All of the details

Details can mean Too Much Information, so this is not for the faint of heart.

So some of you may have heard that Monday (Sept. 17) was a little rougher than usual for me. I had cramps all day, plus a few other things that really only reminded me of having my period. But I had a good day, went to Molly Woo's for dinner with Ikkin (there is something about the Pineapple Chicken) and my parents stopped by for a few minutes while in town. Within an hour Sarah, Mandy and Lori had all called me and left messages checking how I was. Verrrrry ominous. But I had a headache that became a migraine that kept me up half of the night, which is another precursor of the dreaded period.

So Tuesday (Sept. 18) I skip the usual breakfast with Chris and lay in bed for a while. When he's ready to leave for work I get up to give him a hug, but halfway there I feel a gush. So I say 'hang on' and hurry to the bathroom where stuff is running down my legs. I hurry up and sit down and think 'Gee, I've never had this much trouble with my bladder before' and wait for the gush to stop. It does not, it just becomes a trickle. Chris finally says 'I'm going to be late, love you, see you later!' Meanwhile every time I try to stand the gushing starts again. Finally I notice that it is a nasty green color. Hmmm, this could be my water breaking. Finally after 20 minutes and two clothes changes I can leave the bathroom.

Side note: I was told that about 11% of pregnant women have their water break and that it smells like cleaner or bleach. And it's usually only a trickle. Since I'm a math person, I figured the odds were against me and there was no smell, bleach or otherwise. So I was just confused. Also, everything had been going so smoothly with the pregnancy I really believed I'd be late and giving birth to a 10 pounder.

So I grab my phone and call the doctor to ask. The receptionist said she'd talk to a nurse and call me right back. After 5 minutes I figure I can at least Google it, so I jump on the internet and can't find much about my situation. Meanwhile, every time I lean forward there is a little gush.

The receptionist calls back after 15 or 20 minutes and says to come on down to the doctor's office. I have a 5:30 appointment, but that is waiting too long obviously. So I call Chris and tell him not to freak out and that my water may have broken. We discuss strategy (meet here, there, where?) and he finally tells me I'm babbling and to go take a shower and get the bags.

By 9:30 he is home and we hit the road with the hospital bags and wondering if this was IT. Duhn-duhn-DUHN! The nurse practitioner saw us pretty quickly and did two tests that said yes, my water did break. So we were told to head to the hospital pronto. But I made Chris stop at a CVS to get snacks and we stopped at an ATM for some money.

Meanwhile, while I had been on the internet I felt those pesky cramps again. But they were sharper and were getting my attention. Huh, so those were contractions! When we left I grabbed paper and pen and tracked them. By the time we were on the way to the hospital they were roughly five minutes apart and lasting 30 seconds to a minute. Labor must have started because every time I would write down a time Chris asked if that was a contraction and I had to fight the urge to jab him with the pen.

When we arrived at the hospital I expected to be stuck in a room with monitors for an hour and then told to suck it up and go home for a while. Instead I was stuck talking to the financial lady because the pre-registration I did online last week had not gone through yet. She was nice, but would have definitely gotten jabbed except that Chris had the pen at that point.

We were then shown to our labor and delivery room and told we were straight up being admitted since my water broke. So I got changed and the contractions kicked up a notch. I sat on a birth ball (a regular exercise ball) and tried to breath. Chris was a champ and totally supportive even when I was snapping at him to "Stop HOVERING", "Stop TALKING" or "Stop BREATHING".

Then they wanted to give me Pitocin to help me along, which I did not want. But the doctor was concerned that there was meconium in the fluid and it could cause an infection in the baby. So I received the hormone and my contractions kicked way up, which was supposed to help me get dilated since I was still only 2 cm.

They offered to give me a narcotic to help deal with the pain, because curling up in a fetal position whimpering is not very ladylike. I declined because I'm stubborn but Chris prodded me in the other direction and I had some hooked up to the IV. Pretty soon I was as high as a kite and 4 cm. I still had pain, but I breathed with Chris's help and then just shut my eyes in between contractions. But at this point I did have the shakes really, really bad. None of the books mentioned that!

That's when the anesthesiologist decided to talk to me about getting an epidural, when I couldn't focus on anything. Thanks. She basically said an epidural would be best since there was the entirely small chance I'd need an emergency Cesarean section and I couldn't do general anesthesia due to my malignant hypothermia. I declined. However, after more shaking and pain Chris said some magic words to me (heck if I know, I'm still gliding on the high kite) and I agree to get one. So I found myself bent over and controlling my shaking long enough to get a huge needle shoveled into my spine.

I've always heard how epidurals go wrong and don't work or half work. It worked perfectly for me. I didn't feel any more contractions but could still move my legs. Then I get a visitor! My little brother Lee heard I was in labor and stops in to chat. That gives Chris a quick break to get food. Lee even helps him bring in the rest of our bags while I found out I was suddenly at 8 cm.

Lee headed out of there and we sit around watching the machine tell me I'm having contractions. Then the nurse tells me I'm ready to push. Huh? It's only 3:30 or so, the sun is shining. Shouldn't I be in labor for 10 more hours? Nope, pushing it is. Meanwhile, Chris gets to see what is happening and gets this wide-eyed amazed look at what he sees. And somehow the nurse talks me into putting down the mirror so I can see too. Too many drugs, I tell you. But we stop pushing because the baby's heart beat keeps slowing down whenever I push.

The doctor and a plethora of nurses come in, forceps are used, and Xander is born. He's quiet at first and that worried me because meconium might have gotten into his lungs. But soon he was howling away and getting all of his measurements. The highlight was when the doctor says "Hey, look at this umbilical cord, it's so long!" and he holds it out and the nurses all 'ooooh' astonishingly. I guess the cord was wrapped around Xander's neck twice, which was causing the problems with his heart beat when I pushed.

But he's a healthy boy, I've recovered with little damage (darn them, I said I didn't want an episiotomy) and Chris was the best supportive husband ever. And that is how Xander was born!