Big Enterance

I've long been fascinated by the stories of how babies come into this world. Not necessarily all of the gory details, just where people were when they knew it "was time" and how they got to the hospital, etc... Everyone has their own story.

When my friend Janelle came to the hospital last week, she said "Now you have your own story, Sarah".

I do. And like all the others, it's a good one.

My actual due date was August 21. But, I think that's a crime against pregnant women to give them a date. Like it helps the mental stability of 9 month pregnant woman when that day comes and goes.

It was a long week of waiting. Some tears and lots of anxious waiting. Joel kept asking "any contractions?" How was I to know what one felt like? I was able to keep fairly busy the last couple of days because my parents arrived--they thought Baby J would be here by then!

I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday, August 27th at 2:30. They checked to make sure the baby was not under any stress and made sure everything was OK with me. Both my nurse practitioner and my OB were surprised I hadn't delivered yet. Great. That's helpful.

I was already at 4 cm when I left the doctor's office around 4pm. Joel kept asking if I was having contractions and again, I just didn't know. I thought I had felt one in the parking lot on the way to the car. Maybe. But, then I felt something again about 20 minutes later. Joel kept track of them as we drove home and got ready to eat dinner.

At 5:30 we sat down to eat dinner and I just didn't feel great. I ate a little bit and then headed downstairs to lay down. At 5:55 Joel came down and my contractions were 5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute each. Yikes. I told Joel he better start working on sub plans for the next day and I started packing up the rest of our stuff for the hospital.

Then at about 6:20, my water broke. Just like in the movies. It was pretty dramatic...but thankfully I was on the toilet. Then, Joel kicked it into high gear. He packed everything up fast and we were off to the hospital. By now, I was in a lot of pain and the contractions were coming on a lot stronger. I don't remember much about the trip to the hospital except there was lots of moaning and "hurry up"'s.

When we reached the hospital, I knew I was going to need a wheelchair, so Joel pulled up and went to get one. He loaded me into it and then got the suitcase out. We were quite a sight. Now, what to do with the car? We must of looked a little panicked because a woman walked out to the front doors and said "Can I park your car for you?" And Joel said "yes". Amazing. I think it was an angel. She could have stolen our car. Instead, she parked it and brought our keys up to us on the third floor.

We rode the elevator up the Labor & Delivery Unit and proceeded towards the nurse's station, right through a tour of expectant parents. I'm sure I startled some of them...

Around 7:10 or so we finally made it into a room and then the announcement came "You're already at 8 cm!" This kicked everything into high gear--including my emotions. "8 cm?? How can that be? I just got here!" I soon had about 10 people surrounding me, putting in an IV and helping me get into bed. No sooner was I laying in bed than I heard "We're going to have to move you to another room". The computer was broken. This put me up to another level of panic.

Around 7:20 we had settled into another room and I was feeling out of control--Joel finally asked if I was still going to be able to have an epidural if I wanted one. I remember, in a moment of clairty thinking "I can't do this without one of those, what if they say no?" It seemed like forever before a nurse answered "yes, we should be able to get her one, does she want one?" YES!

Around this time, I received an epidural, was already at 10cm and was feeling like a mad woman. Everything happened so fast. We were actually told by our labor & delivery nurse she thought he would be born within the hour. So, Joel called Grandma J & Oma & Opa to come up to the hospital.

Then everything stopped. Well, not stopped, but they slowed way down. We had about 4 hours of just waiting and I was really glad about that. It was nice to relax and take it all in. Oma & Opa went home about 10pm and Grandma J settled in for the night.

About 1145pm I started to feel like pushing. So, I pushed and pushed for about 2 more hours and Anders was finally born at 1:42am.

It was amazing. Joel got to cut the umbilical cord and I got to hold him on my chest soon after that. I was out of it for about an hour after that, but Joel stayed right with the baby while he was cleaned up, weighed, measured and given some routine medication.

It was at this point that Joel started trying out the names on our baby. A few weeks ago I told him he could have the final say. We had picked out Anders and Eric a long time ago, but had not settled on which name would be first. Or, if it would be Erik or Eric. Joel tried out all the combinations on Anders and finally decided Anders it is. I'm glad. I like it.

At about 345am, Anders got to meet Grandma J. Then about an hour later we were moved to our recovery room.

Then the real fun began. Life with baby.