Phil's Birth

When my 4th was about a year old I wanted yet another one. I stopped taking the pill. I didn't get pg the first month. I was a bit surprised as I got pg the first month with the rest. The next month my period was late. I started to get my usual morning sickness of throwing up bile and I was sure I was pg. I made an appt with my dr. I had a left over test from a double pack so I used even though I was sure. It was negative. I was really surprised! I was 5 weeks then. I had a dr appt the next week and I felt silly about making an appt if I wasn't pg but I was sure. They don't test at my dr office and I didn't want to go there and say I had a negative test. The day of my appt we stopped at a pharmacy to buy another test. I brought a urine sample with me and tested in the car.The test turned positve right away.

The dr agreed with the second test and my due date was June 1st. This was my 3rd baby due in June. My 2nd was due June 30th and came 9 days late so was born in July. My 4th due June 17th came almost on time on June 15th This time I was hoping for early! I had the usual throw-up-bile-in-the-morning morning sickness from 5 till 20 weeks. I was still breastfeeding my 4th, Margo I was able to eat and drink pretty normally so it went well. My milk changed slowly to colustrum and one morning Margo said yuck. That was the end of that. By 20 weeks it started to hurt to walk as I always got pelvic joint pain but it wasn't very bad. I had 2 u/s and found out we were having a boy. I was happy as we had more girls than boys.

My oldest had started school that year and brought home 9 colds and 3 stomach bugs. I'm glad that the baby was due near the end of school. I had met a woman with more kids than me at the school too. She offered to babysit during the birth.

At my 38 week appt I was dialated a bit. I wasn't excited as I had been more dialated than that with nothing happening. May 19 I had being feeling contractions all day but they weren't anything special. After supper I felt a bit wet so I went to the bathroom. When I got there, whoosh, my water leaked out all over the floor. While I sat in the bathroom Reg got the kids ready to bring over to the sitter's house. My 3rd came very fast after my water had broke so I was a bit nervous. I used a toddler sized disposable diaper for a pad and we headed to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital. I went straight for the first bathroom as the diaper was full. I threw it out and put a new one on. Well that was a mistake! Up at the L&D floor they didn't believe my water broke! The had a new triage room where they decided if you stayed or not. I was connected to a monitor and I was having a few contractions. I leaked some more fluid. Phew! My belly had really shrunk in size from losing all that fluid so I was happy that there was some left for proof.

After I passed the test of being in labor I was given a room. We sat around for a while then the nurse asked me to get up and walk the halls. I had a hard time walking as I had pelvic joint pain. The nurse said maybe we better get the pit started as my contractions had done nothing for a couple of hours. She set up my IV and started the pit. I asked for an epi right away. It went really well last time getting the epi right after getting the pit started. The anesthesiologist arrived not long after and I got my epi.

Change of shift happened and I got a new nurse. She walked into the room complaining of having a migraine headache and that they were forcing her to work her 5th night in a row even though it was her day off. I mentioned that my epi was wearing off and that I was a bad screamer so she might want to make sure she got it topped off. She grumbled something about the epi was going to make my last too long. I said the induction won't slow because it was artificially induced with the pit. She said she would ask my dr. I started to get scared again.

She came back in a huff, said I wasn't in real labor, topped up my epi and left. Reg and I looked at each other and wondered what her problem was.

Almost 2 hours later I started feeling some pressure and I was getting the feeling back in my legs. Reg went to get the nurse. They came back and the nurse was upset as the heartrate was going down. She quickly checked me as I asked her for a top up. She said there was no time and went to tell the dr.

She started to transfer me to the delivery room. Reg was told to put on his scrubs and left. The nurse pushed the stretcher up beside delivery table. The nurse asked me to changed "beds". The baby's head had started to descend at this point. I was feeling a contraction and waited till it was finished. The nurse started talking to me as if she was mad. After the contraction I hopped as best I could to the steel table. She then got mad at my being to fast! My dr showed up and I asked him if I could have a top up. I had a large baby for my 3rd and the delivery part was very painful and I didn't want to go throught that again. The dr said yes and the nurse complained there was no time. He said he didn't care and told her to move it. It was nice to have him on my side.

Reg came back in the room and the dr said to give a push. The pressure increased but I didn't really feel pain. The nurse showed up as the head was coming out. She slamed the epi down on the counter and hurried over to help. Another tiny push and he was out. They put him on my tummy and the nurse said to me "See I told you there was no time for the epi top up" To which I replied "See I told you I was in labor!" I was so mad at her. I can't forget those first words that happened right after his birth. They cut and clamped his cord and moved him to the warming table. The dr asked me to push the placenta out. I got to push the placenta more than the baby. The placenta came out easily. I didn't need any stitches and the dr left.

The nurse didn't want us to pick up the baby but we were used to her by this point and didn't pay attention to her. I got back on my stretcher and nursed him. He weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces and his apgars were 9 and 9. After staying with him for a hour they took him to the nursery and me to my room on the maternity floor.

Reg didn't go home as I asked to leave early and that meant just 12 hours this time. I had him at 2:30 so had to wait till 2:30 in the afternoon to go home. In the morning I had to ask to have him in the room with me. They thought I would want to rest! I had 4 kids at home already and I wanted to get a little one on one time with him. Since I was leaving early I had to talk to everybody in the hospital to show them that I was a good mom. I spoke to my nurse, the headnurse, the home visit nurse, a social worker and the pediatrician. I guess they thought I was fit as they let me go.

On the way home we stopped to buy an ice cream cake for Phil's real or "0" birthday. We went to my friends house to pick up our other kids and went home. We sung happy birthday to Phil and had some cake. The kids thought that was fun.

We named Phil appropriately as he ate every hour during the day and every 2 hours at night. Sometimes I just called him rePhil. I'm happy he wasn't my first or I would have worried I was doing something wrong. At 4 months he weighed 20 pounds and finally started nursing a little less often. He was my biggest baby at 4 months.

And then there were 5.

Phil is 6.5 as I write this. I'm still angry at that nurse for ruining our birth experience. I had to request not to have her at my next delivery and she came in my room and caused a fuss anyway. I'm pregnant again and at my first prenatal appt they told me that she was fired so I wouldn't have to worry about getting her again. I'm very happy about that. At our next birth we had a really wonderful nurse but that's another story!

Catherine (mabear)

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