Twelve Years Ago Today...
...I was on my way to the hospital at 2 a.m., after my water broke. My poor husband was so sleepy, but I barely felt sorry for him because I was in such excruciating pain. I just couldn't believe how much my contractions hurt and it made me very, very nervous about what was to come. I would later realize that the pain was a combination of having been in preterm labor/on bedrest for 6 weeks, thus I was quite weak, and the fact that I was having "back labor" -- but all I knew at that moment was "holy OUCH!"
We arrived at the hospital to an admitting nurse who rolled her eyes as soon as we walked through the door. Apparently it was a big night for babies, and I will always be grateful that we got the last "birthing room" with the pretty wallpaper and the chair that turned into a cot for the daddy!
Because I was 3 weeks early, my file wasn't at the hospital yet, so I had to endure giving a way-too chipper little nurse my full medical history through waves of contractions; I was already 2/3 of the way to full dialation. At one point she asked me how many pregnancies I'd had prior to this one: 3. And how many live births? None. And the dates of those? I'm sure I gave her a look like, You're kidding, right? It was all I could do to give her the one word answers through my roaring pain, and now she was asking me to think?
That was when my husband piped up with the exact dates of our three previous pregnancy losses over the past three years, right off the top of his head. (We would go on to have three more after Ben, and then I'd had to have all my female parts removed, a surgery which not only ensured Ben's status as an only child, but also as a miracle, according to the surgeon who'd witnessed the character of my insides.)
It took many hours to deliver my baby, due to his posterior position, but when he finally arrived he was a healthy little guy, 6 lbs., 6 oz. and 18-1/2 inches long. I hardly remember my first look at him -- I was just so relieved for some of the pain to have stopped. He was whisked off to be Agpar scored and have his little nose suctioned as I caught my breath.
I clearly remember my second look at him, when Dennis presented him to me wrapped in a blanket, like a waiter holding out a bottle of wine for me to approve. I glanced at his little face and the words that came out of my mouth were, "Oh my God, he looks just like you!" And he did. He was one of those babies that the nurses said, "We know just who his father is."
Twelve years ago today. It was a very good day!
Benjamin, around 4 days old, cooing after a bath. All that beautiful hair would fall out in a few days!
We arrived at the hospital to an admitting nurse who rolled her eyes as soon as we walked through the door. Apparently it was a big night for babies, and I will always be grateful that we got the last "birthing room" with the pretty wallpaper and the chair that turned into a cot for the daddy!
Because I was 3 weeks early, my file wasn't at the hospital yet, so I had to endure giving a way-too chipper little nurse my full medical history through waves of contractions; I was already 2/3 of the way to full dialation. At one point she asked me how many pregnancies I'd had prior to this one: 3. And how many live births? None. And the dates of those? I'm sure I gave her a look like, You're kidding, right? It was all I could do to give her the one word answers through my roaring pain, and now she was asking me to think?
That was when my husband piped up with the exact dates of our three previous pregnancy losses over the past three years, right off the top of his head. (We would go on to have three more after Ben, and then I'd had to have all my female parts removed, a surgery which not only ensured Ben's status as an only child, but also as a miracle, according to the surgeon who'd witnessed the character of my insides.)
It took many hours to deliver my baby, due to his posterior position, but when he finally arrived he was a healthy little guy, 6 lbs., 6 oz. and 18-1/2 inches long. I hardly remember my first look at him -- I was just so relieved for some of the pain to have stopped. He was whisked off to be Agpar scored and have his little nose suctioned as I caught my breath.
I clearly remember my second look at him, when Dennis presented him to me wrapped in a blanket, like a waiter holding out a bottle of wine for me to approve. I glanced at his little face and the words that came out of my mouth were, "Oh my God, he looks just like you!" And he did. He was one of those babies that the nurses said, "We know just who his father is."
Twelve years ago today. It was a very good day!
Benjamin, around 4 days old, cooing after a bath. All that beautiful hair would fall out in a few days!
Comments
All the best,
Allison
Hugs all around!