Around 4:30 in the morning I could sense that the contractions were getting closer and more intense. My epidural had a button on it so I could press it and get more drugs, but I was hesitant of getting too numb because I didn't want to slow labor down any more. The doctor checked me and I was between 6 and 7 cm dilated and she told me to press the button. That it'd be a couple more hours and I'd still be able to push, so why didn't I just drug up already. God bless Dr. Braun (the on call doctor.)
At this point I realized that my suspicions were correct and, at last, I was going to have a baby. Today was the day. But I also realized that it was Wednesday and my doctor's day off. Henry would be delivered by Dr. Schoeffler. I like Dr. Schoeffler. He's great, but still, I was a bit disappointed. Dr. Schoeffler came in around 6:30 and told me to call Sloan and get him to the hospital. He said when Sloan arrived he would break my water and we'd get this show on the road. He assured me that we were in the home stretch and that Henry would be here well before lunch time.
I called Sloan a little before 7. Groggy, he answered the phone, "I just fell asleep. Can you give me thirty more minutes." "Um, I'll see what I can do but I'm having a baby this morning whether you're here or not." "Fine. I'll be there in a few."
Sloan arrived around 7:45 only to realize that for some reason he had taken both of our cameras home with him the night before. We now were going to have a baby and had no camera. I also was bummed because the speakers I'd ordered for my Ipod hadn't come in yet and so my groovy mix I'd made for labor would have to be scrapped. Fortunately, Laurie, my trusty masseuse was now my nurse and brought in her boom box and began playing classical music to calm me down.
Dr. Schoeffler broke my water around 8:30 and said he'd be back to check on me in an hour. He wanted me to take my time and "labor down" so that I wouldn't have to push much. Apparently this would be better for Henry. Around 9 am, I sent Sloan to the gift shop to buy a disposable camera. Laurie also came in to tell me that Dr. Murray called and she was frantically trying to find child care for her kids so she could come deliver Henry. Dr. Murray requested that I try to hold on for an hour. At this point, I'd starting getting nauseous and shaky, so I was wary about my ability to do much of anything.
Sloan returned with the camera and Laurie said that Dr. Murray called and she was on her way with her kids in tow. I was shaking more fervently and was having trouble breathing. Laurie checked me and I was 9 cm dilated and apparently "in transition". They gave me an oxygen mask and this helped with my shaking and my nausea.
Around 10 til 10, Dr. Murray showed up. Her kids were apparently at the nurses station being watched by one of my nurses from the Antepartum wing. She was in flip-flops, a t-shirt and shorts. She said, "Okay, so the nurses are sufficiently giving my kids sugar right now. Let's see what is going on and then I'll change and we'll see about meeting Henry." She lifted the sheet and said and without having to use her hands she said, "Okay, I can see his head. There's not time for me to change into scrubs. We're going to have a baby." So Dr. Murray put booties over her flops and a smock over her t-shirt and told Laurie to call NICO and get their team here. It was around 10 o'clock.
So we geared up to have a baby. As Dr. Murray was prepping, I said, "I want to just apologize in advance if I cuss at you or poop on you." She laughed. She assured me that it wouldn't be the first time and not to worry. It was very strange pushing as I wasn't sure how hard I was pushing from the epidural. Laurie told Sloan to grab my left leg and he was a bit thrown by his being asked to actually participate rather than just stand by my head and tell me to breathe. I could see the reflection of what was going on in the TV screen and I kept thinking of that episode of Grey's Anatomy when Miranda is having her baby and she tells George to stop looking at her Vajayjay. I ask Sloan if he can see Henry and he sheepishly says "Yes" but makes it clear that he's not crazy about looking. Dr. Murray tells me to be quiet, that I can't push if I'm talking.
As I push, I look at Sloan and he is making a strange face as if he is pushing along with me. "Why are you making that face?" I ask. "Stop it. You look like an idiot."
"I just want to encourage you," he says. "You're doing great."
All of the sudden there he was. This slime covered person being pulled from me. They clamped his cord; the Dr. cut it, and they whisked him off to the NICU team and then we heard him crying. As they put him on the warming table and were taking care of him, the clamp on my cord slipped and suddenly there was blood spraying everywhere. It was on the walls, my doctor's face, the NICU teams' backs, my legs. Dr. Murray and Laurie got it taken care of and then told me it was time to push again for the placenta. Sloan assures me that there is nothing on the planet more disgusting than seeing the placenta being delivered.
"Is he okay?" I asked.
"He's perfect," Dr. Dhande, the neonatologist, assured me as he handed me this sweet bundled boy.
"He looks just like me," I said. And he does. He has my hair line, my almond shaped eyes, my loud voice. But he has his daddy's big feet, long fingers, and detached earlobes. Sloan took pictures of us with the gift shop camera and then they whisked Henry off the the NICU.
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