Joseph Patrick
March 14, 2006
1:09 PM
5 lbs 8 oz, 20 inches long
Well, I'm actually going to start out 4 days before he was born...
Friday, March 10 started out like any other day for the first couple hours, then I started having contractions. Since they were 7 minutes apart and it was Friday afternoon I figured I better go get checked out since it was Friday. I drove myself to the doctor since my hubby was still at work. Of course I was only 1cm dilated and my cervix was only 50% thinned. Sent home... barely slept that night.
Saturday, March 11, I was still having contractions about 7 minutes apart but they weren't as strong but I was starting to feel very uncomfortable. That afternoon we took our dog Chewie to his new home since he was too wild and hyper to have around a new baby. This broke my heart. I cried that whole night. Chewie had been my best friend since I moved to Connecticut and one of a few friends I actually had. Again, barely any sleep.
Sunday, March 12 was my baby shower over at my in-laws house. I was feeling even more uncomfortable than the day before. I just wanted to get the shower over with so I could go home and lay down. During the shower, I lost my "plug". Slept a little, but not enough...
Monday, March 13 it seemed like my contractions had almost gone away and I got a HUGE surge of energy. I washed all of the baby clothes we received at the shower. I put away all of the gifts. Rearranged Joey's dresser, cleaned the house, I can't even tell you what all I did that day. Around 5pm I was cooking dinner and BOOM, contractions!! About 6 minutes apart this time but the pain was much worse. Since they still weren't exactly 6 minutes apart each time, still irregular, I knew not to call my doctor. Instead, I got in the bath tub and labored in there as long as I could. By then, it was about 10 pm and I couldn't handle it any longer.
Off to the hospital, we get to Yale and the doctor on call checks me out. Still 1cm and only 50%!! I couldn't believe it, I lost it. I started bawling my eyes out telling the doctor how tired I was and how long I had been having contractions. He decided to admit me on bedrest for the night and to give me something to help me sleep.
Tuesday, March 14, about 7 am, I had barely slept at all that night and whatever he gave me to sleep did relax me enough to rest although the contractions were getting very strong and close together. The doctor came in and checked me again. 4cm!! They transferred me from the room I was in up to labor and delivery. Epidural here I come!! A couple house later, the doctor broke my water and by 10 am, I was ready to push.
I started pushing and pushing. My nurse, Indie was helping to coach me through the pushes, and was yelling at me to "focus on your rectum" (yeah, you heard me right, which my husband found very funny yet annoying)...after 3 hours of pushing, at 1:09pm we welcomed Joey into the world. I had given the hospital a copy of my birthing plan. I wanted everything to be as normal as possible. I didn't want people to treat my baby differently just because he had Down syndrome. I didn't want him to be taken away for evaluation & testing, I wanted to have my time with Joey like any normal birth. There was a pediatrician there who quickly checked his breathing and heartbeat so he was handed back to me. He was beautiful, so perfect. I didn't care about him having Down syndrome, I knew he was my child and that's all I cared about. He was safe in my arms.
But my story doesn't end there... about 1 hour after I gave birth to Joey and we were transferred to our room, I felt funny. I told the nurse I thought I was peeing. She told me impossible but I argued with her until she checked. I was hemorrhaging!! She yelled for help and after a couple minutes the bleeding was stopped, my stitches ripped out and I had no energy. The nurses checked my blood count and of course, I was low. They started pumping me full of fluids and gave me this nasty tasting pill to help my blood count raise back up. Luckily the pill worked because if it wouldn't have, I would have had to get a blood transfusion.
But you know what, after the days of labor, 3 hours of pushing and the hemorrhaging, it was all worth it. I love Joey and would go through it all again in a heart beat!! (I just hope this next labor isn't as long!!)
