The Artist was born October 24, 1996.
I was 23 years old.

At my doctor’s appointment the day before, he stripped my membranes. I didn’t know what that meant, but I know it hurt. About 30 minutes after leaving the doctors, I started having Braxton Hicks contractions every 10-15 minutes and they hurt a lot more.

About 3:00 the next morning (the 24th) I woke up to sharp pains, but they were very irregular – 10 minutes apart, then 12, then 8, etc. But they hurt. I would stand up and walk them out, then try to sleep.

The Doctor woke up about 4:00 and I told him what was happening. I wasn’t sure if they were real contractions because my water hadn’t broken. He finally called the hospital and they said it sounded like I was in labor, and when they were regular and 2-3 minutes apart to come in.

So I decided to get in the bathtub to try and relax. While I was in the bathtub, the contractions started coming about every 6 minutes. I got out and put on my robe.

My mother-in-law was here and we started telling her things for taking care of The Teenager. Every time I would have a contraction, I would stand up and walk it out. It hurt too bad to just sit there.

The Teenager woke up at 5:30 because of all the noise, so then every time I would have a contraction, I would go into the kitchen. I didn’t want him to see me in pain. But he was so cute. At one point, I asked The Doctor to run my back because it hurt, and The Teenager came up to us and said, “Oh, me back hurt. Rub it please.” It was so cute.

I called my mom at 5:45 to let her know and so she would be ready when we went to the hospital. I was so tired by this point. The pains hurt so badly and they were still 6 minutes apart. I told The Doctor I wanted an epidural because there was no way I could make it a couple more hours like that. I was so scared.

Around 6:30, I went upstairs to go the bathroom and it felt like his head was right there. It was weird. A little while later, I told The Doctor that I had to push. I really had to push! I was scared. I didn’t want to have the baby at home. So we threw our stuff into the car and took off.

The Doctor sped the whole way to JV Hospital. I was praying that we would make it in time and safely. In hindsight, we really should have called an ambulance!

I was trying so hard not to push, but when that instinct is there, you can only put it off so much. I was “panting” and trying to blow it off, but was only partially successful. The Doctor was driving as fast as he could and was passing cars on the median and honking.

When we were turning into the hospital, I was pushing and felt this “pop” and my water broke with a gush. The Doctor said earlier that I couldn’t push yet because my water hadn’t broken. Well, now it had!

We pulled into the hospital and the women’s center is on the 2nd floor but there was no way I was going to wait for the elevator, so I ran up the stairs.

I ran down the hall shouting, “Help! I’m pushing!” The nurses kind of looked at us funny, and then realized what was going on. They rushed me into a room and I laid on the bed. The Doctor (husband) looked and he could see the head!

My doctor (doctor) just happened to be on call that night and the nurses had actually been on the phone with him when I cam in. So they were trying to get me to wait for him to come, plus I wasn’t fully dilated yet. They were trying to get me to stop pushing and stretch me out a little more. I tried, but I couldn’t for very long.

8 minutes after we walked (well, ran) in the door, my baby boy was born. Dr. Hansen walked in about 60 seconds later. Mom walked in about 60 seconds after that. I felt so bad she had missed it.

The Artist was so adorable. He weighed in at 8 lb. 7 ½ oz. and was 21 inches long.
Big brother, meet little brother
Isnt' he adorable? Look at those chubby cheeks!

1 comments :

Kelly said... Reply To This Comment

I love stories like this. :) I had this little fantasy (call me crazy) of speeding to the hospital and delivering right when I got there. *sigh* Thanks for sharing!

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