Jenny Ford, founder of Monkey-Toes.com - gives birth to her son!
40 weeks + 3 days
I should have known by the sudden and uncontrollable urge to bleach my bathroom floor and scrub the baseboards that I was going to be delivering soon. We had that induction date of the 23rd in place and I think both Tim and I just resigned to the fact that I would be delivering on that day – which actually brought some major mental relief. Nope, not so, God had another plan in mind, which was far better than we could have imagined (messier, but better) …
I was sitting on the couch that Sunday night, reading a smutty book (of course) when all I could think about was bleaching the tile floor in my bathroom and about how disgusting the white baseboards were. I couldn’t focus at all on the book. So, I got my scrub gloves on and went to town. I finished and was moving on to Rose’s bathroom when Tim approached me to take the dog for a walk. As painful as walks had gotten, I bundled up, it was a freezing night, and headed out walking in a direction that we don’t normally take. Long story short, we ended up getting lost in a neighborhood that we didn’t even know existed – it was like a winter wonderland where every house in the neighborhood was lined with luminaries’, there was a huge bonfire in a parking lot and several horse and carriage’s giving the happy people rides around this Martha Stewart-ville. Embarrassing moment #1 – We’re walking back and Tim was cracking jokes and I could not stop laughing. As a pregnant lady, especially at 40 weeks +2 days, your bladder muscles are really weak – you’ve got a full term baby sitting on them. I warned him several times to stop making me laugh, he didn’t and yes folks, I pee’d my pants. FULL on, legs, socks, shoes, everything – SOAKED. And yes, I got to walk all the way home this way. We guesstimated that we walked 2 ½ to 3 miles that night – about half a mile with wet pants (that should count for something a little extra). When we got home I ran straight to the shower, washed up, we ate dinner and then retired to the couch for a little bit. Embarrassing moment #2 – apparently I was having a hard time controlling any of my functions down in my lower regions and totally let ONE slip sitting on the couch. This is not something that is made a habit in my house in front of my hubs, I try to stay somewhat modest about these things. Oops. I believe I turned a nice shade of crimson and had a look of horror on my face as my hubs laughed and proceeded to make fun of me. Which totally lightens the situation – I love his sense of humor.
I believe I was zoning out at Sunday night football TV at about 9:30ish, when I felt one of the 800/day urges to go to the bathroom. When I sat down, my water broke. Great timing! “Uh, Tim, I think my water just broke” I shouted through the door. I looked down into the toilet and found what looked like green goo. I remembered reading in Laugh and Learn About Childbirth by Sheri Bayles, RN, BSN that GREEN MEANS GO to the hospital. It meant that our little boy had already had his first bowel movement in utero - which is slightly freaky, not to mention very messy. Come to find out this is pretty common in babies that are past due and as long as he didn’t inhale any, he is all good. I told Tim to call the Dr, and grab me a giant towel, there was no way I was going to be able to do anything with this geyser between my legs. I debated on changing my pants - but then I would just mess another pair, wasn’t sure what shoes to wear, so I chose flip flops. I had just finished putting away all the toiletries that we were going to take to the hospital – because for all I knew we were waiting until the 23rd to have this baby. So of course, when repacking everything (one hand on the towel between my legs and one hand packing) I pretty much left out everything I needed – annoying! We were both running around like chickens trying to get everything together. As much as I thought I’d be ready when/if this happened, I really wasn’t prepared at all.
Fast forward to the hospital. My labor and delivery nurse (best EVER) turned out to be a long lost friend from High School, which we just recently reconnected via Facebook. She had been texting me that night to let me know that both her and my OB/GYN were working and that night would be the perfect night for me to go into labor. As if I had that luxury of deciding – ok, tonight’s the night. I sent her a text message from the toilette (sounds classier in French) which then allowed me some VIP hospital service! No stop at triage, straight up to labor and delivery and I got to have Marcia as my nurse – talk about taking a friendship to a whole new level. But it didn’t matter, I knew she was going to give me the best care. And let’s face it all modesty goes out the window when you’re in labor. You’re just focused on the prize.
Because my Group Strep B test results were positive back many weeks ago, the Doc informed me that they weren’t going to touch me or the labor until I had 4 hours of antibiotics in my system. This was to protect the baby from contracting the Group Strep B. I had to endure 4 hours of labor before they would try to get labor going at a more rapid and steady pace. Marcia so nicely informed me that all I could do was lay back, relax, try to get some rest…Well, if you’ve had a baby there ain’t no rest in a hospital. How exactly does one rest when you’re being pumped full of fluids, which then requires you to get up and pee like a racehorse every 15-20 minutes, all while dragging your IV antibiotics and fluids stand (I named my IV stand Fred Astaire – since I was getting up with it so much to go to the bathroom, the cords were always so mangled by the time I got back to bed. I told Marcia that I was actually getting up to dance around the room with it) with you and while being hooked up to two monitors – one for the baby’s heart rate and the other for your contractions. Oh, and don’t forget that you’re also enduring contractions (some of which forced some pretty foul language out of my mouth – then I turned it around to praying to Jesus – which helped) AND being checked on every 15 minutes by your lovely nurse too. Ya, sounds like a spa day, doesn’t it? I’m surprised they don’t throw in a nice soothing chemical peel too. The only person getting rest would be Tim – even though he is completely uncomfortable on a wooden bench with a 1” thick foam pad – but then again he can sleep anywhere. So needless to say, I wasn’t sleeping. I grabbed my phone and began texting a friend who was on a road trip and parked myself of Twitter to share my experience with some of my pregnant insomniac friends.
At 3:30 am was when I was able to get labor rolling. Number one on the agenda was the epidural, I was most excited with the catheter that comes with the epidural – JACKPOT! That meant the end of sashaying with Fred Astaire to the bathroom. Number two was the Pitocin. We decided to go this route because my labor was not progressing and regulating very quickly, and since my water had broken already it is better to get the baby out sooner rather than later and risk infection. I knew that if I was going to get Pitocin that I’d be opting for an epidural as well. The pain with Pitocin is so intense – I honestly don’t know if I could endure it. And honestly I wanted to remember the details of this last delivery – ok, and I’m a wimp too. Once the epidural was in I was still feeling contractions and major burning on my left side. Which was uncomfortable but helpful when pushing.
Within about 3 hours I was dilated to 10 cm and ready to push him out. That’s when the experience becomes surreal. People come rushing into the room, organized chaos ensues, the baby warmer gets warmed up, spot lights are put on my privates, doctors are suiting up and then Marcia looks at Tim and says “alright you’re going to hold Jenny’s leg”, errrrrrrrr (that’s my screeching halt sound). Uh, remember how Tim had just wanted to give love to my head? Ya, he was forced into leg holding position, which then put him at prime viewing location of EVERYTHING. The “deer in headlight” look on his face was priceless. Then came the “cutting the cord question” – his look was similar to dry heaving, with a prompt “No”. We had discussed all of this beforehand and I was completely fine with it. I didn’t want him to pass out. So I told Marcia that she could cut the cord.
Within two contractions and just under 2 minutes of pushing, my baby boy was born! Ya, I’m kind of a delivery superstar – as if that’s something you can prepare and practice in advance. With my other two daughters they came out pretty quickly too, so I could only assume, unless he was ginormous that he would come out quickly as well . The doctor was fabulous at guiding him out. And my boy made his appearance with his fist next to his cheek (I picture superman style – bolting forward with his fist) which then required one little stitch down there. No big deal at all.
Oscar Timothy Ford was born at 6:58 am on 12/21/2009, weighing 7 lbs 6 oz, and measuring 19 ½” long. We chose the name Oscar because it is a classic name, that’s not overly popular, it’s Celtic, and it means God’s Spear. A nice solid boy’s name. Timothy is his daddy’s first name. Oscar was born with tons of blonde hair, which made all the nurses go crazy for him (he’s already got the ladies talkin!).
This labor and delivery was one that I couldn’t have predicted (not that you ever can predict these things). The most important part is that throughout everything, even all my whining, complaining and preggo-tantrums, everyone is uber-healthy. We’re completely in love with Oscar. And even better, Tim didn’t pass out or throw up.
Jenny - thank you for sharing your pregnancy and labor & delivery experience with all of our readers!