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Who We Are

Treyson's Story

My husband and I had known each other since high school.  Almost 10 years
after graduating and having gone our separate ways, our paths crossed once
again.  I knew that after all those years he would be the man I would marry
after having told myself that so many years before.

When I found out that we were pregnant I was thrilled because I knew how much
my husband had wanted a baby.  He had just joined the Marine Corps prior to
our marriage and was away in school, training for what would eventually become
his job.  I found out on a Monday that we were "expecting".  I wanted to wait
until Friday, when he was scheduled to be home before breaking the news.  It
was excruciating to speak with him every night knowing that I had to wait for
4 days until I could tell him.

Friday finally arrived and I was more than prepared for this surprise.  I had
scheduled my first OB appointment for the same day to confirm all was positive
as well as okay.  The doctor confirmed the pregnancy and assured me that all
was progressing nicely (although he stated that it was too soon to tell since
I was barely 4 weeks pregnant).  But I had the news I had waited for "WE WERE
REALLY PREGNANT"!

I rushed home and prepared myself for what would be one of the most exciting
nights in our lives.  I bought pink and blue balloons as well as a book
entitled "How to be an Expectant Father".  I blew up the 2 dozen balloons and
placed them on our bed and closed the bedroom door behind me.  I wrapped the
book up and placed it on the coffee table with a card that read:

"D" is for... David, Darling, Dear

when he opened it, it read "and Daddy".

He didn't immediately catch on until he opened the present and found his
expectant father book.  He turned to me and asked,  "Are you trying to tell me
something?"

I told him to look in our bedroom.  When he did he was dumbfounded to see all
of the balloons on our bed, he was starting to catch on.  He turned to me and
said, "Are you sure?"  I replied with a resounding "YES!".

Being in the Marine Corps took us to Camp Pendleton in California.  I spent my
entire pregnancy without my family around to enjoy this amazing time with me.
However, Treyson's father was the most wonderful support system anyone could
have hoped for.

The pregnancy progressed with little complication, with the exception of the
passing of a kidney stone during my 6th month.  I am convinced that passing a
kidney stone was far worse than any labor pain.

My due date was Wednesday, September 25, 1996.  At work on Monday, September
16th, I began having contractions.  I waited it out through the night and
called my employer early Tuesday morning to let her know that I would not be
returning.  I continued to have contractions, although they were strong they
were not consistent.

I had a doctor appointment scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on this day and was sure
that I would be in full labor by then.  When my husband and I arrived at the
doctor's office I was not in full labor, the contractions were continuing to
be strong but were still not coming at regular intervals.  When the doctor
came in to the room his first words were, "You look like you're in labor".
That was music to my ears!  He examined me and offered to help me along by
applying pressure to my cervix.  He then explained that I shouldn't be
surprised if I saw blood when we got home.  We scheduled another appointment
for the following week, just in case.

On Wednesday morning, September 18th, I woke up to something running down my
leg.  I felt and immediately knew that it was my water.  I jumped up and
called my husband at work to tell him the news, he was on his way home!  I
then called the hospital and advised that we were on our way.  We arrived at
the hospital about 8:30 a.m.  We had pre-registered and only had to wait for
someone to come get us.  The first person we saw was my doctor.  He didn't
seem surprised to see us.  I was put in a LDR room and examined.  The nurse
was quick to inform us that I was not leaking amniotic fluid.  I was
embarrassed when she told me that I was actually leaking urine with every
contraction.  However, she reassured us that this was perfectly normal.  They
kept me on the monitor for a few hours and confirmed that the contractions
were very strong and were about 5 minutes apart.  They sent us home at 12:00
p.m. with instructions to walk, walk, walk.  Walking would speed up the
process the nurse said.  My doctor stopped in to tell me that it wouldn't be
long and he would be surprised if he didn't see us back by the following day.
He advised us to come back when my water broke or when the contractions were 3
minutes apart and I was unable to talk while having a contraction.

I spent the rest of the day walking the jogging track that was around our
apartment complex.  It was ½ mile around and it would take us up to 30 or 45
minutes to walk around only 1 time.  The walking was helping, the contractions
were now 3 minutes apart on a consistent basis and were very strong.

At about 8:00 p.m. that night the contractions stopped.  I was so
disappointed!  I had been in the early stages of labor for almost 3 days and
the contractions just stopped.  I went to bed around 9:00 p.m. and cried
myself to sleep.  I woke up at about 12:30 a.m. to the strongest contraction
yet.  I couldn't believe the pain, it was so concentrated.  David was asleep
on the couch in the living room (because I was too big to get comfortable with
him in bed with me).  I waited for almost an hour before waking him, I wanted
to make sure that this was "it".  Around 1:30 or 2:00 a.m. I went to wake him.
I was hanging over the end of the couch calling his name, he never responded.
I felt so bad for him because he had been up for so long helping me through
the contractions.  I went back to the bedroom and laid across the bed.  It was
only 10 minutes before I began yelling for him, the pains were becoming more
and more intense.  He came in and laid across the bed with me, rubbing my
back, trying to make me as comfortable as possible.  At about 2:30 a.m. on
September 19th (the big day) I felt liquid running down my leg again.  I told
David and he said "That's it, were going back to the hospital!".  As I sat up
my water literally exploded!  I couldn't believe the amount of fluid that kept
coming.  David called the hospital to tell them we were on our way.

When we arrived we had to wait in the ER due to the time of day.  A nurse came
to get us and took us to our room.  I was very embarrassed by the amount of
water that would flow out of me with every contraction, I believe we left a
trail from the ER all the way to Labor and Delivery.  The contractions were
the strongest they had been since my labor began almost 3 days before.  The
nurse suggested that I try to walk.  Well, with the first contraction I hit
the floor and begged David to take me back to the room.  I then tried sitting
in the shower which helped to relieve the pain to some extent.

At 5:30 a.m. the nurse asked me if I wanted any pain killers.  I said,
"please, bring on the drugs!".  David and I chose to go with a mild pain
reliever first.  I took the edge off the pain and I was able to breath through
them.  At 7:00 a.m. the shift changed and the nurse we got was wonderful.  She
immediately offered an Epidural if I wanted it.  She said that my doctor had
OK’d it even though I was only dilated to 2 cm.  At 7:30 a.m. the Epidural was
administered.  I had only 1 contraction while curled up in the fetal position.
I was very surprised that the needle didn't hurt, as a matter of a fact I felt
nothing.

Throughout the day I continued to dilate as expected, but the labor did slow
down because of the Epidural.  At about 6:30 p.m. the doctor was becoming
concerned with the amount of time I had been in labor and wanted to move
things along since Mother Nature wasn't helping anymore.  The doctor ordered
Pitocin.  My contractions immediately became stronger and stronger, going off
the page of the monitor.  Within an hour I was dilated to a 10 (and had no
pain throughout).  The nurses advised me that I could begin pushing, which was
good because I was feeling intense pressure from the baby's head.  I had
pushed for about 25 minutes when the doctor decided he would have to use the
vacuum on the baby because his head was very large.  With the first
contraction after the doctor placed the vacuum on the baby's head, he pulled,
and it popped off.  It was the worst sound I had ever heard.  The doctor then
decided that I would need an episiotomy.  I watched in the mirror while he
cut, still feeling no pain.  I was very lucky because even with the Epidural I
still felt the urge to push with each contraction.

I pushed only 3 more times and at 8:19 p.m. Treyson Gehrig was born into our
world and our lives.  He weighed in at a very healthy 9 lbs 10 oz and was 19½
inches long.  The doctor was right when he said that the baby had a big head,
it measured at 15¼ cm in circumference.

Having this child was the single most enjoyable and incredible experience I
have ever had.  Because of the Epidural I was able to relax and enjoy the
labor and delivery of our son.

Diane, Treyson's Mommy