From: mbutler@ncsa.uiuc.edu (Michelle Butler)
Subject: Birth Announcement 
Organization: Nat'l Ctr for Supercomp App (NCSA) @ University of Illinois
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 20:29:45 GMT

I just wanted to announce the birth of my daughter.  Sorry it took so 
long to get in and do this, but I think all you parents will understand.


Sarah Nicole Butler 
Born on September 14 
Birth time was 12:40 
She was 10 lbs 5 oz 
She was 22" long 

Labor story(short version):

I was very, very lucky and had a relatively normal labor.  At 2:30am on
Sunday September 13, my water broke.  It seemed like gallons of water!
The nurse on the phone wanted to be sure that it was my water that
broke, and not just urine.....  I told her that I haven't been able to
hold in this much liquid even before I was pregnant!!!    

The hospital wanted us to come in with in the next hour to make sure
that everything was okay since the water did break.  We live 1/2 hour
away, so Randy (my husband) got and got a shower as I was sitting on the
front porch listening to the crickets in the night.  As we were driving
in we were timing the contractions with the clock on the stereo in the
car. (I had felt some contractions that night around 10:00pm, but were
very irratic, so decided not to time them and just go to bed) 

The contractions were about 5-6 minutes apart lasting about 30 sec.  The
hospital hooked me up to all the monitors and said that they would do
this for about 30 minutes, and then let me get up and walk around.
Well, the contractions were coming in so fast and hard 4 minutes apart
for about 1 minute in length that they just wanted me to stay there (if
I wanted)....  I was 1cm dialated and fully effaced when I arrived at
the hospital. 

At about 4:00am I was 3cm and I got a 1/2 shot of Nubane.  This slowed
down the contractions, but it allowed me to sleep inbetween the
contractions which really helped!!!!  I do want to say here that I would
not have been able to get through this so well with out Randy`s help!
He was Fantasic, letting me know how to breathe, and telling me how hard
the contraction is, and when it's about over and etc!!!  At about 7:00am
I received a full shot of Nubane. I was about 5cm then... (please excuse
the times on these.... I don't really remember what time these things
were because I really didn't open my eyes to look at the time very
much.... I really just concentrated on being relaxed).  At about 11:00am
the doctor just came in to check on me and I was dialated to 9cm and
could push any time.   

Well let me interject here, personally I think that this pushing stuff
is TOTALLY underrated in the Lamaze class.  My instructor said that it
would be a relief to push, and it would be great...   Bull S**t.  That
stuff hurts until you really get into it... I wish I would have been
more prepared for that!  I kinda thought I was done... I would push a
couple of times, and I would be done and knowing what sex the child was
and what it looked like  but NO.....  

Anyway I pushed from 11:15 to 12:40.... That was hard work, but worth
every push.  I had only a small minor tear, and the Doctor was surprised
with such a BIG baby....  From the Sonograms we thought it would be
about 9-9/12 lbs... and inbetween a pushing contraction my husband asked
the Dr if she saw any antlers yet....  We all got a big laugh out of
that!    
 

 She is now 9 wks old and is the best child in the world (un-biased
 opinion interjected here!! ) 

 Thanks for letting me share this with you all, I have really enjoyed
 reading all the great ideas and etc in this newsgroup!!!  Let's keep it
 up!! 


-- 
Michelle Butler 
National Center for Supercomputing Applications 
Mass Storage System Administrator 
email: mbutler@ncsa.uiuc.edu
From: jean@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Jean Jasinski)
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 16:23:01 GMT
Subject: Re: What do you do when your kid things Metallica is cool?
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA