Time Travel Tuesday: The Baby Edition

Annie who hosts Time Travel Tuesday has chosen our first "giving birth" story for this week. I am late as I just got home from vacation last night, but really wanted to play along.


Join in to share your birth story! What did you think when you first saw your bundle of joy? How was the birthing experience for you? hubby?




Sarah Ann........1 hour old





Well folks, I got pregnant three months after we got married and as luck would have it, I got to spend my first wedding anniversary in the hospital waiting for labor to begin and then actually being in labor! Labor really didn't start with a bang for me--(not with the other 3 pregnancies either). I woke up in the morning with a little bit of amniotic fluid leaking out and being that that is was almost 24 years ago they were a bit more cautious and wanted me to come right in and get checked out even though I was having no contractions (that I could feel anyway!). Being the rebel that I am, I decided that there was no hurry, so we meandered our way to the hospital via Montgomery Wards where I was planning on buying a couple of nursing bras, but just hadn't gotten around to it yet! We didn't even bring my bag along because I thought for sure they would send me right home--oh contrare!!!!

Once at the hospital they decided I was losing quite a bit of fluid and hooked me up to a moniter where it showed that I was indeed having some quite regular, albeit, little contractions--so little I couldn't even feel them. Kerry then headed home to get all my stuff and I stayed at the hospital listening to a woman down the hall screaming her way through the birth process. I got more and more nervous as time went on and began to worry that Kerry might just not come back!!

I laid there from about noon until 5 p.m. bored out of my gourd--Kerry did come back and entertained himself watching a football game on t.v.--did I mention this was a Saturday in September--nothing too great on t.v. at that time. I had eaten nothing since the night before and was getting kind of hungry--plus, it was my first anniversary and we had been planning on going out for a lobster dinner! Well the nurse and doctor finally took pity on me, especially because my labor was progressing at the speed of a snail--REALLY piddling along--and they said I could have some dinner. Hooray!!! They sent up to me: a bowl of tomato soup, jello and some coffee. Great meal for a woman who had up to that moment been swigging Malox every time she ate or drank something for the past 3 months--we were talking MAJOR heartburn, people. I ate it anyway--and later enjoyed it a second time as it came back up.

About 8 p.m. they decided a little intravenous pitocin would spice things up a bit--and oh-boy, I could feel those contractions then. I suffered through 5 hours of pitocin induced/regulated labor with no drugs (drugs and epidurals were not really "in" then--ala natural was the ONLY way to go if you were a responsible mommy) Transition was a nightmare--I had been progressing so slowly that the nurse didn't really rush to call the doctor and then BAM! I was ready to push. The first few attempts made me look like a really uncoordinated clown and nursey-poo really didn't think the doctor needed to rush too quickly but he was, I was assured, on his way. Well, I got that pushing thing down pretty darn fast and things started moving right along--the doctor popped his head in when he got there and had the nerve to tell me to stop pushing until he could get gloved up!!! I don't think so......He arrived in the room just in time to watch me tear--a level 3 tear--(OUCH!)-but at the time I didn't care because my beautiful little girl was uttering her first cry and then was placed on my tummy as Kerry cut the cord. We were so thrilled at having a little girl--we had no idea what we were getting as ultrasounds were so new that they only did them if they were really needed. I loved that little girl with all my heart from the moment I heard that little cry, and still do now, even though she is an all grown up, married lady now!


Sarah Ann.... 4 days old (just coming home from the hospital)
Sarah Ann.....the bride, 23 years old


When thinking back I think I can classify the other three births as follows:

Andrew (now 21 years old)--my shortest--5 hours start to finish--once again needing a little help with the pitocin and once again, not using an epidural as they still weren't in *style*

Austen (now 15 years old) my hardest--he was a big baby--2 pounds bigger than any of the the other three-with a big head and broad shoulders. The midwife had to kind of manually pull my cervix over his head--sounds fun, huh!! ;) Oh, the good news is that by now, 7 years after my last baby, epidurals were now in style again and I availed myself of one--oh how sweet that was--especially with the 9 lbs+ he weighed! (forgot to mention--pitocin was once again my little labor buddy)

Sam (now 11 years old) my scariest. Labor was progressing nicely (once again, thanks to my friend, pitocin) until we found ourselves in a prolapsed cord situation....I have never been so scared in my life as I realized we could lose him. I was quickly rendered unconscious----my epidural wasn't deep enough to cover an emergency c-section, and thankfully they got him out in time!

There are times I miss that season of my life, but as each year passes it gets easier to accept the life changes that we all go through and I see the purpose God has for my life unfold into new directions as I get older. And, someday I will be a grandma and it will be glorious to hold a newborn baby again!