a promise to strip my membranes the following week. I am impatient and may have cried just a little bit. A week is a very long time.
Later that afternoon, the contractions started getting more intense. I think the phrase "strip my membranes" may have had something to do with it. It just doesn't SOUND pleasant.I knew it wasn't urgent yet, so I told My Man to come home around 4:00. I packed the bag. Painted my nails. Took a nap. Little Prince came home from school, Mr. Squishy and Ouro Branco woke up from their naps - we made sure LP's homework was done and sent them off to a friend's house. (Holy CRUD, I love my friends.)
We meandered into the hospital around 5:00. By now the contractions still weren't close together - maybe 6-10 minutes apart - but they were strong enough that I had to breathe through them. At this point I was dilated to 4cm (which is what I was at the doctor's that very morning.) After an hour strapped to the fetal monitor, they checked me again. 6cm! I could stay! I may or may not have done a happy dance. Slowly. I was still 37 weeks pregnant.
So they transferred me to this totally lush room, and we called the grandparents. They had on-demand movies - pretty sweet, but I was rather disappointed with the selection. We watched the new Star Trek. It was weird. I'm glad we didn't pay for it.
The contractions soon became a little closer together, but still not all that bad. I walked circles in the room (they should really put treadmills in there) and laughed and joked with My Man. (He's my best friend.)By 9:00 I was still stalled at 6cm, so they decided to break my water. Then! HEL-lo! The contractions got super intense - but still not at all close together. It was great; I got a nice break in between each one, and was able to concentrate and relax through the doozies.
At 10:00 I started to shake. That's my body's signal that baby is on its way. We rang for the nurse, and I was now dilated to an 8. They loaded me up with heated blankets (soooo nice), and we settled in for the last few remaining minutes.
(This is about the part that with every contraction I'm squeezing the guts out of My Man's hand and repeating "I hate this I hate this I hate this" over and over again. I don't think this is part of the Bradley method, but I improvise a little. It works for me.)
By 10:15/10:20, I knew it was time. I could feel the baby sliding down and I totally panicked that the doctor wasn't there. I start screaming "PUSH THE BUTTON PUSH THE BUTTON" and My Man couldn't find the dang remote thingie anywhere. He finally found it, though, and in came the whole entourage. I told them the baby was coming NOW, and they better get ready.I pushed through one contraction and they told me to stop; the cord was wrapped around the baby's head.
Well. If you've given birth naturally, you know it's pretty much impossible to stop pushing when your body is FORCING THE BABY OUT. I'm panting for all I'm worth and trying really hard to stop my body, but I felt that urge, gave one "Ummm, he's about to be born!" and he came FLYING out. Seriously. It was hilarious. The doctor had to dive for him.I did warn her.
So then he was ours.
Probably my easiest one - nice, calm labor - easy, fast delivery.
I am absolutely in love and feeling fantastic.
Now we need a bloggy nickname for him - because "the baby" ain't gonna cut it. Right now I'm apt to call him The Very Hungry Caterpillar, because he basically wants to nurse all the time. But that's a very long name and he won't be a little wriggly inchworm forever.
Something sweet. Precious. Beautiful. Cuz that's what he is.
Suggestions?
36 comments:
What a great story! CONGRATULATIONS!! And I laughed out loud at "nice calm, easy fast". It's all relative, right?
Suggestions.... maybe something Arizonian? I vote for Gecko. wait. Is than only Hawaiian? I don't think I can be trusted with this.
Yay!!! We're so happy for you!
p.s. the kids were great for us. :)
My name is not Denae and I love all the details!! So glad that everything went well. And he really is absolutely adorable. I got nothing on blog nicknames. Ask inkmom... she's genius when it comes to that sort of thing.
Wait... my word verification was fisheddi... would that work for a blog nickname? No? Are you sure?
You make it all sound so easy and almost pleasant! I love reading details of birth stories! Mostly because Im terrified and I like to remind myself that women survive child birth all the time, and that I, in fact, can too.
So glad he is here! He is just beautiful :)
What a wonderful story and a beautiful boy! How about BB short for Beautiful Boy? That's all I got right now.
A natural birth that sounded to easy and pain free? Sounds lovely... I keep telling myself that when we have another baby, I'm going to do it without medicine. Though I'm a total and complete wimp with a low threshhold for pain. Anyway, great job! Yay for you!!
Way to go, girl!! Sounds fantastic! Got no nickname ideas, though. Sleep deprivation has sapped me of all creativity. But we wouldn't have it an other way, eh?
Congratulations! What a wonderful story!
I'm not sure how you could ever top "Mr. Squishy" in terms of blog nicknames. I always giggle when I read that. I will, however, give it the old college try.
Sweet, precious and beautiful? How about "Glazed Donut?" Or "Coconut Cream Pie?" Maybe "Reese's Pieces?"
Shoot. This while diabetes thing just isn't working out for me.
Mr. Doodle and Mr Wubkins. That's it.
You're welcome.
I want you to know I read every single detail. And I didn't gag once! I know, I'm evolving nicely!
He is so dang cute it's ridiculous. That feathery hair - yummy!
Now you really DO have to come to CBC because if I can't hold that baby and snuggle his little head under my chin I'm pretty sure I'll get the bends.
Good job, cute mom! And I'll think about nicknames, athough I just call my own kids by their real names. I figure they have to learn how to deal with stalkers sooner or later.
dadiva (of course with an accent over the first a), mimo, brinde...
Congratulations! :)
He is so adorable. Welcome to the Four Boys Club. You are in for a great journey!
Sweet Pea?
Oh i LOVED that story, thanks for sharing! And all my congratulations. I think you should call him bubba.
Ooo, I like the suggestion "Bubba":-) Great job on the delivery!
To me...he is "Old Wise Eyes"
Awesome! Congrats on a great birth! And he is a doll!
Sweet Pea is what immediately came to my mind but looks like I was beat to it. Also, Grasshopper. Good name for the weest one.
Congrats again!
He's beautiful! And born on a great day...I've got a daughter with the same birthday.
Congratulations! Good work, mom!
Personally, I like the inchworm!
And don't you love it when they tell you to stop pushing? Seriously? Seriously?
Beautiful- thanks for sharing.
Do you want to betroth our children? Since my girl and your boy are only three days and five ounces apart, I think it sounds like a good idea. Let's send them both off to BYU and arrange for them to live in the same ward after your son's mission. Sound good?
(Congratulations, by the way!)
You can call him "snuggie". because he is. and he can be featured in Kristina's blog as sunggie cuteness.
What a great story. Except, I'm sorry Star Trek didn't live up to your expectations (just kidding).
Congratulations to you and your family!
Congrats on such a beautiful little man.
Congrats Becky!!! He is so precious. I vote for Snuggles. :0)
Bubsy? I got jack. It was a stressful day at school. (But I'll vote for inchworm or possibly snuggie if it comes to it.)
When they stripped my membranes I hardly felt a thing. It does sound terrible, though. And when they tell me to stop pushing I LAUGH AT THEM (while panting and grunting and all that other stuff.) So the cord didn't turn out to be a problem, then? That would have made me (also) try to stop pushing. I'm glad he's fine... and that the doctor caught him. :)
Good work.
That's a good story. And not once did you mention blood or goo. That's usually the type of details no one wants to hear....well, ok, some people like those details too. But not many.
Your baby is awesome. You should call him Studly.
I still need to send you your gift....it's coming. I swear.
Congratulations!!!
Oh my gosh, the treadmill idea is SO smart. I really could've used one of those, my room was so small and pacing was very difficult.
OH MAN do I hear you about the stop pushing thing. OH MAN. Spencer tried to exit with his hand up to his face. I guess they thought it was a bad idea to try to get his elbow through like that (YIKES!) and had me STOP PUSHING mid contraction so they could push his hand back in (now THOSE are the kind of details that create pictures that people might not want to read! Sorry.)
Anyway, we had a similar experience, but mine lasted stupidly longer and I didn't get any Star Trek (tragedy). :)
He is so sweet and little! I hope you are both doing well!
Okay, so I'm a little late to the game -- but congratulations! Yay! He's here! If Melanie J has claimed this one for her little girl, then I'll take one of the older ones, thank you very much.
Also -- you didn't like Star Trek! It must have just been because, I don't know, you were in labor! That movie weirded me out because I AM NOT generally a fan of the series, but I swear, everything Capt. Kirk said, I knew he was going to say before he said it. Which means I've been watching Star Trek reruns in my sleep, I guess? It was strange. But I loved the movie. Oh, well. If we agree on everything, what will we have to talk about when we meet?
ANd I think you should name the new little one something that has to do with being born in the US, since his brothers weren't: The Citizen, shortened to City; or NBC, for Natural Born Citizen; or The Native; or The Non-Brazilian, shortened to NoB. Something like that.
I vote for Grasshopper or Natural Born Citizen. Your readers are so clever! Except me, who couldn't think of any nicknames.
Oh, I totally love baby stories and your's didn't disappoint! It brought back so many memories (ok, they weren't that old to begin with -- the baby's only 10 mo old :).
First of all, I love this line, "I may have cried just a little bit" -- one time when I was OVERDUE and MAD about it I went to a Dr. appt and was in tears when the Dr. walked in (not my regular wonderful dr, but a partner, Not-So-Wonderful-Dr.) and she saw me and stopped short and said, "Oh. You're crying." Uh, yeah! I'm overdue and miserable.
Joking around in the delivery room is the Best! I mean, "yes, here we are, in labor, laughing about it..." for a while...
Regarding "I hate this I hate this I hate this"... Each baby, when This Time comes, I have this feeling like "Oh yeah! I remember now! I HATE this! What was I thinking?? Oh, right...cuddly baby...cuddly baby..."
The Dr. almost missed my last 2 births... The last one, he was at home sleeping (Uh, someone's in LABOR here!) and he walked in just in time to catch the baby. The nurse seemed pretty nervous. She pushed the call button and yelled, "Can anyone help me deliver a baby here??" Not what you want to hear when you're panting through contractions.
My next to last baby had taken his sweet old time through labor, and just as things were getting serious, my friend (to whom I had referred my favorite OBGYN) rushed in in labor, grabbed the room next door, stole my Dr. and had her baby! 20 min later Dr. ran in to catch my baby. Whew.
Congratulations!!! He's beautiful!
-- Marcia
Oooh, so many good bloggy nickname suggestions! This one is cute or precious or beautiful but what about The Prez or Mr. President? You know, his name, your old name? Kind of cool. Or loser-y, you pick. I think Natural Born Citizen is a real winner too, NBC for short!
Sigh! I love labor and delivery stories!!
No good ideas for bloggy names, but he's adorable!
Congrats - he is gorgeous!!!! You are making me baby hungry.... ;)
How about Sunny (like Son but a tribute to AZ) I know - retarted but I ws trying really hard to think of something that hadn't already been suggested;)
Hope you are enjoying all the love and peace that a new baby brings!!! ***SIGH***
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