The Birth Story
It was Friday, January 23, my grandma's birthday. I was already four days late and ready to pop with inducement scheduled for Monday. AJ had gone to his mom's/grandma's for the weekend, so I went to Blockbuster and rented six movies for Aaron and I to watch, relax and help the weekend pass until our baby boy would be born.
When Aaron came home from work that day, he actually asked if I felt like going out to dinner that night. And it sounded like a wonderful idea to have one last "date night" and get out of the house for a bit. So, we went to this wonderful little Italian restaurant, Basillico's, which serve not such a little amount of food. And so, I stuffed my face with Steak Milanese and Fettucine Alfredo - thank goodness we passed on dessert. At this point, I was feeling some contractions, but mild Braxton Hicks had been going on for awhile now, so I didn't really think much of it.
So, we went home and popped in the first movie, Underworld #1. Aaron had the wonderful plan to sleep in on Saturday (for the last time) and go catch a matinee of the new Underworld movie. Things would not end up going as planned. After the movie was over, I got up to get us some brownies that I had made before popping in Underwold #2. As I was cutting the brownies... gush... hmmmm... I wasn't sure what that was. However, it was definitely different than anything that had been going on during my pregnancy, although if it was my water breaking it wasn't quite like you see in the movies. Confused... I turned to Aaron... we turned to the internet. We determined it definitely could have been my water breaking, but many sites suggest to lay down for about 30 minutes than get back up and see if there's more leakage. (Sorry to anyone I'm grossing out with details). So, Aaron, determined to rewatch all of the Underworlds, popped the next one in.
In a half an hour I stood up, and sure enough... I think my water was leaking. We called the doctor and he said to make our way over to Hoag - they'd be expecting us. We took a bit of time, still thinking that they'd probably send us home for a false alarm. But, we packed up, made our way down PCH and arrived at Labor and Delivery where they WERE expecting us... and it had been awhile. So, before checking us in they were going to run a test to see if it wa 
s amniotic fluid. Before they got the test results... we were all sure and they checked us in and we called the folks!
Twenty hours later Leonardo John Campbell was born!
I can honestly say that I would easily do it again. That my labor experience was not all that bad. It was harder taking care of a newborn the first couple of weeks than giving birth (with an epidural). And in that lies about the only horror story of my labor experience.
After a bit of drug-induced rest and pitocin-induced contraction, it was time to get an epidural. I was only 3 or so centimeters dialated and honestly prepared to wait longer and endure more pain before getting the epidural. But, the nurse said "Why wait", Aaron agreed and they called in the Anesthesiologist. Well, he was a young guy. Never get a young Anesthesiologist... that's the lesson I learned. I was sitting up, hunched over, Aaron trying to help me stay still, calm and endure the pain. This guy fumbled around my precious spine for about 20 minutes - in one space and out - in another that he thought worked. When he injected the drugs, I told him I felt it going down my right side, but he said all would be fine. Sure...
Jump to an hour later, my right leg completely numb, my left leg moving freely and my left side in pain. To top it all off, little Baby Leo was sunny-side-up at this point and they had me laying ON my left side to try to turn him. They tried to give me a "bolis" (not sure what it was called) through the epidural to ease the pain and there ensues the vomiting. And, for those who know my husband, he has a very weak stomach! He couldn't even help me in fear he would puke himself.
Hours later, enduring what was the worst pain of my labor, an older woman came in. Not old, but experienced I should say. What an amazing Anesthesiologist - fixed the problem in no time without feeling a thing. So, always get the oldie when it comes to epidurals!
Finally, I was fully dilated - ready to deliver - but wait... the doctor was tied up in a C-section. So, the nurse had me all excited ready to push and we had to wait another hour for the doctor to arrive. The cord was wrapped around baby Leo's body, so his heart rate was dropping when I pushed - we needed the doc there. When he finally arrived, I pushed for about an hour and out he came! Not crying... scaring mama a bit... but all was fine. Daddy cut the umbilical cord... twice, he didn't cut all the way through the first time I guess. And into my arms he came - the most beautiful creature I had ever seen... the new love of my life!
After clean up was finished we called in the family and AJ announced the name to all.
7 lb, 14 oz
21 inches
January 24, 2009
7:13pm
1 comment:
Yeah! Love it! Brought some tears to my eyes. And I hear you on the anaesthesiologist thing, having gone through a very similar experience. See you soon. And thx for FINALLY updating your blog!
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