Limon to Johann

Okay, it's been some time but I need to get the birth of my son documented. This account is completely from my perspective, so that's why it may seem a little self centered and not so focused on the heroics that Arial performed.

A couple days after the due date, Arial went to the doctor to get a check up of the baby. They decided that a slightly elevated blood pressure (taken by the nurse who always gets a high blood pressure) was excuse enough to induce labor.

So around 12:30 PM, we went to the hospital (my mom took care of Frances while we were there). After a couple hours of miscellaneous stuff (mostly sitting around), they started the Cervidil. That was 2:30 PM.

I should have remembered this from Francis' birth but the waiting is really boring, exciting and stressful but mostly boring. For a while, Arial read while I labeled the side of one of my reference book to make looking things up faster (I was glad I did it there and not during work because it took a lot longer than I thought it would to color code each chapter). When that was done, I read as well.

Arial started getting small contractions pretty soon after the Cervidil was started. I was surprised at how quick they started. Initially, they were around 15 minutes apart but they got a lot closer together pretty quick.

After a while of reading/comforting/worrying, I started to develop a headache. I then found out that at a hospital, you can't get any sort of head ache medicine if you aren't a patient. They don't have any in a vending machine and the people working there can't give you any. Water, water everywhere...

After a while Arial got cleared to eat supper. Apparently, a lot of doctors won't let soon-to-be mothers eat on the off chance that they will have to get an emergency C-section. That seems cruel to me. How are you supposed to have the energy to birth a baby with no food in your stomach? Fortunately, we had a midwife instead and she didn't think it would be a problem.

I ordered Arial's food for her (since she hates talking on the phone with strange people). Then I went down to the cafeteria to get some supper for myself. I had remembered that their personal pizzas were pretty good, so I got one of those. I decided that it was a special day, so I also bought some "Flamin' Hot Cheetos" (which I love) and a cherry Coke. I don't know why I got the cherry Coke. I've never liked it but I figured there was a chance that my tastes have changed.

In retrospect, pizza, Cheetos and cherry Coke is not really a wise choice when your wife is in labor. No one cares when the father-to-be throws up. But more on that later.

We watched a little TV and then tried to sleep but Arial was having trouble since she was having so many contractions with no break in between. She was starting to wear down. The nurse gave her some sort of short lived sedative. I don't think it really helped all that much.

Around 1 AM, Arial said to me "I feel nauseous" and I replied, "me too". Then, Arial went to the bathroom and puked. I paged the nurse. After Arial was back in bed, I asked if there was another bathroom on the floor since Arial had just puked in her bathroom. The nurse said that there was one on the first floor. I said that it was too late and ran to the bathroom and threw up.

When I came back, it was like I had announced "I'm going to brush my teeth". Nobody acknowledged that I had just thrown up. Not even a cursory "Are you alright?". Nothing.

But then again, I wasn't the one who had been having contractions every 1-2 minutes for hours. And I did feel a lot better after that, so it was all okay.

Before I leave the "No one cares about the father-to-be" theme, I would just like to mention that they have a "nourishment room" for the mothers that has juice, sandwiches and popsicles. They make a point to tell you that it is only for the patients (and not for you). (The next day, Arial gave me some tater tots from her lunch that she didn't want and that made me feel a little more included).

So, it was 1 AM. We wanted someone to check her cervix since she had just puked and was still contracting like mad (and they don't give epidural's until the cervix is over 4 cm). We asked the nurse about that and she pointed out that the Cervidil was scheduled to come out at 2:30 AM and the midwife was going to come and do that. So she could check then. I believe the way she said it was "[the midwife] will be here soon". To us an hour and a half was not soon. But we waited.

When the midwife came, Arial was at 5 cm. It wasn't so bad that we waited. I guess they know what they are doing.

Arial got the epidural and I went for a walk. There aren't a whole lot of people in the hospital at 3 AM. It is kinda peaceful, plus I was really tired of being in the room (I felt bad for Arial because she was stuck there).

When I got back, the epidural was in and everything seemed fine. They gave Arial a self-medication button that she could push every 10 minutes to increase the flow of the drug. Only the left side of her body was getting numb, so she pushed the button, a lot. After about a half an hour, we found out that the thing was supposed to beep (or "sing" as the nurse put it) when she pushed the button. There was a short in the button cable or something. After a bit of fiddling with it, the nurse got it to recognize button pushing.

She then told Arial to try it again and to lay on her right side on the premise that the drug would then fall to that side. That last bit seems a bit odd to me.

After another half hour of one side being numb and the other being normal, the anesthesiologist was finally called back. He discovered that the tube had gotten pushed into her back 2 cm more than it should and that caused the drug to be shunted to one side. He fixed it but it was too late.

Somewhere during the epidural ordeal, the midwife decided that we were all tired of waiting and broke Arial's water (which is really disgusting). So not to long after the anesthesiologist fixed the epidural, it was time to push.

That meant that Arial could feel half of her body. I'm reasonably certain that it wasn't a pleasant experience. In fact, I think I saw actual anguish in her face. That was very distressing.

Fortunately, she only had to push for 7.5 minutes. It was a long 7.5 minutes but that is certainly better than the long 20 minutes that it took for Frances.

Birth is a wonderful thing. However, when the head pops out and it's all gray and bigger than you were expecting and sticking out of a place that there shouldn't be a head, it is kinda freaky. With both children, I was shocked at that sight. Then when they grabbed his head and pulled him out, I was kinda concerned about his little neck. But both of the kids seemed to turn out okay, so that must just be the way it goes.

They got him cleaned up and I took pictures (while Arial dealt with the placenta stuff). Then, after the weighing and the government mandated eye drops, I was able to take him over and hold him in front of Arial.

When she was done having disgusting things removed from her, I handed her the baby and she instantly changed from a weary, bedraggled woman in labor into a radiant new mother. That was amazing. He was like a new battery for her.

So that's the story of Limon's birth. From now on, he will be referred to as Johann.

mwz