Logan Steel
9/14/09 7:48am
8 lbs 13 oz
22 inches long
Head: 13 3/4
Chest: 13 1/4
On Sunday evening, 9/13/09, Raphael and I laid in bed at about 10pm. I was ready to go to sleep and he was on his laptop (typical!). As soon as I lay down, I started feeling some mild cramping. It wasn’t like contractions that come and go, but more like a general pms crampy feeling. I’d had this for days before, so I didn’t think much of it. After about half an hour, I realized I was uncomfortable enough that I couldn’t fall asleep. I told Raphael this, but we both assumed it wasn’t anything and I tried to go to sleep. At 11:28am I had a real contraction- one that peaked and then died off. I told Raphael to start timing them just in case. At 12:03am I had another one. By this point, we were both starting to wonder if I was really going into labor. I knew it could be a while, though, so we just stayed in bed trying to fall asleep. At 12:40am I felt a weird squirty feeling down “there”. I thought it might be my mucous plug, so I got up to go to the restroom and that’s when I felt another small gush. I didn’t think my water had really broken because there wasn’t much fluid. I knew labor would be soon, though, because the fluid was tinged with red. I decided I’d better paint my toenails real quick. At 1:21am, I felt a big gush and knew it was my water. At this point, my contractions started coming 3 minutes apart, so we knew it was time to go to the hospital. My step-dad arrived at 2am to stay with Conner, and Raphael and I headed the 3 miles to the hospital. My husband still felt the need to speed the whole way, even though I was totally calm and my contractions seemed very manageable. I think all men must have some innate fear of having to deliver their child in the car! Or maybe they are just taking advantage of their once-in-a-lifetime acceptable excuse to speed? They would probably secretly love to get pulled over and have police escort them to the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital at about 2:10am. We had to check in at the ER since it was after hours, so I avoided standing near any sick people and touching any surfaces as much as possible! They sent me up to triage at 2:30am. The nurse (Kim) checked me in and determined that I was 3 ½ centimeters dilated. As she checked this, the remainder of my water gushed out and flooded the bed and floor! She commented on the fact that I had a TON of water. And this doesn’t include the fluid I lost at home and in the car! The first thing I thought was “Sweet, so most of this belly and weight was water and I must be having a smaller baby than Conner was!”. I made it clear to Kim that I would be ready for my epidural as soon as possible. She called for somebody to come draw my blood, so that the results would be back by the time I was ready to get my epidural. They wanted to check my platelet count. I was told that it would be about an hour before I could receive my epidural because the anesthesiologist was in on a c-section.
At 3:10am, I got checked into my delivery room (#A318). My nurse was named Yohanda, and she was a nice girl, although I got a little annoyed with her later on. I was sure to make it clear to her that I did want the epidural, and that I didn’t plan to wait around for the misery to really kick in. Although at this point I was handling my contractions very well. There was no vomiting or crying or writhing in pain like the last time. I think the biggest difference this time (aside from just developing a higher tolerance after last time) was that my labor was in my stomach and not in my back. Yohanda administered my IV (uugh), and got me hooked up to the monitors. My natural enima kicked in just in time, so I used the restroom right before the epidural man came in, which saved me some embarassment later on during the pushing phase!
At 4:25am, John, the anesthesiologist came in to administer my epidural. He was a very social and comical man, who just happened to look exactly like the actor Kevin Neeland. He and my husband were like best friends from the get-go. They made me laugh. He did a great job and it hardly hurt at all. We later learned that he had just been awarded the title of doctor of the month or something like that!
At 4:50am Yohanda checked me again and I was 5cm dilated. My mom arrived around 5am after taking my little sister Kynzie to our house to stay with my step-dad because kids under 12 are not allowed at the hospital during flu season this year. I spent the next hour and a half trying to rest, unsucsessfully. I was just too excited to sleep. At about 6:30am, I started to feel something unusual and uncomfortable. It felt like I had to pee, but that couldn’t have been right because I was numb and I had a catheder in. I tried to ignore it, but everytime a contraction came, I couldn’t help but notice how uncomfortable it was. I buzzed the nurse and told her that I thought I felt some pressure and that she might want to come check me. Nobody came for 30 minutes and I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Finally, at 7am, Yohanda came to check me and I was fully dilated and the baby’s head was already in the birth canal! She buzzed the other nurses to come in and help set up because her shift was over. At this point I was extremely uncomfortable. I am one of those girls whose epidural works great until the very end when the baby gets low and then the pain and pressure come back. It happened with Conner’s delivery as well. I really wanted to start pushing and get the baby out, but I had to wait while they hurriedly set up the room and called my doctor. I was really annoyed, but I tried my best to cover up my anger. I’ve developed a bit of a reputation among my friends and family of being somewhat crabby when I am in pain. So throughout my whole labor and delivery I was little miss Suzie Sunshine! This is about the time my other sister, Jaime, rushed in to be there for the delivery. She called a few people to let them know that things were happening right away and to hurry up!
At 7:10am my new nurse, Lori, arrived and she was absolutely wonderful. At 7:20am my doctor arrived and I could FINALLY begin pushing. This was such a relief because the pushing helped ease the pain. Right after I was up in stirrups and pushing, my poor father arrived and knocked on the door. He thought he would just be checking in to say good luck and waiting out in the lobby to hear the news. Well, by the time he realized what was happening, he had already been allowed in and ushered to a chair in the corner! Although he didn’t plan to be there for the end part, I think he was glad in the end to see the birth of his 2nd grandchild. Undesired and accidental views of vajayjays are not so bad when compared with the joy of seeing a baby being born. And it really didn’t bother me that he was there. I was more uncomfortable with the student in training who was in the room to observe my birth.
At 7:48am, my second child entered the world. The doctors and nurses all kept quiet so that Raphael could announce the sex. He looked down and announced “It’s a Boy”. It was so amazing, and I was so surprised to hear that I had another son. I was convinced that we were having a girl. All these months that I had begged my husband to let me open the envelope that concealed the baby’s gender because “it wouldn’t be a surprise anyways since I already know it’s a girl”, and I was so glad he never let me open it. Because it truly did end up being a surprise. Somehow in that instant it felt right that I had another boy. That it was meant to be that way. I was so happy. A mere 9 hours after my first labor signs, it was all over. The second time was so much easier than the first.
