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Connor

As a pharmacy student whose finals week coincided with her due date, I was sure that I was going to go early and mess up my tests.  My very understanding professors worked with me to arrange for me to be able to take my finals early.  When I got to the last final at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 11 (the day before my due date), I thought to myself, "Ok, it can happen any time after this test is done."  I had one cramp during the final and got nervous.  I made it through it without any others and so I turned in the test with a smile and went out to lunch with my husband, Dan.

After lunch, I went home and convinced my sister, Jenny, to go on a walk with me since I was ready to have this little boy.  We walked for about a mile and I was having the same contractions I had had whenever I walked for a long time during the last month or two of my pregnancy.  I was disappointed because they were the same -- I figured that meant nothing would be happening.  We stopped for some water at our parents and then continued back through town to our house.  The contractions stopped when we stopped walking so I just decided to take a nap since I was tired from both walking and studying for that morning's final.

I woke up about an hour later (5 pm) and couldn't figure out what woke me since I was still tired.  I got up, got some water and went to play solitaire on the computer.  That was a favorite pastime of mine in late pregnancy.  I noticed a few contractions while I was playing that felt different.  They started in my back and moved around to the front, then went away.  After a few of these went by within about 30 minutes, I decided to time them.  Five minutes, six minutes, five minutes, four minutes...this had happened about a week and a half before but stopped after 45 minutes so I thought in the back of my mind that this might be IT, yet I didn't want to get too excited for more "false labor".

An hour went by and the contractions stayed at the same pace.  Dan was out in the yard and I motioned for him to come inside.  It was 7:30 now and I thought maybe he should come in and get showered since this looked like it wasn't slowing down too much.  I called my mom and warned her not to be going anywhere tonight because she was going to be in there with us during labor and delivery.  She worked in L&D for 11 years and we had become so close lately, that Dan and I thought we would both be very comforted with her there.  I called my doctor at about 8:30 or 9 and she said it sounded like the real thing and that I could go to the hospital now or wait until I got too uncomfortable to stay home.  Dan and I decided to wait a little longer.  I visited some friends across the street for a little while since I wasn't terribly uncomfortable...and then it started to rain.  There was lightning and thunder and the rain came pouring down.  After a break in the rain, I ran (as best I could) home and we decided to head into Omaha to the hospital.  We tried to call my mom and the phone was busy.  They have call waiting, so I figured someone must be on the internet and I got mad since they knew we would be calling again tonight.  I couldn't believe they would tie up the phoneline like that.  After 15-20 minutes of trying, Dan and I finally got everything packed into the car and drove to my parents house.  There was my mom sitting on the couch doing some cross-stitch.  No one was on the computer, she said.  We found that she hadn't hung up the phone after calling into work to tell them she wouldn't be there on Tuesday.  My dad hung it up and saw us off.

While we were driving into Omaha, the storm didn't let up and neither did my contractions.  They were almost 3 minutes apart by the car's clock.  Dan was going exactly the speed limit...which is most unlike him.  I told him that he shouldn't be afraid of speeding a little since the contractions were getting closer together.  We went from 60 mph to 70 mph in no time flat.  When we got to the hospital, the security guards called up to maternity and buzzed us through.  Once upstairs, the technician led us to a birthing room and had me change into a gown.  She then asked me the routine questions like, "When is your due date?"  Looking at the clock on the wall, I replied, "In 15 minutes."  It was 11:45 pm.  The nurse came in to check me and asked if I had dilated any at my last Dr.'s visit.  I told her that I was 50% effaced and 1-2 cm...She said I was more effaced, but only 2 cm dilated.  After an hour of being hooked up to the fetal monitors, she let me loose with a Popsicle and said I could walk around, watch TV or whatever for a while.  Dan, my mom and I walked the halls of the maternity ward.  We passed the nursery where a little boy was in the window.  That's when it hit me that I would have one of those myself in a few hours.  We got back to the room and watched TV until they wanted to monitor me again.  I was so tired that I didn't mind laying down.  The contractions grew stronger and longer in the next hour or two and finally I took the nurse up on her offer for something for the pain.  She put a little Stadol in my IV and that took the edge off the pain.  I felt like I had a few beers in me after that.  Then my contractions started slowing down...still 4 minutes apart, but slower nonetheless.  At 5 am, the nurse checked me and said since I was at least 4 cm, I could have an epidural.  The anesthesiologist was there and could do it right away, she said.  I had kinda planned on having one anyway, so I said sure, I'd take it now.  He came in and put it in in no time.  Dan got kinda woozy watching it (plus he hadn't eaten anything since dinner last night).  I didn't mind the exams at all after the epidural, but the contractions slowed down even more.  I wasn't dilating very fast either.  At about 9 am, the resident came in and wanted to break the water and start me on pitocin.  They did and the contractions sped up a little.  Shortly after that, the doctor on call (mine had the day off) came in to check on me.  I was only dilated to 7 cm and he said that he estimated I'd have him by 4 or 5 o'clock.  I was a little disappointed.  I'd already been there for almost 12 hours and nothing had happened.  My epidural had already worn off once.  Plus I hadn't gotten the sleep they promised I would get after the epidural was put in.  The Stadol they gave me earlier made me stop breathing for a few seconds every time I started to doze off.  Then the oxygen saturation monitor next to my head would sound an alarm and I would wake up.  The oxygen levels never stayed up for very long and finally they put and oxygen mask on me.  I had Dan take a picture of me since I had all these tubes sticking out of me in every direction...I wanted to see what I looked like.  I hadn't imagined the labor to be like this.

After the next check, the nursed said I was fully dilated and ready to go.  This was only an hour or so after the Dr had predicted it would be 7 more hours!!!  They called him and a nurse anesthetist since my epidural was worn off again.  Unfortunately, with the next shot into my epidural, I couldn't feel anything from my ribs down.  No urge to push, nothing.  The Dr, resident, med student, and my two nurses (plus Dan, my mom and I) were all there.  Although I didn't realize at the time, our regular doctor who was to take care of the baby must have had some cause for concern because she called in a neonatologist to come in for the delivery.  All in all, I think we counted 13 people who were present for the delivery, not including 6 members of Dan's family standing outside the door.  This wasn't quite what I had pictured for the birth of my son.

At about noon, I began pushing.  The nurses and resident coached me on pushing since I could still feel nothing.  My mom and Dan stood by my head and Dan counted to 10 for each push.  We went through almost 45 minutes of this and I was getting exhausted and couldn't tell that I was making excellent progress.  All of a sudden, they said the head was out and to pant through the next contraction.  Since I knew the neonatologist was there, I figured something might be wrong and chanted breathe, breathe in my head to the baby.  After I heard a little squeaking cry, I could breathe again.  "One more push!" they shouted.  I pushed and in a minute, I saw the resident pass my son off to the neonatologist.  I got to hold him after what seemed like 10 minutes (it was probably only 5).  He was 7 pounds, 2 1/2 ounces and 21 inches long. As I held him I looked up at Dan and smiled.  This was the birth of our son and our family.  The moment was broken up by a sharp pain where they were still working to stitch me up.  The epidural was wearing off again and I don't think they gave me a local since they probably figured I was still numb from the epidural.  They said they would hurry...only a stitch or two left.  I felt a sting with every little tug of the needle and thread.  Then it was over.  Dan's family came in, my sister was called, and I could relax.

Although the labor and delivery wasn't too bad, we're going to wait for a while before we decide whether or not we have another.  Right now, we're enjoying watching Connor grow.  He's now 2 1/2 months and growing like a weed after his original weight loss of over a pound in the first two weeks.  We weren't too successful with breastfeeding...and after a switch to formula, he regained the weight in record time.  If there is a next time, however, I plan to give it another try.

Thanks for reading my story,
Brooke Schonlau