Happy Birthday, Gilly Bean!

Today is my youngest daughters 6th Birthday. She was born at 10:58am on December 27th, 2001 after a long night in the hospital with false labor.

Gilly was due just before Christmas, but my doctor and I had already talked about inducing labor, and had set a date and time on the 28th. He didn't want me to go too far past my due date (I was due the 23rd), and we were able to schedule it for a day when he would be able to deliver her.

Now- if you don't want to hear a mostly non-graphic, yet painful acount of having a child, stop reading. I won't go into blood and gore, or anything graphic, but I will tell you how I felt. 

On December 26th, as Nick and I sat at Applebees eating, I thought I was having mild contractions. The roads were getting horrible, the weather was about as bad as can be for a Michigan December, and the hospital was about a 20 minute drive away- by highway.

We made the decision to get there as soon as possible, rather than risk delivering at the closer hospital (where I had delivered Chris, and let me tell you, I would NEVER recommend a woman have a child in that hospital with the staff they had). Our older two kids were allready taken care of. My son went down the road to his Grandma's house, and my older daughter had stayed at my Grandma's house in Sparta after Christmas.

It was late at night when we left, probably around 9pm, and we didn't get to the hospital until 10pm, even though it was only a 20 minute drive on the highway. The roads were just horrible.

By the time we got there, the mini contractions had died right down, and of course, I wasn't in labor. We talked with the doctor on duty, and we all decided to keep me there over night because of the roads- they didn't want me to get all the way home, only to have to turn around.

They made sure my doctor knew, and he told them he would be in around 7am to check on me, and we could talk about inducing a day early. During all this, we had called and got a message to my aunt, who wanted to be there for me. For her, it was more like a 75 minute drive in good conditions, so it took her a few hours. I'm glad we were still there, though, when she arrived!

She ended up sleeping on a sofa in the waiting room, Nick slept in a chair in my room, and I slept in the bed (duh!). I got poked and prodded through out the night to check my blood pressure, and adjust the belt that measures contractions, etc.

Finally, after a long semi-sleepless night, my doctor came in. I had already been dialated since the week before, but I was still only at barely 3. We talked, and he said we could come back the next day and he would do the inducing, or he could do the inducing then, but not be there for the labor and delivery (unless it was a really long labor).

Nick and I just wanted to get it over with, and meet our new child. As we had both a son and daughter, this time, we chose not to find out what we were having. We wanted a surprise. I will say though, that with all 3 of my children, I 'knew' what I was having well before any ultrasound told me, or the birth told me. We had 2 names picked, but I had a gut feeling she was a girl, and I was right.

So, we decided to induce. At 8am, my doctor started things off by breaking my water. He gave instructions to give me pitocin if I hadn't moved along within an hour or two, and he left for the day.

I had another doctor checking in on me the rest of the time, and some nurses. Almost immediatly, actual contractions started, but they were weak. The nurses ordered an epidural for me.

Now, I mentioned a horrible birthing experiance at the past hospital, right? I was at the hospital for 6 hours before delivering, but it took almost 5 before any doctors checked on me, and because of that, I was never able to be medicated. I am not a person who handles pain in any way shape or form. It was a very long, extremly painful labor and delivery.

My son was distressed in my womb- his heart rate should have been around 150/minute. For almost 2 hours, it wasn't ever higher than 30/minute. He came out blue. However, the doctor chose to wait it out rather than give me an emergency C-Section. Had anything been wrong with him, I don't think anyone could have saved that doctor from me strangling her right then and there. She was DAMN lucky Chris came out all right, with such an extended loss of neccessary oxygen.

The nurses who were with me for Gilly were very helpful, and I had explained to my doctor, the doctor there, and the nurses that I absolutely had no interest in doing things the "natural" way again, which is why they ordered the epidural so early. They wanted to make sure I got it in time.

By 9am, my little hurty pains had kicked it up slightly, and I was given a shot of something in my IV- demerol? I don't recall, but it took the bite off the contractions for about 10 minutes is all.

By 9:30, I was very uncomfortable. By 10am, I was screaming in pain. My aunt went to talk to the nurses- they were under the impression that it was my first child, and that I was likely over reacting, that there was no way it had progressed enough to be -that- painful. How they got that idea after we discussed me past experiance is beyond me.

Anyway, still no epidural. The nurses came in and checked me, said they'd be checking on the status of the epidural immediatly, and left us alone- I was dialated to 6. This was at 10am, or shortly after.

By 10:30, I was howling in pain, just screaming- and let me tell you, every time a contraction started, I said to myself, don't scream. And every time, I tried so hard to not scream, until it was like the scream was just ripped from me.

The nurses came back in with another visit either from my husband or my aunt. When they came in, they very quickly realized that in 30 minutes, I had gone from a 6 to a 10, and things would not be going slowly. This was around 10:40am.

The room filled up with nurses, who were rushing VERY fast to prepare the room. They had to get out the bassinet and warmer, the tools, the scale, etc, etc, etc... the room was a flurry of motion.

If you've ever been in a modern labor & delivery room, you know that women are not moved to another room to have the child. The bottom half of the bed drops down, and folds under it, and you deliver right there. Stirrups pull out, the whole 9 yards.

Only, they never had time to change the bed, the stirrups were never out, either. My main nurse was standing next to me checking something, and I just looked up at her, and told her the baby was in position. Again, if you've ever had a baby, you know that there is a moment in labor when you can just tell the baby is ready. The pressure changes, because the head has moved.

I won't get more graphic than that. I looked at her and told her my body was ready to push. By then, I had my legs crossed tightly, and I was trying very hard to NOT push. After all, I knew they weren't ready! There was no doctor! No stirrups! The bed wasn't ready! They were still scrambling around!

She just smiled and told me to go ahead and push if I was ready. They didn't drop the bed out at all. Gilly was delivered by a nurse, and it only took 3 pushes for her to be out.

The doctor arrived a few minutes later. He did the rest of the delivery, while the nurses whisked my daughter away to clean her up for me.

The doctor had to do some stitching, and as he did, he told the nurses, "Get this girl some pain killers- she deserves it after all that!" So, I didn't have to feel the after effects, at least. ;)

Gilly came into the world at 10:58am, after 2 hours and 58 minutes of really hard labor. And as fast as that labor was, she's just as fast in real life- always moving, always running, never slowing down.