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Justine Elaine Lancasters' Birth

I know that 11 1/2 years have gone by since my daughter was born, but I can still remember the vivid details. Since she was my first child, I was a bit unsure what to expect when the time came.

I was due on November 5, but was praying that I would be a week or so early. Great news!! At about 7 PM on October 29, I felt a contraction, but no pain. I hadn't had any BH contractions, so I proudly announced to my husband, Gary, his parents that I just had a contraction. They looked at me like I was a bit off because I felt just a tightening, but no pain. So, I kept quiet and kept track of them for the next hour, and they were consistant at 8 minutes apart. Finally I was actually feeling a bit of uncomfortable, but no pain. I told the family that I really thought I was in labor, and that it wasn't wishful thinking. Around 10 PM I was having contractions every 5 minutes, lasting about 60 seconds. I called my mom ( who lives in another state) that I was in labor, although Gary and his folks thought I was getting a little too excited. I called my mom, and talked for about 20 minutes, and had 5 contractions while on the phone with her. I was able to talk through the contractions, so I told her I'd call her as soon as the baby came. She told me she would be waiting for my call tomorrow. Well, at about 11 PM, I told my husband that I wanted to take a walk because this sitting around was for the birds. We walked down the block where we looked at the new cars at the Dodge dealership. All of the sudden I had a whopper of a contraction. I couldn't talk. I leaned over a car, breathed in and out, and studied the inside of this car. About this time a patrol car drives by, and it must have looked like I was trying to break into this car because the police stopped and started questioning us. As soon as they realized that I was just a woman in labor, and my husband was feeling a bit helpless, and they left us to labor in the Dodge dealership. We hung out there for about 15 minutes, and I suddenly remember that I didn't call my midwife. We rushed back to the house and called the hospital who told us they would contact the midwife, and that I should come on up to the hospital ( a 2 minute drive ) and get signed in. So, Gary, his mom and I drive up to the hospital, getting there about 11:30. The receptionist at the front desk recommended that we wait until midnight to check in to avoid getting billed for another day. I was all for saving $600, so I sat around breathing steadily through each contraction which were still not real painful and every 3-4 minutes. At midnight the night shift started, and a nurse who was just starting her shift showed up to retrieve me. She walked right by me looking for someone who appeared to be in labor. Beth (the nurse) told me that I didn't look like I was even close to being admitted. So, Gary, his mom, Beth and I walked to the birthing room, and I changed in to one of those glamorous hospital gowns. Beth checked me and announced that I was nearly 5 cm, and totally effaced. I could stay!! I was hooked up to the fetal monitor, and they did a 20 minute strip. Gary and his mom were so into being able to tell me when I was starting a con- traction before I knew I was. At about 12:30 AM (now Oct 30) I started some really intense contractions. They were one on top of the other. My legs started to shake something terrible. I had Beth take off the monitor, and I asked her when the midwife would be there. Beth told me that when I reached 8 cm that she would be called. I told Gary that I wanted to push, but he told me I couldn't have reached 10 cm yet. I said "I REALLY WANT TO PUSH". Beth checked me and called the midwife. I was 9 cm. Annie (the midwife) got there at 1 AM and checked me and told me that I could start pushing. That was hard to get the hang of. I was happy that I could to something with the contractions rather than breath. She broke my water with a big crochet hook thing and told me to push again. The baby crowned and I pushed once more to get the head out. I could tell that my kid didn't have much hair. My mother in law was crying, and Gary was holding my leg up. I pushed once more and out slipped my daughter. She was laid on my belly, and I gasped and told Gary that we were parents of a lizard!! She was really ugly!! Gary handed me the phone and told me he had called my mom as soon as the head came out. Needless to say, I was crying my eyes out and talking to who I thought was my mom, but was my sister. It was 1:43 AM and my sister was more asleep than awake. She told me she would let Mom know and hung up. I thought that it was very sweet of my husband to think of calling, even if it was the middle of the night. I pushed out the placenta a few minutes later, and my daughter was taken to get cleaned up and assessed. Her apgars were 9/9. So we welcomed our daughter into the world. She weighed 6 lb. 3 oz. and was 19 inches long. She got better looking as the hours went by.

I ended up being a bit of a bleeder. I had to have a shot of some kind of a blood clotter. The midwife recommened that since I had some extensive blood loss that I should stay the entire day and night. By 8 AM I was ready to come home, but changed my mind when I passed out while sitting on the toilet and cut my forehead open and bruised my chin from hitting the floor. The nurse had stepped out for just a second to get me a pad. She felt really bad. I had to have a big bandage on my forehead. I did go home later that day. I couldn't stand being there any longer. I told my husband that next time I wanted to do this at home. He said no way.

So like I said at the beginning of this long story, it has been 11.5 years and I now wish she was a baby again when she couldn't talk back. I have great memories of my first birth experience. It was short and sweet, and I wish I could do it again. I don't want to raise anymore kids (I have two daughters), but would love to experience the whole pregnancy and birth things again.

Val Lancaster
Justine's Sister