Graem’s birth story
As you may have guessed from the lapse in entries, Baby Graem decided to join us! The story goes…
10:55 PM Monday Night: We were watching an episode of “Baby Story” on TLC. I had been avoiding these shows both before and during the pregnancy. I finally agreed to watch this one episode. I was just finishing snack #3 for the evening, some makeshift chicken parm. Mom #1 had just delivered her fourth baby at 9 lbs. 12 oz. — I was ready to pass out. Mom #2 wasin the process of pushing her baby out, and I noticed I was really wet all of a sudden. I told Shawna, “I think my water just broke”–she didn’t believe me! I stood up and felt a trickle go down my leg. When Shawna realized that my water really did break, she rushed to call the midwives. Of course the only thing I could think of to do was run to the bathroom, take off all my clothes, and ask Shawna what to do! She told me to sit on the toilet and just wait.
The midwife on call told us to try to wait it out at home for as long as possible–at least an hour, and to continue timing the contractions. I sat in a warm tub, with Shawna on the phone with EVERYONE, and timed contractions. They continued to be 5 -6 minutes apart, but were Braxton-Hicks. After about 45 minutes of doing this, we decided to head to the hospital. Shawna decided the best thing to do at this time was clean the house, as my shoes were filling with water!
12:30 AM Tuesday Morning: We arrived at the hospital, and got hooked up to the monitors. They confirmed that the contractions were still mild and 5-6 minutes apart. We tried to get some sleep.
2:30 AM Tuesday: Contractions started getting stronger, so the nurses gave me Nubain–helped me go to sleep.
8:30 AM - 12:30 PM Tuesday: The Nubain totally zoned me out until around lunchtime, and I was in and out of consciousness. During awake moments, we went walking through the hallways to try to get the contractions going. Kim stopped by to see us, and took some video before she had to leave for a meeting. We hoped she would make it back in time for the delivery. We went to the cafeteria for some lunch, where we picked up tons of macaroni & cheese, which I had been unable to eat for the latter half of my pregnancy, due to the gestational diabetes.
1:30 PM Tuesday: We were getting bored and nothing was happening with my contractions, so we asked if we could start the Pitocin. The contractions started getting stronger within 30 minutes. As they started to hurt more, I tried a couple of other positions–sitting on the toilet, and sitting on “The Ball.” This was fun for about two contractions–it was too uncomfortable for my back, and the fetal heart monitor wouldn’t read.
~3:30 PM Tuesday: Contractions were getting stronger, about an 8 on the pain scale. I was ready for the intrathecal, and we thought, “Oh, good thing we’re having the baby during business hours, the anesthesiologists will be nearby.” Actually, it meant that they were all in surgery! It took almost 45 minutes for the anesthesiologist to get there, by which point I was swearing like a sailor. After I got the intrathecal, I was able to sleep for a good twenty or thirty minutes.
4:40 PM Tuesday: They told me that I’d know when it was time to push, and in fact, I did: it felt like I had to pass the largest bowel movement! Kim arrived just in time from her meeting to start filming (we didn’t need all the cussing and swearing in our video). I could barely feel the contractions through the intrathecal, but waited for them to actually push. The midwife set up a mirror so I could see the progress of the delivery, which really helped. Both Shawna and the midwife could see a little lock of hair sticking out.
4:58 PM Tuesday: Graem Avery Chiuten-Black is born! As soon as her head was out, the midwife let Shawna step in and pull her out. At that point, we still didn’t know if she was a boy or a girl, until Kim asked! We both looked down and Shawna said, “It’s a… girl?” We were both surprised but elated.
