April 29, 1995

Disclosure:  the following post is rather long and might contain too much information.  Read with caution!

I promised (okay, mentioned) that I would write about why my two oldest think Erik is the favored child and where they might get that impression. 

It goes back to the pregnancy before his. That would be the birth of my only daughter. I found out I was pregnant with her the same time I found out my dad had colon cancer that had spread to his lymph nodes and liver and died 9 days before she was born. I got special permission to fly to Idaho and then drive 2 1/2 hours to the funeral. Maybe I will write the long version of this story on her birthday! The shorter version is: my labor with her was 35 hours and on my THIRD trip to the hospital they decided to keep me there. I asked for a half dose of an epidural because I was SO NUMB from the epidural with my first and I just wanted enough to take the edge off. As soon as they gave me the epidural and wheeled me up (I was dilated to a 7+) to feel the effects,  the nurse was sounding way far away and my speech was slurred. They wheeled me back down and kept checking my vitals. I asked the nurse to stay with me because coming off the death of my dad, I was scared. When my blood pressure reached 70/40, the nurse rushed out of the room yelling, "Her bp's 70/40, I'm going to find the doctor!" I turned to dear hubby and slurred, "She promised she wouldn't leave me." When I heard what my blood pressure was, I said, "Am I still alive?" I know what a normal bp is and new this was nowhere close to normal. I was scared I was going to die giving birth in the 90's!

There were some other complications, that, again, I might post on dear daughter's birthday! 

After this wonderful experience and a 4 year intentional gap between children, I went in search of a doctor that wasn't so "epidural happy" and found a female doctor that was willing to let me labor in the jacuzzi but not deliver in one. I told her what method of pain relief I was interested in and she let me know they weren't using that method in my state but had used it in California where she had practiced before. We talked about possibly going unmedicated. Yikes! Could I do it? In a state that in 90% of births used an epidural when in the rest of the country 10% of births used an epidural? I am not exactly tolerant of pain and was nervous about going unmedicated. After my first two experiences, my thought was, "I think I have to try this." 

I also told her I thought I might be allergic to whatever they had stitched me up with in the past and she said to remind her of that in the delivery room and she would try something different. 

We lived about an hour away from the hospital when Erik was born. My mom had flown in the night before he was born and rubbed my feet for me that night before I went to bed. I woke up through the night with pains every couple minutes. My old standby trick to see if it was true labor (must not have worked so well with dear daughter!) was to take a shower and if the pains were still there, it was probably for real. I had pains all through the shower, got dressed and told dear hubby how close the pains were. He wasn't real excited to go to the hospital only to be sent home with false labor, so he got up and slooooowly got ready to go. I woke mom up to let her know we were heading to the hospital. Never in my LIFE have I been witness to my hubby driving so slow! He also wanted to make sure he had food in him before heading to the hospital because my previous labors had been so long that he had been deprived of food and didn't want that to happen again. 

We stopped at the McDonald's closest to the hospital and I had a pain getting out of the car. I went to the bathroom while hubby ordered his breakfast and had a pain in the bathroom. I came to tell dear hubby that I had two pains while there and had another pain. When he made eye contact with me I was having another pain. I didn't have to say anything. He had his tray of food and was ready to sit down to eat but went back to the order counter and asked for a "to go" bag. As we got to the hospital and were almost to the labor and delivery desk, I broke down. I wasn't sure that  a) I could go through another delivery like the last and that  b) I could go unmedicated. 

They had to get an IV antibiotic going right away because I had strep B off and on through the pregnancy and that was the precaution they took. I was able to labor in the jacuzzi like planned and they checked me occasionally to make sure my water hadn't been broken yet. You can't labor in the jacuzzi after the water has broken because of risk of infection. The nurse checked once and said, "Okay, time to get out, water is ready to break," which it did as I got onto the delivery table. It was so much more relaxed and a much easier recovery than the two before! Oh, thank you, Erik, for being such a wonderful labor and delivery! From first pain to delivery was 5 hours! And he nursed right away and was a good nurser, which my first two were not. I called him my Angel Child. Do you think I will have to pay for therapy for my two oldest in their adult life?!? 

I actually made the quilt BEFORE I had Erik, but I don't know if my kids know that. I made a quilt for my oldest (all sewn together by hand!) but never got it finished because he came 10 days early and I was working at the time. The top is now finished so maybe it will be for his first child!

I now know I CAN go unmedicated and I am stronger than I thought I was. Thank you, Erik, for the wonderful labor and delivery story! And thanks for being such a fine young man!