Lillian June Curtis

On the morning of Friday, August 31, our lives were changed forever.

It all began at about 4:30 a.m.  I had big plans for the day:  do some more cleaning, work on maternity leave sub plans, finish grad work, get some things ready for Nancy's arrival, have lunch with Dad, etc.  BIG plans.  By about 4:35, I quickly realized that all of those plans were going to have to wait.  When I woke up with the pain, I knew that it was nothing like what I had experienced before and was exactly as Nancy and my ob had described, even though, as Nancy said, "There is no way to really describe the pain until you've been through it."  True that.

After telling Steven that he might want to consider making sub plans for the day, he started timing my contractions on a smartphone app, while running around packing his bag, eating breakfast, and writing sub plans, all at the same time.  I can't imagine that focusing was the easiest for him at that point, as every few minutes I was hunched over and yelling, "TIME!"

Not that any first-time mother can be prepared for labor since every woman's experience is different, but this was not at all what I expected it to be like.  In our birthing class, we watched videos of how to successfully labor at home since most first pregnancies can labor for eight to twelve hours before reaching the 5-1-1 mark.  Because of this, I had the tips in my head:  go for a walk, make sure to eat something, take a shower, etc.  When the contractions hit, I immediately went downstairs to eat breakfast, as I do every morning, and kept wondering if my water had broken, but maybe I just hadn't noticed yet.

I was amazed at how fast and strong the contractions came on.  We probably could have gone to the hospital then, but I needed to be laboring for that hour before we could make the call to the doctor.  (Again, in my mind, I was planning on enduring this for at least eight hours...)  So I decided what to do next to help pass some time and settled on a shower.  To give an idea of how that went, let me reference the birthing class once again:  The videos of the women soothing their labor pain with a hot shower are bologna!!  When my fast, strong contractions kicked in every few minutes, it was all I could do not to fall out the shower door!

I was just about dressed and ready to go when Steven's app said that it was time to call the doctor.  Thank goodness!  We were almost out the door when I remembered that I wanted to take one last "Cookin' " photo on the way to the hospital.  I told Steven that there was no way in you-know-where that I was going to climb our mountain of stairs to put on my baby outfit and take the picture in our usual spot.  I did the best I could!

We were halfway out of the neighborhood, and I remembered that I was going to make a PB&J during that 8 hours I envisioned having.  Given my blood sugar issues and the warning to eat something before heading to the hospital, we made the decision to turn around and have Steven make me a delicious sandwich for the drive.  Ironically, I was so sick with pain by the time that he got back to the car that I was only able to eat a couple bites on the way to the hospital.

We arrived to the hospital a little after 7:00 a.m., and the next 15 hours are mostly a blur to me.  From here, my memories are formed by flashes and what other people told me...  The nurse said that she wanted to take me straight to a labor and delivery room, but the doctors insisted on patients visiting triage first.  I was given my first lesson in humility (and indifference!) when one of the nurses had to help me strip naked because my contractions were too intense to do it myself.  I was quickly put into a bed to be examined, found out that I was three centimeters, and within moments was taken to a labor and delivery room.  Around 8:30, the first round of water breaking occurred.  Exciting!!

I was beyond ready for the epidural, but there was apparently only one anesthesiologist, who was conveniently preoccupied with another preggo undergoing a Cesarean.  Whatever.  I suppose having your belly cut open would trump my contractions.  By 10:00 a.m., after almost six hours of labor, I was given that sweet, soothing pain medicine.  The insertion was a bit tricky and took a few tries, but it was all worth it when I finally got to have some relief.  Shortly thereafter, I had my next check, which indicated I was 5-6 centimeters.

By this time, I was starting to feel the side effects that I am prone to with heavy painkillers: extreme nausea!  Over the remainder of the day, I was repeatedly given concoctions to remedy the nausea and low blood pressure, which makes the memories even blurrier since I was in and out of consciousness until that evening.

By around noon, I was 7 centimeters and continued progressing to nine centimeters by early afternoon.  Things were looking GREAT for a baby to be here by four or five.  At my next couple checks, I was still 9...still 9...still 9...  It was decided to give me a dose of pitocin to see if that would push me to 10. Thank goodness no one threw out the idea of a C-section, or maybe they did, but I was so high on all the meds that I don't remember!  What I do remember is the OB coming in for another check around 9 that evening, quickly completing what seemed like a routine check, and finishing by asking very nonchalantly, "So...how do you feel about trying some pushing?"  That seemed to sober me up.

This particular OB didn't want me pushing on the epidural, so he only let me labor on the full dose, not deliver.  This led to some lovely back-breaking pain, especially since baby girl was sunny-side up and vigorously assaulted my tailbone with each and every push.  Since I wasn't on much medication at this point, my memories are much clearer.  I remember asking the doctor at one point if anyone ever breaks their tailbone delivering a baby face-up, to which he gave some very political answer to not worry me.

With Aunt Nancy holding one leg and Steven on the other, we had a very successful birthing session, lasting less than an hour.  At 10:04 p.m., our little Lily shot right out of me on a good push.  (Steven and Nancy have the details of that quick exit...)

The NICU team was in the room and swept her away to clean her up because she had released quite a bit of bowel in utero.  The doctors wanted to make sure that she wasn't ingesting any of it, so Steven and others got to enjoy her presence before momma held her.  Shortly after I was sewn up, baby girl was put in my arms for the first time.  Blessing.  True blessing.

 

 

Over the next two days, we had LOTS of visitors who couldn't wait to see our little Lily in person.  It served as another reminder of how truly blessed we are to have so many caring people in our lives.

Lily loved her UK onesie from Aunt Nancy!

 

We had a pretty standard 48 hours in the hospital, which of course had its ups and downs.  Either way, we were SO excited to leave and take our baby girl home!!  The hospital even sent us home with a birthday cake and a framed picture taken right after she was born.