The Rest of the Story

I never did fill in the gaps of Squirt's birth story. The short version: she was born, she's fine. I am really writing this since she is my 4th and I probably won't remember in a year or two.

You will remember that I was a week past my due date. The doctor's agreed to induce me and told me the hospital would call me in the morning when they were ready for me to come in. Hubby and I got up at 5 am to shower and get ready. The hospital called at 5:15 and asked if we could be there at 6. My brother came and stayed with us the night before so he could watch the kids.

When we got to the hospital, the nurse checked me and I was exactly the same as I had been at 37 weeks. She started my IV and went to call the Doctor about starting pitocin.

They started pitocin and the doctor came in to break my water. The nurse put a fetal monitor on the baby's head so I didn't have to wear the one on my belly anymore. When she came back the next time to check me, she knocked the monitor off. She tried another one but couldn't get it to work. So the belly one came back on.

Hours of waiting...

I asked for an epidural and the guy couldn't get the needle through my spine. I just couldn't curve my back enough over my huge belly. After three sticks, he said he'd try one more time then he would have to move to a different spot. So hubby grabbed my arms and pulled me down and the guy finally got it in. It was great!

...Until a few hours later when I started feeling everything! We kept pushing the button as often as it would let us but the guy had to come and give me another shot. Less than an hour later we were ready to push.

During all of this, I had the fetal monitor that you wear on your belly. A new nurse came on shift and asked if she could try to put the one on the baby's head again. She tried and then brought in another nurse. This nurse tried to take off the old one, but couldn't get it off. So she just put a new one on and left the old one attached too.

The doctor finally came in and said let's have a baby. The baby's heart rate went down quite a bit so they had me wear an oxygen mask. And I was so numb from that shot that I was pretty sure I was pushing as hard as I could but couldn't feel a darn thing.

Push, push, push...blah, blah, blah---YAY! WE HAVE A BABY!!

As they were taking her to the baby bed/station thingy, I could see the fetal monitor hanging from her head. Turns out, as our first baby with hair, the monitor got tangled in her hair and as the nurse was twisting it to get it off, she was actually ripping out Squirt's hair.

**That's right! I finally get a baby with hair and the nurses give her a bald spot! She also got her first haircut right then, too, so they could get the monitor off.**

She was having some wheezy/ gaggy problems so they needed to take her to the NICU to help open her lungs all the way. Hubby went with her. Then I was all alone in my room.

The nurse brought me some orange juice and crackers, and then left again. Since I hadn't eaten anything since the night before, I started chugging the juice. Big mistake! I started feeling queasy. Now, remember, I was super numb from the waist down. I looked around for anything I could use to contain the mess. Nothing. I couldn't move. I didn't want to throw up on the floor so someone would have to clean it up. So I had to use my arms to pull myself up in the bed, gathered my blankets and let loose. It is so weird to vomit and not be able to feel any of the muscles involved. And, every time I let go, I would bob and weave like a newborn's head. It was so funny!

Squirt had to be on the CPAP for an hour, and then get checked out by the pediatrician. When they finally brought her to me, I had to laugh. The nurses in the nursery had put a bow in her hair, and a little mohawk to try and hide the bald spot.
But she was still perfect...and finally OUT!