So, a year has already passed. Wow! Apparently the phrase should be “Time flies when you have kids.” It all seems a blur.
So, here is my version of when Emma was born:
Paula was due on the 10th and we had finally convinced her doctors that Emma was large and might need some help coming out. So, we finally go our names on the list to be induced and they promised that they would call “when they were slow and had the time.” By the morning of the 20th, we were about the top of the list, and Paula had some “issues”, so we went in to the hospital to see what was up at about 7:30 am. The reason that we went in turned out not to be an issue after all, but after hours of working at it, we finally managed to convince them to induce. At this point, we figured that Emma might be big enough to survive…
To be honest, at this time, I think that there was still that seed of doubt that maybe this was all a dream. I still couldn’t believe that we were really having a baby!
So, they waited until I ran out to the car to get something and make a phone call, then they moved Paula to a private delivery room and broke her water. I was rather surprised when I got back and she was gone! A while later, they gave her OxySomething, and we waited. Then we waited. This was the beginning of a trend of Emma not wanting Mummy to put her down.
After hours of waiting, one of our really nice nurses suggested that we run down off and get some food. We were not supposed to let Paula eat (in case of C-section), but she needed the food! After that, there was lots of work, but no more food! I have no idea who’s idea that is!
After that, we waited some more for the contractions to get better. There was a lot of waiting, showering, waiting, checking Emma’s and Mum’s heartbeats, and waiting. It was really tough for Paula to be in labor that long!
Eventually, I remember a nurse telling us that this might take a while and that we should try to get some rest. Paula tried to sleep, Doreen slept on the chairs, and I was so tired that I just slept on the floor. I think that the nurses were pretty stunned that I was just sleeping on the delivery room floor ( and snoring up a storm), but I needed the sleep…
Eventually, things picked up, dilated, and we got busier. Paula had been just doing laughing gas (which is not as fun as it sounds), but eventually we decided that Paula needed something stronger and we asked for an epidural. I don’t really know why we asked… The guy came in and screwed up. The epidural didn’t work. We called him back and he tried again. It didn’t work again. We called him back and he even argued with us about if it was working! The nurse was trying really hard to convince the guy to do his job and he was to arrogant to admit that it was not working. The briefly cranked up the dose a bit but would not really help. So, we did the delivery with pretty much just laughing gas.
After hours of pushing, Paula was totally exausted. Doreen and I did our best to encourage her and help with the pain, but at that point, basically I held her hand and said “push”… It was tough to see her go through all that and be able to do so little to help her. Eventually , the doctor got so worked up that she told us to grab the call button and rip it out of the wall! Literally! Incidentally, if yo do that, the room fills quickly with nurses and doctors!
Eventually, the nurses suddenly all suddenly went over to a little side warmer and there was Emma! They were concerned about merconium, and were making sure that she could breath OK… Paula started asking how she was and I totally choked up. It was just so amazing that I couldn’t say a thing! I tried to say that she was beautiful and I don’t think that it ever came out. Anyways, she was doing well.
They promptly measured her and she was 11 Lbs, 5 Oz!
I found out later that they measured her so quickly because a lot of the staff would not leave until they found out how big she was because most of them had not delivered a baby that large and I think that none had delivered one without a C-section!
They let Paula sleep for a little while, and then moved her into the baby ward and once she was settled, I went home and slept like the dead. Luckily Doreen went in early the next morning to help Paula until I got there.
The next day, the nurses regularly checked Emma because they were sure that she must have diabeties because she was so big! They never did find anything.
I remember at one point, I was in the nursery for one of Emma’s tests. There was another baby there that looked really small (compared with Emma), so I asked the nurse. It turned out that the baby was a large one and over 7 lbs! I guess it all depends on you point of view…
Well, that is about it for the day that she was born… Paula is wondering why I am typing so much and I am tired…
