A Personal Birth Story

The birth of my first child took place June 16, 1997. I was two weeks over due and scheduled to be induce on the 17th so when I woke up feeling crampy I got nervous. I got up and went to the bathroom with the plan to go right back to bed because my husband was off that day and we had planned to relax in preparation of the following day. I went to lay back down but never did fall back to sleep because it became apparent to me the crampy feeling was coming in waves. I woke up my husband and told him what I was experiencing. We got up and called my OB, he told us we should go to the hospital and get checked out. We then called our families to give them the heads up of the current happenings. I distinctly remember walking down the stairs of our apartment apartment and neighbors asking if today was the day because they were outside enjoying the beautiful morning we were having.
When we arrived at the hospital we registered and we put in one of the labor room because at that time the hospital still separate areas one labor, delivery, and another for recovery. Since then the hospital built a women and children wing where mothers can go throughout the entire birthing process through recovery in the same room. The contractions gradually got more intense and since it was my first I was not comfortable pretty quickly. Our family stated to arrive and although our intention was to only have my huband and his mother in the room my mother and father ended up in there with us. My father sat in the corner reading book and my mother was at my side. Her nature is to be want to be in control and since she has never had children naturally herself the is was a first time for her too making the situation more stressful for my husband because they did not get along very well when we were first married. I remeber she wore an off white pant outfit that ended up getting covered on blood because when the nurse did my iv in she turned quickly not paying attention and accidentally taking the iv tube that was in my hand with her as she turned making it so it came all the way out and blood to spray everywhere. My mother was right there and her outfit took on a significant amount of the blood. My mother did her usual and took and control of the situation making my husband feel like a visitor in the experience. This situation not improving their Already vulnerable relationship but bonding him and I more because we learned we could accomplish anything as long as we worked together. She yelled at the nurses because she thought they were not moving fast enough and pushed my mother law out of the way when the nurse brought in the paper for me to sign for who I wanted in the delivery room with me. They needed my husband and her signature acknowledging they they were ok with the decision. I signed, my husband signed, and when we handed it my my mother law my mother grabbed it and signed it instead then handing it straight to the nurse because in her eyes she was the only other person that should be on the room. Needless to say it ruffled quite a few feather putting a permanent riff between my parents and my in laws.
On with the birth story....
My contractions got to the point where I was ready for the epidural. It was on my must do list from the beginning there was no way I was going to do this without it. By the time we were all set and done the medical staff had to break my water for me and I received 4 epidurals with only one of them offering 100%. The others only worked on half my body making labor excruciating to say the least. We labored from 8am when we arrived at the hospital through the day only progressing to 5 centimeters. With guidance of our nurses we tried walking and warm showers in hopes of relieving the pain that I was experiencing. My doctor came in multiple times to check me and at one point I was in so much pain I asked him to just take the baby via csection because I didn't think I could continue. He chuckled and said no that he want me to experience the birth because he thought it would be best and that he thought i would want it that way. We continued on until about 10 pm when he came in to check because the nurses had called him to let him know the babys heart rate was not looking very good. At that point he noticed that we were only to a 5 and that I was exhausted and in a tremendous amount of pain. He made the decision that a csection was our best option. Rather than just saying this he told me by saying "well I guess you get what you wanted lets do a csection.". My husband was terrified as was I.
I went into surgery soon after the decision was made that it would be best to do the procedure under general anthesia since the previous 3 epidurals had not been succesfull. I said good bye to my husband and remember as they wheeled me into the operating thinking "oh no what if I never see him again?" Surgery got under way quickly because of the distress my baby was in and in the 45 mintues it took them to prep me I had spiked a fever so the situation was not ideal. At 11:55 pm on June 16, 1997 I delivered our son Micheal James Meier weighing 7lbs 13oz.
Family drama continued while I was in recovery. My husband was take into the nursery so that he could be the first to see our baby. We had discussed prior that no one else would be allowed to hold the baby until I got out of recovery because it was important to my husband that I be the first to hold the babbaby my mother was not happy with that decision and while everyone was out side the nursery window she began running her mouth about how she had the right ti be the first to hold the baby and how my husband was wrong in waiting until I was in my room. Before I got to my room my husband got upset and was pulled away from the situation my his best friend before the situation blew out of control.
I was finally taken to my room and my husband brought me our beautiful baby. What should have been the most memorable moment in our lives was stressfull and tense. We made the best out of it and grew through the exerience. I stayed in the hospital a week because I ended up getting a horrible infection as a rerult of my long labor causing more pain than a typical csection. When we finally got home I could not stand up straight and I moved extremely slow. I dealt with postpartum depression making the first month or so not much fun for myself or my husbandpostpartum not the first time birth experience we wanted but in the end we focused on the finaly result and that was that our baby was delivered safely and he was healthy which all a new mom and dad can ask for.
The reason I chose my first child's birth as my birth story is because the other three were planned sections and we had a better idea what we were going to experience unlike the first time around in regards to the birth expience in general and the family dynamic. Although only one of our other three childern actually came on his schedule csection date the others were pretty similar and not as intense as our first. All my children mean the world to me and I would experience each every painful csection again because of the beautiful children we were rewarded afterwards.