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December 06, 2003
The labor story
Heís here!
Gustav Hicks DeVylder (Gus for short)
Can you believe it???
It was quite an experience...
My water broke at 10:30 pm on Fri (Dec 5), after having some pretty serious contractions about 5 minutes apart for a couple of hours. I went to lie down because I thought maybe the position would stop them since I had so many stops and starts it seemed. About 10 minutes later, I had a contraction and then felt a POP...I swear to you, baby D had punched the water bag and it popped! So we were out the door within 10 minutes, at the hospital at 10:45, in a room by 11:15, checked at 12:00 (at that point I was 3 cm dilated, -1 station, so he wasnít even really engaged). The contractions were definitely increasing in intensity. Our doula was there, so thankful for her. We turned down the lights and I worked my way through the contractions. We were waiting for our doctor and for nurses to come in and check me, but no one came. By 1 am I was having contractions closer together, and they were lasting for a really long time. Also got ëridí of my dinner...chinese food. Wow. John was amazing, right by my side, supporting me through the contractions. Our doula thought I should try to go to the bathroom since I hadnít gone in a while...it was 1:45. I got up and just moaned, somehow got to the bathroom and had this uncontrollable pushing urge. Debbie, our doula, asked if I felt pushy. YES. She looked and could see the head! So I did this sumo wrestler walk back to the bed, put my legs up, John ran to tell the nurses that the baby was here, they came in, saw the head, I pushed once, the head came out. I pushed again, the body came out. Time of birth: 1:50 am.
HUH???????
I went from 3 to birth in less than 2 hours?????
Everyone was astonished, no more than me. I had imagined the moment of Gustavís birth to be full of crying and overwhelmed with emotion. Instead, my first words were, Iím so confused! I didnít think I could possibly be ready to give birth yet. As a matter of fact, I was sort of feeling slightly desperate when I stood up to go to the bathroom because I was thinking, if this is bad, it must get a lot worse since I probably have a lot more to do. Nope! It went so fast, my doctor didnít even make it. I didnít even have the antibiotics for my heart murmur and group b strep that I needed.
I donít know what we would have done without Debbie. John and I would have been alone that whole two hours and John practically would have caught Gus because we wouldnít have known any better! I was too concentrated on getting through the contractions that I didnít really have lots to say. Iím still processing it all, because it went so fast and I just want to really take in what happened. No epidural! There wouldnít have even been time for it, anyway... :)
He was 7 lbs 2 oz, 19 1/2 inches! I did tear a bit because he came out with his hand next to his head...probably the same hand that punched the bag open!
Posted by janna at December 6, 2003 11:09 PM