10-11-2009 - Gestation/Labor with Blakely, my first child

My mood while writing this blog: HMMMMM

Blakely Suzann born May 5, 1997... 5 lbs 11 ozs, 17 1/2 inches. Original due date May 17, 1997. My first child. I can't believe it has been so long ago. I was in love the moment that I found out I was pregnant. I was 25 years old and had met the love of my life and been with him for a couple of years. We got married when I was 3 months pregnant ( before that we were both of the mindset that we didn't NEED a piece of paper to show our commitment to each other... ha ha we tried to be a bit "hippy-ish") I'm glad we did get married, it didn't mean we were "CONFORMIST" or anything.. lol. Anyway my pregnancy with Blake was very good, the worst thing that happened was that I had to take an iron supplement. Every test was wonderful, all the measurements were just where they were supposed to be, blood glucose levels were great!!! Weight gain was right on target. At the 20-22 week scan we found out she was a SHE... I was over the moon. I definately wanted to have a baby girl first. I had a big brother that was mean growing up and I always wanted a sister instead. I figured if I had a boy second then she probably wouldn't be as mean as my brother was and if I had another girl then they would have a sister bond that I always wanted. So onto the 2nd half of pregnancy, I loved my pregnant body and didn't mind maternity clothes, my fave was my overall shorts.... loved them!!!! "Wouldn't touch a pair now ha ha!" So excited to take a prepared childbirth class and really wanted to have an unmedicated labor and delivery. I read everything I could get my hands on, prepared a birth plan but I also stayed flexible. I knew that if I had to be induced that the contractions would be abnormally strong and decided that I would get an epidural if that is what was in the cards for us. I had my last of 3 baby showers on April 26, 1997. I had the calendar marked with my 10 day count down to my due date of May 17, my baby room was ready and I was excited to get to the end and finally be tired of being pregnant ( i wasn't there yet). On May 3rd I got a phone call that my great grandmother had passed away and I was terribly upset. I was 2 weeks away from my due date and I wasn't allowed to travel 10 hours away to attend her funeral. My mother left the next day and talked to Blakely and told her to "stay put" until she got back.... Well, Blake always has had a mind of her own. That was a Sunday morning May 4th. That day I was very blue but Albert tried to take my mind off of not being able to go. We went out for a nice lunch and decided to rent some movies for a nice, restful evening at home. Before settling in for the evening I needed to go to mom's house and check on her dog and cat. I was standing at her bar flipping through some pictures when I felt a "pop" and what felt like something wet... UH OH, I went to the bathroom and sure enough it wasn't discharge but it wasn't a gush of fluid... I knew then my water had broken. We drove back home and I called my doc. they told me to head on up to the hospital. Then I called my mom who had just pulled into my grandma's house maybe 20 min. before. She was beside herself not knowing what to do. I then leisurely packed my suitcase, took care of all of my pets, called Albert's parents and then decided to make the 30 min drive to the hospital. They were a little miffed with me since I showed up about 2 hours after I had called, it was 11 pm... OH WELL.

They confirmed that yes my water was broken but I was only a couple of cm dilated. I wasn't having hard contractions at this point but started to get scared and a little uncomfortable. They weren't going to do anything to help this along until the morning and suggested that they give me some stadol to help me sleep.... I took it. The first shot helpped and I did sleep some. In the middle of the night they gave me another shot but it didn't help. By 10 the next morning they were offering me an epidural and I accepted, even though I didn't get it for another couple of hours. I had a great nurse who suggested that I get in the shower to relieve some of the discomfort, I did and so did Albert... When I got the epidural I was thankful and when it kicked in I said "I could have 100 babies like this". Well I felt comfortalble enough to fall asleep and I was only about 4 cm and figured I had quite a bit of time left. Albert went to get some coffee. 2 minutes later the nursing staff was rushing in , flipping me over onto my left side and slapping the oxygen mask on my face. I had no idea what was going on. They said my blood pressure dropped and the baby's heart rate dropped too. When everything normalized my nurse said..." for about 30 seconds there I thought we were going to have an emergency c-section !" WTF....Albert came back about that time and looked very pale. Well everything was ok by then and they checked me and said that Blakely would probably make her enterence into the world at about 8 that evening, I think it was about 2:30pm. At 3 I started feeling something, pain/pressure and told my nurse. They gave me some more meds in my epi. and told me to relax, they never even checked me. I told my nurse that I still felt the pain/pressure and she checked me... I was 10 cm and ready to push!!! They paged my doc, had me push one time and told me to wait. When my doc showed up about 5 minutes later he had me push about 3 more times and Blakely was born at 3:24 pm... Obviously I went very fast from 5 cm to baby out!!! The first thing I said when I heard her cry was "she sounds like a donkey". Albert got to "catch" her and cut her cord. When I saw her I told Albert, "she looks just like you!" My precious baby was in the world. I asked how much she weighed and they said 5 lbs 11 ozs. "WHAT?" I thought for sure she was bigger and asked if everything was ok. They said she was fine just small. OKKKKK then they took her to the newborn nursery while they finished with me and took me to my room. Alberts mom flew to Houston from Lubbock and took a cab to the hospital, she made it there before 5 pm and still missed the birth..

I was patient and waited for them to bring Blakely to me as she was not supposed to get a pacifier or bottle. She was going to be breastfed and room in with me. They kept putting me off because they said she was "cold and couldn't regulate her temperature". Well, I got up and went and starred at her through the glass and started crying. I told Albert that I wanted my baby and I would be able to keep her warm, she needed to be with me, her mother. 10 minutes later she was in my arms, nice and warm and nursing. They didn't take her from me again. We stayed that night in the hospital and we were discharged on May 6th about noon and we went home. She was perfect, small but perfect. They had no explaination why she was small. She wasn't premature nor was she growth retarded for any reason.... soooo oh well... Two weeks later she weighed 7 lbs. That always made me wonder if I would have been able to stay pregnant for another 10-12 days how much she would have weighed, I will never know.

Just wanted to share my first birth experience. I will write about baby #2 soon.