Cleo Rhys
born August 28, 5:34am
7lb. 14oz., 20 inches
As for the birth story, it's pretty wacky and either traumatic or interesting, depending on how I feel at the given time. I guess it kinda started when Mr. Dee dragged me out to see Idlewild, because i've been so excited about it, and he said it would be my only chance to see it on the big screen. It made me so happy that I started having contractions after every dance scene, which just got me more excited. Then my water broke at 3:30am in bed on Sunday, and that was supercool. I was half awake and felt/heard the softest, most velvety PoP! And then I was gushing. I rolled over and grabbed Mr. Dee and said, "Dude, my water just broke!" , so he brought me a towel. It gushed on and off all day, and my midwife asked me to come to the hospital at 4pm if contractions weren't in full swing before then to be checked out.
Contractions were about 7 minutes apart, 30 seconds long and very manageable at that point. Mr. Dee and I watched House and hung around the house all day, then packed up and headed to the hospital at the prescribed time. Since the water birth room was open and several other people wanted it, I went ahead and checked in. It was, as Mr. Dee said, "The Mac Daddy Labor Suite". Everything looked and felt good, my doula showed up with cookies, the whole fam was hanging out. Time went on, but contractions did not pick up, and I was threatened with pitocin. No!!! So they left me and Mr. Dee alone for an hour and we... eh... got things going with natural oxytocin. Things started progressing, contractions got really difficult about 8pm. I was walking, trying lots of different positions, doula was helping with foot rubs and encouragement. I didn't think i'd want Mr. Dee in the room with me, but I could not let him out of my sight. Poor guy didn't eat for 12 hours!
Hit transition while in the labor tub, and it was the worst couple of hours of my life. I thought it would be physically painful, but the emotional pain was absolutely unbelievable. I have never felt worse! Got out of the tub and had that lovely 20 minutes of normalcy before pushing set in. Started pushing at 1am. Contractions got further and further apart, all the way to 17 minutes. Doula used peppermint oil in between contractions to relax me, and time stretched out forever in a weird peppermint dreamland. I will love peppermint forever now! I was on the bed and pushing, pushing, pushing, but we couldn't quite crown. Finally, around 5am, I pushed with everything I had and screamed and screamed and screamed, and there was this quiet, thoughtful silence, and the midwife said... "You wouldn't be having a bald baby, would you?" To which I responded, "There's no way-- I was hairy as a monkey, and the amniotic fluid was full of black baby hair!" So they checked me and determined that the baby was in complete breech, sitting indian style, and would not be coming out the natural way. They didn't tell me at the time, but with every contraction, meconium was just oozing out of me, and they were actually very worried and had the respiratory team prepped.
The room went from 3 women, soft lighting, music, aromatherapy, woman power... to bright fluorescent lights, 10 men in scrubs, clicking machines and frantic concern. I was briefed on the dangers of c-sections and told to make a choice. I remember whining and crying and begging and pleading for the baby not to be breech and to not have an epidural, IV or section, but I finally said, "Do whatever is necessary to save my life and that of the baby," and then I just gave in, signed the papers and lost all control, which was kind of a relief. They put in the IV, rolled me into surgery, gave me fentanyl to chill me out, gave me an epidural, and I started going numb and cracking jokes once all the needlework was done. They velcroed my hands down and put up a 4 foot tall screen and started slicing. My husband kept popping around the screen with helpful tidbits, such as, "Dude, it looks like a Romero film! There's blood everywhere!" and "Your intestines are just sitting on the table. Just SITTING THERE." Then the baby was out and squawking and we forgot everything else.
She was big and healthy and alert, with APGAR scores of 9/9 . They brought her around to see me, and she put her little hand on my cheek, and I just fell in love and busted out crying and forgot the previous 24 hours of hell. Mr. Dee went to the nursery with her for bathing and testing and to make sure she didn't get VitK, HepB or eye gel. His first statement about her was, "She already has bigger baby toenails than you do! She has my toes!" So they sewed me up tight, wheeled me into recovery and brought me my baby after 2 very rude phone calls.
Mr. Dee fell asleep on the floor of the hospital recovery room, and lord only knows what sorts of diseases he has now. Mom stayed with me and baby while she nursed like a champ for the first time. This kid is a barracuda! My dad had to leave the room at the first show of nip, but he smiled like a jack-o-lantern to see his first grandchild. The rest is all recovery and learning the baby and alternately being really, really elated and rather maudlin/traumatized by the whole experience. I knew labor would be painful, but I had no idea how much of the pain was emotional. I felt like the protagonist of a good 80's heroic/sci-fi movie, battling his demons in a dark swamp. I'm really glad I had the natural labor experience, or at least 98% of it, but the c-section was actually more enjoyable. We got home on Thursday and have been snoozing, snuzzling, chilling and being outright bored ever since. So huzzah for the internet!
Cleo is an amazing baby-- I think she stayed in an extra week to enjoy cable and room service, because she doesn't seem as young as she is. She's quiet, alert, funny, sweet, easy to read, not prone to crying, adaptable and enjoys eating and pooing very much. As do we all, right? She's now lounged across my lap on a Boppy pillow, sleeping like a baby (?) and happy as a clam with a full belly.
Life is good.
born August 28, 5:34am
7lb. 14oz., 20 inches
As for the birth story, it's pretty wacky and either traumatic or interesting, depending on how I feel at the given time. I guess it kinda started when Mr. Dee dragged me out to see Idlewild, because i've been so excited about it, and he said it would be my only chance to see it on the big screen. It made me so happy that I started having contractions after every dance scene, which just got me more excited. Then my water broke at 3:30am in bed on Sunday, and that was supercool. I was half awake and felt/heard the softest, most velvety PoP! And then I was gushing. I rolled over and grabbed Mr. Dee and said, "Dude, my water just broke!" , so he brought me a towel. It gushed on and off all day, and my midwife asked me to come to the hospital at 4pm if contractions weren't in full swing before then to be checked out.
Contractions were about 7 minutes apart, 30 seconds long and very manageable at that point. Mr. Dee and I watched House and hung around the house all day, then packed up and headed to the hospital at the prescribed time. Since the water birth room was open and several other people wanted it, I went ahead and checked in. It was, as Mr. Dee said, "The Mac Daddy Labor Suite". Everything looked and felt good, my doula showed up with cookies, the whole fam was hanging out. Time went on, but contractions did not pick up, and I was threatened with pitocin. No!!! So they left me and Mr. Dee alone for an hour and we... eh... got things going with natural oxytocin. Things started progressing, contractions got really difficult about 8pm. I was walking, trying lots of different positions, doula was helping with foot rubs and encouragement. I didn't think i'd want Mr. Dee in the room with me, but I could not let him out of my sight. Poor guy didn't eat for 12 hours!
Hit transition while in the labor tub, and it was the worst couple of hours of my life. I thought it would be physically painful, but the emotional pain was absolutely unbelievable. I have never felt worse! Got out of the tub and had that lovely 20 minutes of normalcy before pushing set in. Started pushing at 1am. Contractions got further and further apart, all the way to 17 minutes. Doula used peppermint oil in between contractions to relax me, and time stretched out forever in a weird peppermint dreamland. I will love peppermint forever now! I was on the bed and pushing, pushing, pushing, but we couldn't quite crown. Finally, around 5am, I pushed with everything I had and screamed and screamed and screamed, and there was this quiet, thoughtful silence, and the midwife said... "You wouldn't be having a bald baby, would you?" To which I responded, "There's no way-- I was hairy as a monkey, and the amniotic fluid was full of black baby hair!" So they checked me and determined that the baby was in complete breech, sitting indian style, and would not be coming out the natural way. They didn't tell me at the time, but with every contraction, meconium was just oozing out of me, and they were actually very worried and had the respiratory team prepped.
The room went from 3 women, soft lighting, music, aromatherapy, woman power... to bright fluorescent lights, 10 men in scrubs, clicking machines and frantic concern. I was briefed on the dangers of c-sections and told to make a choice. I remember whining and crying and begging and pleading for the baby not to be breech and to not have an epidural, IV or section, but I finally said, "Do whatever is necessary to save my life and that of the baby," and then I just gave in, signed the papers and lost all control, which was kind of a relief. They put in the IV, rolled me into surgery, gave me fentanyl to chill me out, gave me an epidural, and I started going numb and cracking jokes once all the needlework was done. They velcroed my hands down and put up a 4 foot tall screen and started slicing. My husband kept popping around the screen with helpful tidbits, such as, "Dude, it looks like a Romero film! There's blood everywhere!" and "Your intestines are just sitting on the table. Just SITTING THERE." Then the baby was out and squawking and we forgot everything else.
She was big and healthy and alert, with APGAR scores of 9/9 . They brought her around to see me, and she put her little hand on my cheek, and I just fell in love and busted out crying and forgot the previous 24 hours of hell. Mr. Dee went to the nursery with her for bathing and testing and to make sure she didn't get VitK, HepB or eye gel. His first statement about her was, "She already has bigger baby toenails than you do! She has my toes!" So they sewed me up tight, wheeled me into recovery and brought me my baby after 2 very rude phone calls.
Mr. Dee fell asleep on the floor of the hospital recovery room, and lord only knows what sorts of diseases he has now. Mom stayed with me and baby while she nursed like a champ for the first time. This kid is a barracuda! My dad had to leave the room at the first show of nip, but he smiled like a jack-o-lantern to see his first grandchild. The rest is all recovery and learning the baby and alternately being really, really elated and rather maudlin/traumatized by the whole experience. I knew labor would be painful, but I had no idea how much of the pain was emotional. I felt like the protagonist of a good 80's heroic/sci-fi movie, battling his demons in a dark swamp. I'm really glad I had the natural labor experience, or at least 98% of it, but the c-section was actually more enjoyable. We got home on Thursday and have been snoozing, snuzzling, chilling and being outright bored ever since. So huzzah for the internet!
Cleo is an amazing baby-- I think she stayed in an extra week to enjoy cable and room service, because she doesn't seem as young as she is. She's quiet, alert, funny, sweet, easy to read, not prone to crying, adaptable and enjoys eating and pooing very much. As do we all, right? She's now lounged across my lap on a Boppy pillow, sleeping like a baby (?) and happy as a clam with a full belly.
Life is good.
It's so neat to share my story after reading everyone else's for the bulk of August. And I missed so many congratulatory threads while in the hospital! Paige, it's almost your turn!!
