The Most Special Mother's Day -- by Kerah

Sunday, May 11, 2003

At 4:30 a.m. I awoke to contractions that felt different from the usual "practice" Braxton-Hicks contractions I'd been feeling for months. These new contractions felt a bit like "monthly" abdominal cramps along with some back pain. These felt different enough that I decided to stay awake awhile and time them. They were occurring approximately 5 minutes apart. I didn't get too excited yet though, since I'd had similar contractions the week before when Keith and I attended X2 on Friday, May 2nd with other Google movie goers. This time I almost talked myself into going to sleep but I lay there awake for about an hour and a half, and then decided it might be smart to shower and dress just in case, since the contractions were continuing.

Around 6 a.m., I gave Keith a warning wake up call and took a shower. After showering, I started writing down the contraction times: 6:39, 6:42, 6:47, got Keith out of bed, 6:52, 6:56, 7:01, 7:06, 7:11, 7:18, 7:24, 7:30, got in the car, 7:34, 7:41, checked into the room, 7:46, 7:52, and then Nurse Judy hooked us up to 2 monitors (fetal and uterine) so we could monitor the baby's heart rate and the contractions. My water broke within about 20 minutes of arriving at the hospital. Boy, we were lucky with our timing; it's as if we planned it this way. The baby did great throughout (he is a strong, healthy baby) and the contractions gradually started getting closer together.

Our private delivery room was clean and homey. It had honey-colored wood floors and nice natural lighting. It was a beautiful Mother's Day outside. Keith was wonderfully attentive and we just sort of hung out at first. The contractions were manageable but I couldn't quite concentrate on watching any of the movies or listening to any of the music Keith had so thoughtfully brought and compiled to play on his PowerBook. I couldn't even stand to watch my favorite movie, Raising Arizona nor could I listen to the "labor rock" and "labor roll" music play lists Keith had so lovingly created for me. I guess when I'm in that kind of pain I prefer silence.

Keith ran out to get some breakfast from Jack in the Box around 10 a.m. I wanted to sleep, but I couldn't sleep through the pain. However, I still thought I could handle it and deliver without drugs.

Nurse Judy, who was with us until her shift ended at 3 p.m., was extremely knowledgeable and nice. She showed Keith how to press on my lower back and sacrum through the contractions. We tried this with me standing and leaning over the bed and with me sitting on our big exercise ball while leaning over the bed. This helped some, but around 1:30 I was beginning to doubt I could make it without some sort of pain relief. The contractions kept getting stronger so around 2 PM I decided I'd better get some relief or else wear myself out and not be able to push.

We opted for the epidural, so Judy called the anesthetician, a nice man with an earring who said he'd been using Google practically from the very beginning. I sat on the side of the bed and leaned over, putting my hands on Judy's waist while he inserted the needle near my spine. Judy's a very thin dancer so I was worried I'd squeeze too hard and hurt her, but she laughed and said she'd been squeezed much harder than that before. It didn't hurt too badly, but I could definitely feel it. After 15 minutes or so, the anesthetician had to come back in and reposition the needle and bump up the amount of pain killer since it was only affecting my left side. As with novocaine, I required enough to "numb a horse."

This worked. My legs felt like 200 lb tree trunks and I hated knowing I couldn't run out of there if I needed too. This feeling was compounded when Keith left to revisit Jack in the Box so he could keep his energy up in case this was to be a long long day. He'd said he'd carry me out in case of emergency, so I couldn't wait for him to return. I only got to eat a popsicle, some Jello, and a couple saltines. These all made me a tad nauseated, so I opted to drink more ice water/Gatorade mix.

With the epidural came an IV (which I needed anyway for the antibiotic to protect the baby from Streptococcus B) containing some Pitocin so keep my contractions progressing, and a catheter since I couldn't get up (yuck, I'd never had one before). This brought the total tubes coming out of my body to 3. I couldn't wait to get all those tubes out.

At 3 p.m., Nurse Jen came on. She was younger than me and had just gone through the birth experience at this hospital 10 months before, so she had lots of good advice and understanding both from a nurse's and patient's point of view. I told her I really wanted to try to avoid the episiotomy if at all possible and she said she'd do all she could and she'd call the doctor in as late as possible. This was a good plan since Dr. McNeil was the one on call. He was a very nice man and the only other one in the practice I'd met, but he wasn't one to shy away from cutting rather than taking some time to let more stretching occur. Turns out I was lucky to have a doctor at all. Dr. McNeil was due to go off duty and to a dinner party at 5 p.m., and the next doctor on call couldn't be located. Nurse Judy had tried to reach my doctor, Dr. Ken Weber, earlier, but he appeared to be off celebrating Mother's Day (as he should've been). I hadn't expected him to be able to come in on his day off, but I was hoping. I really like him and his philosophies on childbirth. I feel pretty certain he could've gotten the job done without an episiotomy, but I'm not sure considering the size of this baby. We were really surprised and touched when he paid us a visit around 8 p.m. that night.

Anyway, at 5 p.m., Dr. McNeil had just delivered a baby and was dressed and ready to go to his dinner, tie and all. But since no other doctors had been located, he came by to check on me. He saw that this baby was going to appear any moment, so he casually and with no remorse whatsoever said he'd go change into his scrubs again. When he returned, I told him how much I appreciated him staying and apologized for him no doubt being very late for his dinner, but he said with a smile, "No problem, this is what I do."

I'd been lying down so Nurse Jen asked me to pull myself up by my arms to a more seated position. I did so, and she said she'd never seen anyone do that all by themselves before. That made me feel really good and strong for what was coming up. I had to push even though I couldn't really feel what I was doing. When it was time to push, Jen would lift my left leg, and Keith my right until I could reach behind my knees and pull my legs toward me while pushing. It was all mind over matter. I had to think about pushing and hope that my body was doing what I was thinking. Apparently it was, because Dr. McNeil and Nurse Jen both said I was pushing extremely well. Keith watched the whole thing, including the crowning. He said it was amazing seeing Max's hair peaking out, knowing soon he'd get to meet him. He didn't see the episiotomy, but he did see the doctor and nurse trying to stretch me. He said the baby was so big, he didn't think he could've come out with out some assistance in the form of a cut or tear.

There was a little meconium in my amniotic fluid so on the penultimate push I had to stop pushing halfway so the doctor could suck it out of Max's lungs before he took his first big breath. I pushed one more time and then...

Maxwell Walker Pelczarski was born at 5:36 p.m.!

It was the most amazing feeling, like nothing I'd ever felt before. Max is the greatest present ever in the entire world. To think that just moments before he was in my belly, and now he's out among us to love and hold and cherish. He's the best Mother's Day present ever!