One of my favorite parts about each of my kids' birthdays is that they're still little enough to love hearing about the day they were born. Leah asked to hear her story several times over the course of September 14th and 15th because really, her story starts on the 14th. Her story goes a little something like this:
As I'd been doing for a week or so at that point, I told my fifth graders that I would miss them, but that this time I really and seriously hoped that I wouldn't see them the next morning. They agreed that they didn't really want to see me either. :) I really and seriously hoped that I was leaving things for the sub "just in case" for the last time. The doctor had said I could come on the morning of Wednesday, September 15th to be induced, but I knew that it was possible they'd call at 5am and say their night had been too hectic in L&D and they wouldn't be able to take me after all. If that was the case, I'd be at school the next morning, as I didn't want to waste a single day of my maternity leave without my baby. So, with my principal and my sub on alert, I headed home for the evening and put a lasagna together while Bill was at football practice. We had an appointment at 6pm to sign papers on the house we wanted to purchase and since the lady at the bank said it would take about 30 minutes, we put the lasagna in the oven and figured we'd be home within the hour, when it needed to come out of the oven. If there's one thing babies teach us, it's that plans are meant to be spoiled, right?
An hour and a half later, we returned home to a slightly crispy lasagna. Luckily, with just the two of us to feed, we were able to get enough out of the middle and just didn't have any leftovers like you'd expect from a 9x13 lasagna. Anyway...We got our bags packed and tried to settle in for the night. I had come to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to know what it felt like to go into labor on my own or to get to say the words, "Bill, it's time." All I could think about was meeting my baby the next day. Alarms were set for 4:45am and we went to bed in our respective spots. I got the bed because it was upstairs, next to the bathroom. Bill was on the couch, in hopes of avoiding all of my tossing, turning, and trips to the bathroom. Sure enough, I spent a couple of hours tossing and turning and made several trips to the bathroom in the same amount of time. It was sometime around 1am, on my way to the bathroom, that a contraction and a gush of fluid stopped me in my tracks. I thought, "Hmmm...Either that contraction just made me wet my pants or my water just broke." I still had to use the bathroom, so it made me think it really had been my water, but what did I know? I'd never done this before. I went back to bed, but was almost immediately struck by another one of those worst-pain-of-my-entire-life contractions. This was it! This was my big moment! I went to the hall and leaned over the balcony to say, "Bill? Wake up. It's time." Yes!
After three or four contractions in a 20 minute time span, I called the doctor to say my contractions were between 5 and 6 minutes apart and I was pretty sure my water had broken. I barely heard the part about, "It's your first labor, so this could still take a while," and was just excited to hear, "but you should probably head this way since you've got a 40 minute drive ahead of you." Bill helped me get settled in the passenger seat of the trusty Civic and then said he had just remembered one more thing. I sat in the car for what felt like eternity, thinking it must be something essential, like the camera. (Found out the next day that it was his sunglasses. That's right. My husband went back into the house, at 1:30am, in the middle of a thunderstorm, while I, "Hee, hee, hoo"ed through contractions to get his SUNGLASSES!!!) If I wasn't fully prepared for the pain of the contractions, Bill was even less prepared for driving carefully while his wife was experiencing the pain of contractions. I'd hate to think what the speeding ticket would have totaled had we encountered any patrol cars!
I remember gripping the door handle and the side of my seat and blocking everything else out. I remember the rain on the windshield and the thunder and lightning. I remember Bill saying things like, "I love you," and when my contractions would sort of subside, I'd respond to whatever he'd said. I remember trying to be cheerful and remind myself that this was what I'd been dreaming of. :) I don't know if it was the position I was sitting in or what, but by the time we got to the hospital, my contractions were one on top of the other. When the nurse checked me and said I was at a 4, I was glad because I knew it meant I could have an epidural, but I was also a little disappointed knowing that I'd been at least a 2 before my water even broke an hour and a half earlier. I'm pretty sure it was around 4am that I was resting peacefully with the best epidural EVER! I told Bill to set an alarm so we wouldn't forget to call my principal by 5:53 to let him know I needed that sub after all and I took a little snooze. Bill must have called his principal too, but I don't remember that part.
At some point, Bill went to Perkins for some breakfast and I continued to try to sleep while we waited, very impatiently I might add. It felt like it took forever, although my labor was technically of average length. It was the pushing that about did me in. It was around 1pm that they told me I could start pushing. My doctor came back and forth occasionally between my room and the room next door, where one of my birthing classmates was also pushing. I was not a yeller or a cusser, but I will say that I was not pleased with that nurse that was counting for me. Every time I'd push and I'd hear her say, "Push, push, push, push, push, push, push..... 2.....3.....4.....5.....6.....7.....8.....9.....10...." I just wanted to scream, "With all of those times you said 'push', I should be on like 15 by now!" By 4pm, I was thoroughly out of steam and had nothing left. It didn't even matter that Bill and everyone kept telling me they could see her head full of dark hair. My energy was sapped. The lady in the room next door had required our doctor a few minutes before I was ready, so another doctor from the practice came to help me. I was just so relieved at the thought of help that I was oblivious to all the commotion. Bill says it was the scariest thing ever, to see the doctor use the forceps. The poor student nurse, witnessing her first live birth, was also apparently a bit stunned by the forceps. Now, it just makes me laugh to think about it, but Bill said he was so scared at that point. He said that doctor was a big, muscular guy and he was seriously pulling hard, even while I pushed as hard as I could, and Bill was afraid the doctor was going to yank poor Leah's head off. Finally, at 4:19pm, Leah Christine, all 9 pounds 8 ounces of her, was placed my chest and I can't even describe the range of emotions. I was so physically relieved, but exhausted. I was so stunned and enamored with her, all at the same time. It didn't seem real that she could be mine.
And then here's what I think is Leah's favorite part of her story: We were so happy and excited, we called everyone we could think of. Grandma and Grandpa Gustafson arrived the next day. Grandma and Grandpa Bosler, Uncle Tim, Great Grandpa Piorier, and (honorary) Auntie Christin arrived on Friday. Nobody could wait to meet her! Before she was born, Lulu, Ronnie, Rita, and Jim had never been grandparents. Before she was born, Tim, Kara, Jay, and Lindsey had never been aunts or uncles. She was special! She IS special!
This post has already gotten a bit long-winded, so I'll just end with a few pictures from her birthday party yesterday and the knowledge that the party is a whole 'nother post in itself!
No comments:
Post a Comment