it's a great day to have a baby

I remember the day like it was yesterday; waking up disappointed because I wasn’t in the puddle of my broken water, disappointed I wasn’t feeling any different. I was after all 5 days past my due date—almost 41 weeks pregnant and feeling like if I went one more day being pregnant I would bust. Only a woman who has been pregnant before can understand how thin your patience runs when you get towards the end (and pass the end in my case). In the last weeks, I think I cried at least once a day, every day that I just wanted to not be pregnant anymore.

(7am) The morning I went into labor I was standing outside when I noticed my belly was tightening. OH and three minutes later it happened again. However, I was not going to be fooled by these practice contractions again. Because you see 6 weeks earlier I had been having contractions and went to OB triage only to be told that I was having indeed having true contractions and I was dilated 1cm. They decided to admit me and observe me overnight to see whether I would go into full on labor or if they could stop it with some simple morphine. Well let’s just say the morphine not only helped stop the contractions but it also helped me to sleep for almost 24 hours. When they were discharging me that next morning they said “we’ll see you next weekend I’m sure”. Yeah right, that didn’t happen. From that point on, all anyone would say to me is, “any day now”. Any day now 6 weeks later…

I wasn’t thinking “today is the day” when I was having these not-so-painful-but-consistent contractions that morning. But I did keep track of them and within the 40 minute drive to my appointment my contractions had been coming every 1-2 minutes.

(9am) When I got to the OB office, I informed the lady that checked me in that I was having contractions. She brought me right back and they hooked me up to the NST machine. Emma was not very perky so they gave me some OJ to drink and she perked up but the monitor was not showing that my contractions were very intense. The midwife said she would check me since I said I was having contractions. She immediately said “OH, you’re 5-6cms dilated! We need to get you admitted.” So after all the necessary paperwork was taken care of and phone calls were made I was wheeled over to the OB floor of the hospital. I was shaking the entire time—today was actually going to be the day I met my baby girl. This is the day I had been waiting for since we found out I was pregnant in last December.

(10am) They got me all checked into my room, they made me change into the hospital gown, and they put an IV in my arm. During this whole time, I was still not feeling the contractions very much. Of course, I felt the tightening and releasing but it was just pressure, there was no pain. So when my nurse came in to ask me about whether or not I would want an epidural I jokingly said, “If labor feels like this, then I don’t even need one.” Well she took me serious. Worst thing I ever said in the moment, best thing I ever said in the end.

During this time the midwife came in to check me and I was progressing nicely. She felt around on my belly to check Emma’s position and she asked me how much the tech “guessed” she would weigh when she was born. I told her the tech said a little over 9lbs and she says “HMM, that’s no 9lb baby”.

(11am) As the minutes flew by, the contractions became more and more intense and I became more and more uncomfortable. It got to the point where I was begging for an epidural or some kind of pain meds. The midwife, of course, had to check me before the nurse would put in the call to the anesthesiologist and when she did finally check me I was 8.5cm dilated. The midwife said she was going to break my water because that would progress me further and I would be ready to go. At this point, I got hysterical. I was in so much pain but the pain did not wipe away all of the medical stuff I knew and I knew that if she broke my water the contractions would hurt even worse. I NEEDED that epidural before that. The midwife got the little tool and held it up for me to see that it wasn’t going to hurt. I freaked out some more and of course my body took care of what needed to happen before the midwife could. My water broke as the midwife was trying to convince me to let her use the tool. At this point I remember thinking “the ultrasound tech warned me that if my water did break to watch out because I had a lot of fluid and it would be everywhere but it really wasn’t that much so did I just pee myself?” (The midwife assured me that it was amniotic fluid, not pee.) When they looked at my amniotic fluid a little closer they became worried that there may be meconium in it and so they put in a call to the NICU so they could come down.

Meconium is what they call a newborn’s first bowl movement (BM). Sometimes when a baby is overdue or just by chance at the end of your pregnancy the baby passes that meconium within the placenta. The baby then is at high risk of meconium aspiration (breathing the meconium into their lungs) which is very bad. So anytime the amniotic fluid is any color other than “straw” the NICU is called into the birth to assist and assure that the baby’s airway is cleared immediately.

At the moment this happened it was all kind of a blur to me. I was in so much pain that all I wanted was the epidural. The midwife said it was ok for me to have one so the anesthesiologist was called down. But of course by the time he got there I was feeling the urge to push. The midwife was called in to check me again and I was 9.5cm. I begged and begged and begged for that epidural but they assured me that if I did sit up to get the epidural they would never be able to complete it because the pressure of Emma would dilate me fully and I would feel an insane urge to push.

(1pm) Time to push. AHH the worst part. I don’t remember a lot of this other than the unreal pain and pressure I was feeling and how I just wanted to stop. I wanted Emma to stay inside. But my body would not allow it and I had to push along with it.

As I was pushing I remember things getting very intense. I had no idea in the moment what was going on but it turns out that Emma’s cord was wrapped tightly around her neck, shoulders, and thigh. The midwife couldn’t even get her finger underneath the cord to pull it off from around her neck so getting Emma out became very urgent. I remember the nurse hitting the button on the wall to call additional help into the room and then I remember them telling me to push as long and hard as I could. On top of everything else the poor child got her shoulders caught in my pelvis. The nurse had to get on top of me and literally push Emma out with me.

(1:30pm) FINALLY, Emma Blakemore arrived. Along with all of the amniotic fluid that the tech had mentioned (Sorry about that Elizabeth!!)

The midwife laid Emma on my belly while she cut the cord. I remember Emma and me just staring at each other; taking every inch of each other in. And oh my gosh when they talk about love at first sight, these are the moments they are talking about. But within seconds they whisked her away to have her checked out. And I realized I hadn’t heard her cry. WHY was she not crying? What was WRONG? And then that cry. Oh to hear her sweet cry. At that moment every inch of pain went away and I knew everything was going to be ok. While they were getting Emma warmed they announced she weighed in at 8lbs 14oz (2 oz from 9lbs) and the midwife took this opportunity to let me know that she told me so.

The rest of the day was filled with plenty of visitors and lots of OHs and AHs at this beautiful baby girl that was brought into this world. But the best part of it for me was being able to hold her close to me. To be able to touch her and watch her breathe. To be able to listen to her all her funny sounds. To be able to breathe her in and hold her close.

After a whirlwind of a hospital stay- she got very jaundiced and was a glow worm for the first 5 days of her life and she also had to be put under the lights in the nursery for a day- I finally got to take her home. It was a bittersweet moment for me and I will never forget.


Emma Blakemore - August 19,2010 - 8lbs 14oz - 21.25in