The birth of our first little one

(Transferred from the old blog The Egan Initiative)

While waiting for our unborn son's never ending story to unfold I figure now would be a great time to tell the birth story of our daughter, especially since I have never actually written it down.

Her official due date was October 20, 2006. On the 19th of October I went in for the regular weekly exam with my OB. It was about 3 pm when I got out and almost immediately I started to feel some cramping. My sister happened to call to say hi while I was in the parking lot, and I remember telling here how I feel like it is entirely possible I could be starting the labor process. We were both pretty excited though I still wasn't quite sure since the cramps were not terribly strong. I told her that the next time I talked to her there should be another human in the world, then we said our goodbyes and I drove home.

The cramping continued throughout the afternoon, but not frequent enough where I would consider them actual contractions. That pattern didn't really start until later in the evening. Ryan and I were watching 'a file' - we had been watching every X-Files episode on DVD during that year and were winding down to the end. The episode we were watching at the time just happened to be about Dana Scully (the red head for those who don't watch the show) having a child, which was a rare storyline for the show. We had to pause the show for me to call my doctor, since the cramping had become much stronger and more frequent. She said that it was pretty much up to me on if I go at this point (kind of a weird answer, I felt). I told her I would wait it out for it to get stronger. About 20 minutes after that they did get stronger, and I won't go into details too much (but some do know what happens when it gets stronger) and at around 10 pm we decided to drive up to the hospital.

The hospital of our choice was almost 30 minutes from home. There really were none closer but this one seemed quite nice. It was Parrish Medical Center in north Titusville, situated on the Indian River. We got in and I registered, then they escorted me up to the 5th floor maternity ward. The pain was definitely getting stronger at this point and all I wanted to do was lay down. They put me in a hospital bed and continued to ask me a bunch more routine questions. The nurse did an exam and found me dilated to a 3. I guess they felt this wasn't far along enough and called the doctor to see if I should stay. Again her answer was the same...its up to me. I was thinking that at this point I knew the baby was coming and I was not going to drive an hour round trip again anytime soon, so I told them I really wanted to stay.

The night progressed rather slowly. A lot of walking up and down the halls, during which I loved to stop and look at the newborns in the nursery since they were a great inspiration. My back was starting to hurt quite a bit and so Ryan became my massage therapist. I was making it through the contraction pain ok, but by 6 am the back pain was getting so severe I decided to ask for an epidural. I had originally only planned on doing that if I felt it was necessary, which with the painful back labor I was experiencing it became a necessity. While waiting for the anesthesiologist to arrive the pain was getting quite intense in my lower back and making me cry a little. Contractions are nothing compared to back labor, it seemed. Finally at around quarter to 7 he arrived with the long needle that many woman who have had labor are familiar with; I'd normally find it intimidating but at this point I knew its purpose and I strongly welcomed it. His first try wasn't successful, but after the second try he got the catheter in my back and soon there was relief.

It was so nice to be out of pain so I was able to rest for a little while, as was a very tired Ryan. We had not had any sleep that whole night. Later that morning my aunt Karen arrived to help with the birth. She is a nurse at another hospital here in Brevard county. She brought some food for Ryan; which brings me to mind that it isn't easy laboring for hours and not being allowed to eat. Being that I had only progressed to about a dilation of 8 (you are supposed to be a 10) we waited and waited. Around noon my doctor showed up and said she wanted to do a pitocin drip. I was a bit hesitant about this since I felt there was no need to induce a labor already in progress, especially since the baby was doing fantastic - her heartbeat had remained steady the whole time. However, since she was the doc, I trusted her opinion and let her do the drip. They administered the Pitocin and reduced the epidural, and soon the contractions got even stronger. It didn't take long for me to tear in two places, and this ended up requiring almost 4 months of healing.

Around 1:30 I was finally ready to begin the pushing stage. Now this is where the term labor just isn't generous enough. I got extremely hot and went on for hours trying to push her out. Not an easy feat! She just didn't want to come out. Later I found out that her head was facing up rather than down and this is what made it difficult to push her out, as well as the reason why I experienced the painful back labor. The epidural drip was weak enough for me to feel my contractions but I still couldn't feel my legs. Karen and Ryan helped to lift them during pushing. They were a great support team to get through this part of the process. After 2 hours of repeated pushing and trying to cool down in between, our sweet little girl made her grand entrance into the world at 3:21 pm. (I think it is awesome...321 right across the river from NASA).

That moment of a new life beginning is amazing and unforgettable. I was overwhelmed with happiness and love, and moments after her first breath she was in my arms. I couldn't help but cry and tell her I love her, and try to soothe her little baby cries...telling her it was ok. She was so beautiful I almost couldn't handle it. The nurses soon had to take her over to the scales and clean her up. I was completely exhausted at this point but just couldn't take my eyes off of her. My first impression was that she looked like a mini Ryan. She was just adorable.

Anytime I was in her presence I was was completely in awe. Here was this new little human that I had known since the moment she came into this world, and she was amazing. I just loved observing her discover everything in her surroundings. During her first day she was fascinated with her hands and fingers. We had a memorable 2 days in the hospital, which was very helpful for me to get rest, then we made our way home to really get our new life together underway. My adoration of her has grown and grown over the past 3 years and I have always enjoyed watching her discover new things. Being a parent has been amazing and I am so excited to do this again very soon.