HL's Birth Story

My current situation has me reminiscing about the births of my two wonderful boys. I would like to preserve them here- hope you don't mind. If you're interested, read on; if not, I won't be offended. In the over four years that we tried to have our first child, we suffered through several tests and three miscarriages. Finally. Finally, we conceived a pregnancy that persevered through the first trimester. The pregnancy had its pains but all in all, I was just so very tickled to be pregnant that my attitude remained elated throughout. The due date was the 22nd. On the 17th, I was at the doctors for my weekly visit. For two full weeks previous to this, I had been at 2cm; this day, I was up to 3cm. As I had met every doctor in the office except the one that was on call that weekend, my doctor pulled her in the room and introduced us. We talked about how the number 20 was very important to Hubby and I and jokingly asked her if 5 pm on the 20th would work for her. She said she was open then and we set up a date, jokingly. We both liked her immediately. As coincidence would have it, I woke up the morning of the 20th with very little doubt in my mind that that would indeed be the day I would deliver. My niece, CK (an RN) was in town to help us with the delivery- she started timing my contractions. They were somewhere around 6 minutes apart at that point, I believe. I felt tired, but otherwise absolutely fine. The contractions didn't even hurt. I could feel them, but more as a pressure than any sort of pain. We decided to go garage saling (is that a word?) with my mom for baby necessities and spent the entire morning doing just that, while timing contractions. Right around lunchtime, the contractions showed signs of becoming more frequent. We headed home so I could fill my belly and shower before heading in to the hospital. I remember relaxing in my new rocking chair and all of a sudden feeling that it was time. It was time. So, we left for the hospital. It was shortly before 5pm (I kid you not!) when we strolled up to the desk and, smiling ear-to-ear, I informed the nurse "We are here to have a baby." She looked at me incredulously and directed me to a room to be checked. The resident who checked me was shocked to find that I was already over 5cm dilated! He admitted me right away. Throughout my stay, my mom and dad, Hubby’s mom and her friend Chris waited in the waiting room down the hall. My niece would make regular trips down to the hall, keeping them updated. She also explained all the monitors and such to us. It was so nice to have our own personal nurse in the room! Very reassuring… The next couple hours were spent trying to remain comfortable through the increasingly painful contractions. I made it to 8.5 cm before I needed an epidural, but then I required it IMMEDIATELY!! They somehow had the wrong pager number, and there were issues getting hold of the anesthesiologist in a timely manner. He did eventually arrive- in a sweaty jogging suit. He said he would be right back, he needed to change. "No," I said, in a joking manner "I don't care if you're naked, as long as you can help me with the pain!" He laughed and started getting ready for my epidural. Now, epidurals can be a scary, challenging thing. Here's what I experienced: 1) the nurse makes you sign a sheet that you completely understand that this procedure could cause paralysis, even death. There's a confidence booster for you! Then 2) before they pull out the needle, they make all extra family members leave the room because they've had so many visitors faint upon seeing the needle and its insertion! Oh, I was afraid before, but that just calmed all my fears. Not! 3) Lastly, they explain that it could take up to 20 minutes for the procedure and you have to sit absolutely still. If you flinch, he could hit the wrong spot. Sitting motionless for 20 minutes may be possible in most cases, but certainly NOT while enduring body-wracking contractions once a minute! Luckily for me, the anesthesiologist was done very quickly, without issue. Phew. The birth itself was pretty much by the book and went well. HL was born at 9:53 that evening measuring 21" and 9lbs. His hair was carrot orange. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. For the first moment he was born, he was a good baby. The nurses in the nursery loved to cuddle with him. I remember that he would often have his fingers crossed as though he were praying. While we had a narrowed-down list of names to choose from, we did not have any particular favorites (we didn't know if it was a boy or girl). We did however, like the name Garret and had almost settled on that one. That is, until Hubby thought about the fact that since he had red hair, he would be Garret the Carrot all his childhood! Yikes. We eventually got it down to just three names but were definitely stuck. Finally, after being warned by the nurse that we had to have a name within the hour, we were desperate and decided to let the baby choose himself. We said the three names slowly. He smiled when we said the name that is now his. And that, my friends, is HL's birth story.