Elea's Story, Part II

A few weeks after Elea was born, I made Michael tell me his account of her birth story.  I did it mostly because I wanted to get a record from his perspective, but now I'm going to interject lines from his because they're funny.  And just so... Michael.

Jen
On Monday, July 9th, I was scheduled for my regular weekly check in.  This appointment was just five days before my due date, so it was where we were planning to talk about timing and if and when we would be induced.  During the appointment, I told her that although they were worried she was going to be big, I was fine to let the pregnancy go to 42 weeks.

One of my girlfriends had mentioned that she had had her membranes stripped (a natural way to "move things along," but it only helps if your body is ready -- it doesn't induce labor), so I mentioned it to the doctor.  She said that since I was so close to my due date, it was fine to do it. 

Michael
I do remember that I was reading a Sports Illustrated article about Lebron James, who was going to win the NBA title, which of course, he did.  So I had that really on my mind and wasn't paying attention to anything the doctor was saying, which I frequently do. I'm typically just there for moral support, but I'm constantly reading my iPhone for sports updates and always know when to nod yes or no, regardless of the situation.  However, this time was different when Dr. Hanrahan said "I think your water just broke!"  To which I responded "you mean, you broke it?!" and she was like "um... yeah...."

Jen
So while she was stripping the membranes, she had accidentally broke my water!  I think she was kind of embarrassed about it, and said that sometimes it just happens, which is why they wait until after 39 weeks to do it.

Michael
I think I was expecting it to be more like a water balloon or a hose, but it was more like a leaky faucet, and Jen was really freaked out by it, but nobody else was, as if it was just a regular day at the office.  I started texting all of our GroupMe texts, joking about how much there was, but there wasn't really that much.

Jen
But it really was a lot. And here's something that they don't tell you: it keeps coming. And coming, and coming and coming.  I honestly thought it was just one cup of water or just one water balloon breaking, but oh no -- the body just keeps on creating more liquid, which just keeps coming out.  It's embarrassing really. We headed down to triage around 2:30pm, where they checked me in, and told me to walk the hallways for at least an hour to see if I could give my body a kick start.  As we were walking, every now and then I would stop, getting what must have looked like a embarrassed look on my face -- you know, the kind that a small child gets when they're in the corner, wetting their diaper?  Because the fluid would just not stop!

Michael left to go meet a friend who had kindly brought us our hospital bag, as we didn't have time to go home.

Michael
When I came back, I couldn't find Jen because she had gone to walk down a different hallway.  We were about to call security because we couldn't find her.

Jen
It didn't take long before they admitted me to a room, mostly because there were so many other women that needed to be checked into triage. Once there, they hooked me up to monitor the contractions, which were irregular and kind of random. Our room was really nice, with a rocking chair, a TV, a nice shower, and a jacuzzi tub.

Michael
I was kind of bummed we didn't use any of the facilities, but I did have a lot of cherries, which means that I had to go to the bathroom more than Jen did.

Some time passed by, but nothing really happened, so the nurse gave her pitocin to progress labor.  We waited just a tad too long to get the epidural because the contractions got a lot worse.  I passed most of the time watching the contractions and guessing when the next one would happen, still not really aware that I was going to have a new baby soon.

Jen
At this point, the contractions were getting to the where I could actually feel them, and we found out I was dilated to a 3.  Our nurse told me that I unlike most women who only feel the peak of their contractions, I experience the entire thing.  I could even tell them a contraction was coming before they could see it on the monitor.

pretty sure Michael told me to "fake a contraction" for the camera. this is probably what fake looked like before they got 'rill painful. i'm also not making this one big because my face looks fat and you should only have to look at that small.

 Because of prior stomach pains and associated anxiety, the doctor told me that I could get an epidural whenever I wanted to.  I told the nurse I thought I was ready, so she asked me to just go do two more loops in the hallway and then they would call the anesthesiologist.  I actually started doing what you see in the movies, where the husband and wife are walking together, and she has to stop and grab a railing to breathe through the next contraction. But I made it through both laps, and got back to the room. 

Getting the epidural was the worst up until then (for the record, this was around 11:30pm). The contractions were becoming very painful, and the way that I had to sit on the table to get the shot was so incredibly uncomfortable.  I was really happy that I experienced that pain, however, because it made me all the more grateful that I made the decision to get the epidural.  And can I just say for the record: Epidurals are amazing!  It didn't take long for the pain to dull and then go away completely.

Michael
After the epidural, we were supposed to go to sleep, but I wasn't ready to go to sleep, and instead played that stupid strategy game (I don't remember what it was called, Kingdoms or something), which is really nerdy, but wasted a lot of time.

Jen
Another reason I was grateful for the epidural, a screamer was checked in just next door. She literally sounded like she was getting limbs cut off of her body. 

On my part, I was like "Hello?! Could you stop screaming? I'm trying to take a nap over here!"

The nurse told us that she had arrived at the hospital too late to get an epidural because she was so close to delivering. (silly woman -- she should have had her doctor "accidentally" break her water!)

Around 3am or so, I started getting the urge to push. I was happy, because I thought that an epidural meant that you wouldn't be able to feel any of that and would be relying on the machines for that. The doctor came in and told me that I had dilated to a 10!

Michael
Finally, it became time to push, and I think Jen wanted to be super perfect because the doctors were saying that she needed to push three times, and for most girls, the third push is their weakest, but Jen would gradually improve her pushes, which startled the doctors a little bit, so she gets an A+ for pushing.

Jen
To be honest, pushing was actually easier than I thought it was going to be. And time also went faster than I thought it would.  When I say that I pushed for 45 minutes, it really only felt like 5 minutes.  They asked if I wanted the mirror to see what was happening (um, no), and at one point, if I wanted to reach down and feel her head (um, he** no!).  No offense to those of you who said "yes" to those :)

Near the end, I wasn't feeling pain, but was definitely feeling a lot of pressure and was ready for her to come out!  I gave three really hard ones, and just like that, the doctor pulled her out and placed her on my stomach.

Don't judge me for this, but I remember when they first laid her on my stomach, my first thought was "gross!" -- she was still covered in some sticky stuff.  I know a lot of people talk about an instant love or an instant connection, but I didn't feel it right away.  I was just amazed that all of the sudden, just like that, Michael and I had a baby.  Part of me couldn't believe it.  As she laid there on my stomach, however, I looked at Michael and we both had tears in our eyes.

Michael
I think the first few moments, I had an enormous respect for what Jen had gone through.  And then, I was overcome by the change of life that had just happened as our family became three instead of two.  I was afraid that I would have to say the baby was cute, even if she wasn't, but she ended up being even cuter than I could have ever imagined. And I'm not even making that up, she is freaking adorable.  The nurses even said so, even when I told them they must always said that, they said it was really one of the cutest babies they had ever seen.

We took Elea to change her, wash her, and give her her shots. When she got her first shots, it made Jen and I both cry, because she cried in a different way than when she first came out, that was to say "I'm in pain, help me."  It was super cute.

I took pictures, sent them to friends, and walked out to the hall to show my mom, dad, Sean, and Katie, who had all come to the hospital early that morning.

We went up to the room for the day, where Jen had serious woman problems.  You really did -- you need to write that down. 

The hospital food was horrible.  

Jen
(yes, that was really the way he ended his version of her birth story. I love that man)

my face looks fat here too, but because the others are so cute, i still made it big.

I loved the rest of the day.  We had a room that was filled with sunlight and love, and just felt very peaceful.  She slept a lot, and we just spent time holding her and looking at her.  I feel like that day and the days after that, is when my love for her grew and grew.

yes, i had on makeup and my eyelashes are fake. who says you shouldn't look good for labor?