From: ishizaki@hplabsz.hpl.hp.com (Audrey Ishizaki)
Subject: Re: birth announcement (easy birth stories)
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 16:16:36 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories Palo Alto,CA

>...I'll be a first time mom in
>January, and have read and heard my share of horror stories, so
>please do post your "easy time" birth story.
>     Christine
>     mom-2-b in Jan. '93

When I was pregnant, it really helped me to read the many birth stories
posted to the net.  It gave me some perspective and some idea of what I
might expect during labor and delivery.  I had a quick, fairly easy birth.

My husband and I took a "LaMaze" class offered by our local clinic.  I
learned about relaxation breathing (which I generally practiced while
riding my bike).  My husband, Dwight, sometimes fell asleep in class!

In the final weeks prior to the birth of my son, I was 80% effaced and
1-2 cm dilated.  While I "knew" that the baby could come at any time,
I had somehow convinced myself that the baby would be 2 weeks late.
Four days before my due date, I woke at 12:30pm feeling like I had to
urinate.  My panty-liner was soaked with a clear fluid, though.  It took
me some time to convince myself (I was in heavy denial), that my water
had broken.  About an hour later, very mild contractions started (felt
like menstrual cramps).  I woke Dwight at this point, but he mumbled,
"wake me when they get 5 minutes apart" (I had not wakened Dwight,
because we had just gone to bed at 11:30pm).  I believed that it would
be *hours* before anything started happening.

Around 2:00am, the contractions were too uncomfortable to ignore, but
they did not hurt, yet.  I got out of bed to time the contractions.  I
timed them for about an hour (they were 6 minutes apart, so I didn't
wake up Dwight).  I was able to use slow breathing to relax thru the
contractions.  At about 3:30 am, the contractions got too painful for
me to breathe thru; I woke Dwight and he helped me relax and applied
pressure to my lower back (it was surprising to me, how much Dwight
just telling me to relax actually helped me relax!).

About 4am, I decided that I wanted to go to the hospital.  I started
feeling I *had* to go to the bathroom, but not much would come out.
Dwight started packing up snacks (for the long haul ahead!) and I finished
packing my overnight bag.  Just before we were going to leave, I felt like
I *had* to have a b.m.!  Embarrassingly enough, I didn't quite make it to
the bathroom (I was wearing a sanitary pad, though); I had a lot of bloody
show, then, which soiled my underwear and the light pair of pants I was
wearing.  So, I ended up going to the hospital in my t-shirt/nightgown,
but I didn't care!  I was having contractions about every 3 minutes, by
now (I was in the car); they were painful enough that I yelled thru them
(which seemed to help relieve the pain, but did nothing to relax me).

I recognized that my body wanted to push, so I used the fast breathing
technique to relieve that urge (it worked!).  Dwight was afraid I was
hyperventilating, so kept telling me to slow down my breathing.  I
don't think he remembered/realized what the fast-breathing was for and
I didn't want to explain to him.  In fact, I was kind of annoyed with him
since we were going the speed limit (55mph) on the freeway (empty at
4:45 am on Sunday).  Dwight also did not know the way to the hospital
emergency room (when we took the tour, we went in the front entrance),
so I had to tell him where to turn, between contractions!  We arrived
at the hospital about 5:00 am.

We parked right in front of the ER doors (all the other parking spots
were taken); Dwight went in to get someone to help me, while I sat in
the car, yelling thru my contractions.  Someone (an ER doctor?) helped
me into a wheelchair, commenting that my contractions were about 1 
minute (!) apart by now and that we would be having a baby "real soon
now"!).  He told us that we didn't have to move our car (funny how you
worry about some things) as I yelled thru my contractions down the
hospital hallway (and don't worry about others!).

I was brought into an examining room? in the labor and delivery area.
They were trying to strap on the monitor while someone else (a labor
nurse? an obstetrics resident?) was doing an internal exam on me.  She
commented, "The head's right here!", so they stopped with the monitor.
I was told to push, twice, and my son, Dale was out (it was now 5:11am).
I had no episiotomy and no drugs (no time!), though once around 4am
it had occured to me that drugs might be okay (but since I was in my
bathroom at home, that wasn't likely!).

I tore a tiny bit, so whoever delivered Dale was stitching me up.  My doctor
arrived only a little late (about 5:20- not bad, really).  I didn't hold
my baby right after delivery, because I felt so cold (they gave me warmed
blankets) and weak, I felt like I might drop him.  They put him in a clear
plastic "bassinet" and put him right next to me, so I could see him, though.
The nurses all exclaimed that he was an exceptionally cute baby (Naturally!);
since he was born so quickly, he didn't have that "conehead" look.

Because we were so rushed coming into the hospital, however, we neglected
to bring in our bag with the camera (and the snacks!).  I really regret
not having any pictures (e.g. of whoever delivered dale, of him on the
scale, etc..).

None of the birth stories I had read, or classes that we had taken had
prepared me that my baby might come really fast.  I had expected a really
long process, so we were unprepared.  In retrospect, I should have called
the hospital as soon as my bag of waters had broken.  They may have been
able to tell me how to recognize (more quickly) when to get to the hospital.
My sister-in-law's LaMaze instructor told her that my contractions starting
out so quickly (at 6 minutes apart) was an indication of a quick labor.
All I know, is that for the next baby, I'm going to try to get to the
hospital *earlier*!

My baby's first birthday is next week (he was born 9/1/91 - pretty easy
to remember) and it's already a little hard to remember him as a newborn.

audrey ishizaki