In the aftermath of my son's delivery, my very best friend forever and ever, Krissie, pretty much summed it up best when she said, " You know, when you told me what was going on I thought that is crazy and there is no way it would happen like that, then I remembered it was you and it all seemed so normal".
It all started when my husband came home at the end of September and asked if I would be opposed to him taking a business trip to San Diego. October 1st through 3rd. It was dangerously close to my due date of October 14th, and California is awfully far away, but I figured that it was still too soon to deliver and it would all be fine. Sam's boss assured him that he could be on the first flight back to Texas and my wonderful mother volunteered to stay with me "just-in case". "Better safe than sorry" mom said. It's funny how mom's know these things, huh?
Baby Callan woke me up around 1:30 am on October 3rd. I was having some pretty serious contractions. I'd been having some false labor so I headed for a bubble bath and popped some tylenol in an attempt to keep the contractions at bay. After all, I thought to myself, there is no way I would go into labor without Sam in town. It became pretty clear after 30 minutes that this was the real deal. I got dressed, packed Mallory's lunch for pre-school, and made double sure my hospital bag was packed. I called Sam at 2:30 am California time and told him he better book a ticket back to Texas ASAP. Then I drank what seemed like a gallon of water and ate some breakfast while I waited for my mom to wake up. Of course she came down the stairs and immediately knew what was going on. I told her I wanted to keep Mallory's day a normal as possible. I said she should drop me off at the hospital and take Mal to school on time then just meet me at the hospital.
I sent e-mails to my family and friends letting them know the news. Sam's sweet aunt volunteered to come sit with me at the hospital until my mom arrived which was great. I told her I would be there in 5 minutes and she said she was on her way. When I arrived, of course, there was no one to check me in so I waited patiently...a.k.a. I was checking out sofas in the waiting room making sure they were comfortable enough to give birth on. None looked up to par, but there was a black leather one that I decided would get the job done if need be. I was jolted back to reality by some startling screams of some girl entering the room yelling that she was in labor. I do mean she was screaming...SCREAMING. When the lady that checks you in to the hospital made it back to her desk I just looked at her and told her the other girl could go first. She nodded and laughed like I was so hilarious and whispered that the other girl was probably just doing it for attention. I didn't want to find out, I just really needed her to put a cork in it. Coincidentally, my screaming waiting room buddy was named Mallory...I made a mental note to discuss composure with MY Mallory at every point throughout her life.
Once I was checked in and walking to my room, I ran into my OB. Her exact words were "I did not expect to see you here, we need to have this baby before 3 pm". I totally agreed. This may turn some people off, but doc and I are on the same wave-legnth. It was almost exactly what I needed to hear. I told her Sam was landing at 11 am so we'd shoot for 1:30. Doctor Westmoreland agreed and I was glad we had our plan in place. I'm a slight hippy, so we agreed no pitocin, but yes to that epidural.
Once my epidural was in place, I was ready to rock and roll. My nurse told me to push the button until I couldn't feel pain, but to stop when I was numb. By the third button tap I felt like my legs had melted off, so I gave the button one...okay two more pushes...just to be on the safe side. It was 9:30 and I was going to lay in bed and negotiate with this baby and God to stay in place until my husband walked through those doors. Now that I think about it, that was kind of dumb because I have never really succeeded at successfully negotiating with God before. Normally, it goes something like okay God if you do this I will do this. And then he normally responds with, no we're going to do it my way. And that is basically...okay that is exactly what he did this time too.
At 10:30 I was probably ready to have that baby. But I convinced myself and my nurse that I could wait it out. So we...well I... rotated side to side to prolong...yeah, I said PROLONG...the labor and avoid any dips that may happen to the babies heart beat. I could tell my mom was beginning to worry about her stubborn daughter at that point. She didn't even really discuss it with me, because she knew I would say no. She just looked at the nurse and said, Look my son in law and I get along really well, he'll know that we tried everything and won't be too upset if we deliver the baby now. My nurse, just looked at me like, maybe you should listen to your mom. I just said okay we can do it, and she called my doctor to come in. This is the part where I should say it was NOT in my birth plan or life plan, for that matter, to deliver a child in front of my mother. I love her, but it's my mom and there is a part of me that is still that per-pubescent red-headed teen with unruly hair that freaks out about her mom seeing any part of her body that a Hazmat won't cover. However, it ended up fine and I am glad she was there although I am still completely freaked out. I think I pushed maybe twice... more like one in a half and I had a beautiful, brown haired baby BOY at 11:12 am. As my mommy was cutting Callan Saunders Craig's cord, I hear her phone ring and my husband say he was on his way. My mom said well, Sam, you may be a little late. I could hear elation in his voice and excitement at the fact that he had a new boy...a sweet completion to our family. Sam walked through the doors of my room at 11:30 am. Better late than never, hubster, better late than never.
No comments:
Post a Comment