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Week by Week

Katerina Ann Ozment

Tuesday, January 13th, 1998, The Warhead Is Armed

Dr. Anderson tells Elaine that she is dilated to 3 centimeters and if she were to strip Elaine's membranes she would likely deliver soon ( I asked her not to do it, Grant was planning on going out of town for a day on Thursday. It was only a three-hour driving trip, but I didn't want to have to call him there, and have him drive three hours home.)

Wednesday, January 14th, 1998, The Last Supper

Elaine was a substitute teacher in the afternoon and she said that evening that for the first time she really felt nine months pregnant. (I had a wonderful pregnancy with absolutely no problems except for some swelling ankles. I normally went to the Y for water aerobics class designed especially for pregnant women. Wednesday was the very first day I felt like I was nine months pregnant and miserable. I just felt kind of yucky. But, I still felt good enough to go to work and not have any problems.) She did not feel like going to the Y for water aerobics so we stayed home and ate Chicken Pad Thai (my favorite Thai food) perhaps for the last time before the baby came. We went to rent a book on tape at Buy-For-Less, because I was planning on a final trip to the Putnam, BOS the next day. Putnam is only about 3 hours away so I figured I would have plenty of time to drive back to Norman if Elaine called. She finally talked me into going out to get her some frozen yogurt. We then returned home and I set up the video camera. During the pregnancy, I had planned for us to record our thoughts with the video camera, but we had not gotten around to it until that night. After some comments on camera we went to bed around 9:00 p.m.. We suspected nothing.

January 15th, 1998 B-Day

3:00 a.m. - Elaine awakens to go to the bathroom and decides to sleep on the futon for a while. (Nothing unusual here, I did this nearly every night because it was easier to get up and go to the bathroom. There were no contractions, no back pain, everything still felt very normal.)

3:30 a.m. - Elaine's water breaks. (I was not quite sure what had happened, because there was no huge gush. It was just a little bit of water. There were no contractions, but went to the bathroom to see if maybe I could tell if my water had actually broken. There were still no contractions, so I still wasn't sure. Several of my friends, who had babies, said that they weren't quite sure they were having contractions. They said, they had to time them to see if they were regular, and then they still didn't go to the hospital for hours later.)

3:45 a.m. - (My first contraction came, and there was absolutely no doubt that it was a contraction, and I decided that my water had definitely broken. Then, the second contraction came, and just about blew me away. I had no idea it was going to be like this!!! I woke Grant up and told him we needed to go to the hospital. ) Elaine's contractions begin and around 4 o'clock she wakes me up.

Six child birth classes, 2 friend's pregnancies, and countless birth stories had convinced us that she would be in labor for 5 to 6 hours before we actually had to go the hospital. The child birth instructor had stressed several times, that we must wait until the contractions were 5 minutes apart before going to the hospital. Many times we covered the 3 stages of labor before the actual pushing would begin. Yes, 5 to 6 hours that how much time we would have before leaving for the hospital.

4:00 a.m. - I tell Elaine that we have plenty of time and she should take a shower to help with the labor pains, so she does. (I thought a shower might help too, but while I'm in the shower my hands and legs started to shake really badly. I get out of the shower and tell Grant that we need to go to the hospital. Grant asks me if I would mind if he took a shower, and I say fine, after all I had only been having contractions for 20 minutes. ) After she gets out of the shower she says it would be all right if I took a shower, so I casually do. ( While Grant was in the shower I am trying to get dressed while having these massive contractions. I am wondering how people could ever time their contractions because mine were coming so fast. I was getting nauseous and went to the hallway where I grabbed some clean towels and started vomiting. I was wondering when Grant was going to get out of the shower.) After casually getting dressed, I stroll out of the bathroom around 4:45.

4:45 a.m. - In shock, I find Elaine on the floor vomiting into a towel. Nobody told us anything about vomiting, something may be seriously wrong, but I have to be calm so Elaine won't panic. 5 to 6 hours, what happened to my 5 to 6 hours? Elaine tells me very clearly that we are going to the hospital, and I should pack the car. I pack the car and start the motor to warm it up. Concerned about the continuing vomiting I ask Elaine, "should I call hospital?" No, let's just go, but call McKinley first" she replies. (To tell them I wouldn't be coming to work.)

I am panicked and extremely calm at the same time during this whole period, because I can't get the 5 to 6 hours out of my mind. My mind tells me, "Surely we are going to the hospital too soon", and "There's no need to rush".

Elaine's on the floor in bad shape, so I put her socks on and search for some shoes. Finding her tennis shoes I try to until the knots but one shoe won't untie so I throw them against the bedroom wall and grab her dress boots. She refuses to wear her dress boots so I found the tennis shoes again and the shoe lace easily comes untied, "Thanks God".

4:56 a.m. - We head for the door as the alarm clock rings. Elaine heads out the door without a coat, she doesn't care at this point. She can't sit in the car, so she kneels in the sit, holds the backrest and faces backwards. Were on the road and I think, "Should I go back for some CD's to play in our stereo during labor? No" and, "Should I return the book-on-tape to Buy-For-Less on the way? No". I run the red light at Main and Berry, for I know it can last several minutes. I park under the awning at the Women's Center and I walk Elaine to the elevator. The elevator doors open on the second floor, but Elaine has to wait until her contraction ends so I hold the door. The nurses calmly lead us to a room, and I help Elaine change into her gown. Unable to urinate, Elaine crushed the specimen cup and throws it against the wall. I help her into bed and go to park the car. (While Grant is parking the car, they check me and tell me I'm dilated to a ten. They tell me not to push while they page the doctor. I was really surprised, but also really relieved, because I knew I could not handle the contractions I was having for twelve hours.)

5:15 a.m. - I calmly enter the room with the luggage. I'm shocked to find about 7 nurses running around, moving Elaine to a labor bed and trying to get an IV in her hand. Her hands are icy cold and shaking. She's in great pain. A nurse quickly leads me through the forms I had to sign, even though we had pre-admitted. I later find out that Elaine was dilated to 10 centimeters when we entered the hospital. I go to Elaine's side while the nurses are breaking the bed apart for delivery. Where's my 5 to 6 hours?

5:20+ a.m. (time is irrelevant) - Elaine is pushing during the contractions and she is in great pain. Dr. Anderson soon arrives. She says, "forget the birth plan we're going to have a baby". With each contraction the nurse and I tell her to breathe deep and push 3 times while I count to 10 for each push. I am almost helpless to relieve my beloved wife's suffering, but I quietly pray for Jesus to help her. Thank God I wasn't at the radar site when her contractions began.

Dr. Anderson tells Elaine to push low, like a bowel movement, but Elaine's having problems, she's pushing in her abdomen. Elaine's head drifts from side to side and her eyes are closed as she fights the pain. I can see the head about 1 inch inside. Dr. Anderson helps Elaine touch the head of the baby.

Elaine's progress is slow so Dr. Anderson begins her rounds. With each contraction Elaine takes a deep breath and pushes while I count to 10 and the she repeats 2 more times.

6:50 a.m. - The head is crowning so Elaine is told not to push while Dr. Anderson is paged. It looks like the baby might be born before the doctor arrives. Several attendants and the doctor enter the room and quickly prepare for the birth by laying out sterile drapes. Elaine is sometimes lost in the pain so the doctor and nurses work to keep her focused. Elaine says, "she just doesn't have an urge to push". The head is crowning and Dr. Anderson feels Elaine will need an Episiotomy, I concur but say nothing, I simply explain the situation to Elaine and let her make the decision. She says yes.

Elaine never screams during the delivery but she clearly says, "It hurts real bad". When no one says anything she replies in a stern voice, "I want you to know it hurts real bad".

7:13 a.m. - Elaine says, "I don't think I can do this", but on the next contraction the head emerges. The baby is delivered, held up for Elaine to see, and placed on Elaine's belly, but little Katerina is not breathing. The anesthesiologist aspirates the baby and she begins to cry, what a wonderful sound.

(We had taken childbirth classes, and I had read every birth story I could find, I thought they were so interesting, but nothing could have prepared me for what I experienced. I never would have dreamed that contractions would start, and 1 hour and 15 min. later I was 10 cm. Grant was really into childbirth classes, and we learned about all the different things the labor support person could do in the different stages of labor. He really had all these plans on how he would help me through labor. I had to laugh afterwards when I realized what he did. He woke up, took a shower, packed the car, drove to the hospital, then I was pushing!

I was very glad Grant was not out of town, because he would have not made it back for the birth of Katerina.)