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Week by Week

Ian Matthew's Birth

On Monday, I had a doctor appointment and told him I had been leaking a lot of clear sticky fluid. He checked it, said it was not amniotic fluid, but decided to induce me Monday because my blood pressure was high again and I had pre-ecclampsia. Tuesday night, my husband and I were at a mall. In the parking lot, I felt something like a bee sting and then a small gush of water. I wondered again if my water had broken.

Wednesday I was undressed to take a shower and felt a trickle down my leg, then when I got in the tub, a ton more water came out. It was still pouring out onto a towel when I finished my shower. I called my husband at work and said I didn't think the baby would wait until Monday. He came right home. We called to find out whether to come in and were told yes.

The doctor came into the labor and delivery room and asked what had happened. I told him about the water just breaking. I also told him about the leaking fluid. He wanted to induce. I didn't because I felt things would progress naturally. He said there was risk of infection because of the earlier leaking. I reminded him he said it was not amniotic fluid. This is the disadvantage of going to an office with so many doctors, they don't remember you. I finally agreed to the induction because he and my husband would not let up and made me feel I was doing wrong by the baby not getting it done.

The pitocin was put in and it took awhile for the bad contractions, but they did come. By now it was about 4:30 P.M. I had come in at 12:10. They got so bad I was screaming for an epidural. My husband kept bugging me about breathing and I had to keep telling him to stop. The anesthesiologist was the only one in the hospital and took forever. When he came, he kept telling me rudely to sit still even though I was having constant contractions. My husband got mad and said I was doing the best I could. But he and my doctor kept chatting about everything but what was happening to me.

Finally, the epidural took except for my right side a little, but soon they tipped me to the right and it took there, too. Labor progressed fast. At 6:10 I began pushing. Then at 7:00 the nurse did a shift change. I was not happy about that. Before long, the doctor came in and decided to vacuum the baby out because he was close, but not coming down. He let my husband hold the vacuum with him. My husband who swore he hates blood and would pass out. Then he let him put his hands in me while he told him how to turn the baby and pull him down and then out by himself.

They put my son on top of me at 7:37 and he was a mess but so beautiful. He was cleaned up and my husband even watched the placenta being pulled out and the 2 stitches from the tear going in, and showed me the placenta. He said the baby was the most beautiful thing in the world. He was. We named him Ian Matthew. He was not nearly as big as we thought- 7 lbs, 13 oz and 21 1/2 inches long. From my pregnancy and size we figured 10 pounds. Soon I was nursing him. He was born Feb 11 and we took him home Friday the 13th.