Thursday, March 29, 2012

On The Day You Were Born: Nora's Edition

You were very content in my warm, watery womb. I had had contractions for months and a few "this is it" moments that obviously weren't it. I was anxious for you to get here but it was probably a good thing you waited because a week before you were due I got a nasty head cold. I would not have liked to be that sick paired with labor. On your due date I may have cried because I was so huge and uncomfortable. I eased the waiting with frozen yogurt almost daily with Grandma Wagstaff and a last minute pedicure from Aunt Nicole. Your due date came...and went. My O.B. wanted to induce me two days after you were due but I told her no. I wanted to see if you would come out on your own. You didn't. You were already my sweet but stubborn little girl.
April 5th 2009, one week past your due date, I was induced. I woke early and couldn't go back to sleep so I enjoyed a long shower (last one for a long time) and ate some toast. Around 7 a.m. we arrived at LDS Hospital to an eerily quiet labor and delivery floor. Come to find out later you were only one of 3 babies born that day. It was General Conference Sunday and a beautiful spring day. They started my pitocin at 7:30 and because it was so slow that day my nurses spent a good amount of time fussing over me. My O.B. came in around 9:30 a.m to break my water. After that she didn't return until you were born. I knew then that I would be finding a different doctor the second time around! It was a looooong day. Although I had plans to go natural I look back and laugh at that absurd idea. I now know that Pitocin and natural childbirth are mortal enemies. Especially when it takes the highest dose possible. At 12:15 p.m, after the first session of conference, when the nurse came in to chat it up about how wonderful President Monson's talk was and I realized that I hadn't even noticed he spoke at all I decided to give myself a wonderful gift. An epidural. The pain was so intense I was almost blacking out. Daddy would talk to me and I wouldn't even hear him. He finally just took refuge on the couch with the Nintendo DS. The epidural was heaven sent. I got to relax and spend some time resting before you made your arrival....10 hours later.
During that wait we had some unexpected (and unwanted, even though I love you guys) visitors. I think you would have been born quicker had I not had that interruption and emotional breakdown at the surprise. Finally when it was just Daddy and I again things finally started to progress. By 5 p.m. I was at 8 cm and although I ate many a popsicle waiting for you to arrive and I was exhausted and starving. The nurses kept telling me I should be ready to push within the hour. I wasn't. I was stuck at an 8 until 9 p.m. Meanwhile your poor heart wasn't liking the contractions and your heart rate kept dropping. I was flipped from side to side to try and stabilize it. This was fine except the epidural was taking much more heavily on one side and I couldn't spend enough time on my other side to get it to even out. One leg ended up being numb through the night until about 4 a.m. Finally at 9:20 p.m. I started to push...and barf...and at 10:24 p.m. despite a cord around your neck you came out crying. And perfect. You weighed in at 7 lbs. 9.5 oz. and were a whopping 21 inches long. You had black fuzzy hair atop your little (HUGE) head. You stopped crying almost immediately and just looked around at the world. I was in awe at such a miracle. You didn't like to nurse, didn't like binkies and didn't like to be swaddled. You knew what you liked from the start and I love that stubborn side of you. You are just like your Momma! I love you to the stars Nora Ruthie!

2 comments:

Emma Frances said...

I love reading birth stories and this was no exception! I love how you can learn so much about your baby's personality before they're even born!!

Young People in Love said...

OH MY GOODNESS! LITTLE NORA BABY FACE!!! Chas is gonna love these. SO sweet!