Four years ago, I had one of the most interesting and exciting days of my life. I got up before the sun to head to the local hospital for a labor induction. My body was feeling the strain of lugging around another human being inside of it for months and I was more than ready to meet the sweet little boy that kept trying to push his tiny foot through the skin of my belly. Don't get me wrong, I still think pregnancy is an absolute miracle, but it's far from comfortable toward the end. Anyone who says differently is being blackmailed.
I half expected it to be a long day. The other half of me thought that, this being my second child, things might go quickly. Especially, since they had the first time around. I filled out the various forms and got settled in my room around 6:30-7:00 in the morning. They put in an IV line and started a Pitocin drip to get the contractions started. Heath and I watched television and I tried to catch a few more moments of sleep. Around 11:00, my OB came in and did the usual "check" to see how things were coming along. She said I was at about 5 cm dilated. She broke my water and said she had to head over the a neighboring hospital for a C-section delivery, but that she'd be back to check on me after that and lunch. She also gave the okay for an epidural. I admire women who brave the throes of labor without medication, but that is NOT me. I told the nurse to send the guy right up and get the epi going. He showed up about fifteen minutes later and hooked me up. Normally, it doesn't take long at all for the epi to take effect, but another fifteen minutes later, I was still feeling a LOT of pain on my left side. So, Dr. Feelgood had to come back in and give me another dose. This time, it worked wonders. The nurse told me to lay on my right side and that she'd come back in about fifteen minutes and help me roll to the other side.
I finally felt like I could fall asleep. Mornings are not my favorite thing. My dad had shown up so Heath had someone else to talk to and I didn't feel so bad about sleeping. Pretty soon, I started to doze off. A short while later, through my semi-conscious haze, I started hearing these weird, wet sounds, but since there were two men in the room who were not shy about bodily functions and the expression thereof, I didn't really give it much thought. A heard a muffled cry and I remember thinking, "Awww, the people in the next room must have had their baby!" as my eyelids fluttered.
The next cry was much louder. In fact, it chased all thoughts of sleep from my mind instantly and my eyes flew open. Heath, my dad, and I all realized at the same moment that the crying was NOT, in fact, coming from the next room. As a less than motherly phrase passed my lips, Heath jumped out of his chair and tore back the blanket covering me. Lo and behold, there was our infant son squirming and crying, having delivered himself entirely without my knowledge. My dad ran to the hall and yelled for the nurses. Like a flock of loving mother hens, the nurses filled my room almost as quickly as if they'd been beamed down from the Starship Enterprise. There was a flurry of excitement as they began their rituals of cleaning up and checking vital signs. They were all in shock, as was I, that I hadn't felt a thing and it all happened so fast.
In moments, our squirming, darling little bundle of boy was snuggled happily in my arms beginning what will likely be his life-long obsession with boobs. When my OB came by after lunch, she was more than a little surprised. I asked her if she'd ever seen another delivery like mine. She told me that she'd delivered thousands of babies and had only seen it happen once before. Apparently, my delivery was the talk of both hospitals that day. While, I'm sure I was the envy of more than one new mother, when things settled down, I had time to really think about what happened. What COULD have happened. What if he hadn't cried and hadn't been able to breathe? What if my body hadn't instinctively reacted and pushed him out? What if he'd gotten stuck? But these things didn't happen.
That night, as I stood holding my precious son by the window in my room, the snow fell softly outside and I had one of those moments when everything was perfect. It was dark, Heath was sleeping on the roll-away bed, the snow was falling in huge, fluffy flakes, and everything was quiet and peaceful. One of those moments you never forget.
Today, my sweet baby boy turned four. Where did the time go? He's growing up to be such a loving, caring boy. He feels things deeply and personally. He's my snuggler. God was watching out for him the day he was born, and I know He still is. I am forever thankful He chose me to be Perrin's mother. I'm beyond lucky!
No comments:
Post a Comment