Varrin, Tracy Guest, and I arrived, as scheduled, at Clovis Community Hospital at 3:00 p.m. We were admitted to maternity at 3:15 p.m. and arrived in our room 505 at 3:25 p.m. It was time to change into a lovely hospital gown and climb into bed to wait for Dr. Peters arrival. He was scheduled to arrive between 4:30-5:00 p.m. to break my water and get this show on the road.
At 3:40 p.m., an OB tech named Jeanine came in and got me hooked up to an external fetal monitor. The monitoring showed that I was contracting between 4-7 minutes apart and the contractions were lasting approximately 50 seconds. Peggy, our first OB nurse, came in next to take my medical history and generally keep us laughing during the waiting period. I was feeling some contractions but all were mild and felt no different than the last 4 weeks worth of labor pains. In the meantime, Paul Guest showed up and he, Tracy & Varrin all ate in front of me. The nerve! <smile> We all played hearts to kill time but I was not able to concentrate at all on the game.
Dr. Peters did arrive at 5:43 p.m. and announced, "Fun's over! Now it's time to work!" He broke my water after checking me and discovering that I had made some progress. When I went into his office that morning I was 4cm dialated and 90% effaced (cervix thinned out). From this exam he determined that I was now 5cm and 90% effaced, with the baby now at a minus 1 station. It appeared that she had decided she didn't want to come out and was now climbing back up. Ha-ha.
At 6:17 p.m., Peggy made 2 attempts at putting an I.V. in and was unsuccessful. She decided that she better get help, rather than trying a 3rd time. The I.V. was necessary to get the fluids in me before giving me the epidural that I had already requested. In the meantime, the anesthesiologist, Dr. Wang, came in to talk with me and remind me of the risks involved with the epidural. He ultimately was able to help put in the I.V. at 6:38 p.m. and then at 6:52 p.m. I sat up to have the epidural administered. I layed back down after that proceedure at 6:58 p.m. It took only one beautiful, easy, pain-free try as opposed to the 3 tries it took with Edison. Peggy checked me at Dr. Peter's request and I was now 6cm dialated.
SIDEBAR: Dr. Peters was not on call on the 8th, but was in the hospital doing rounds and wanted to be involved with my delivery. He promised that if I was completely dialated when they checked me this time, he would stay and deliver. Unfortunately, I was only 6cm and he had to go on home. We teased him and told him to tell Mrs. Peters hi from us!
At 7:32 p.m., OB nurse Darlene came onboard and the first thing she did was check me. I was 9+ cm so she decided to call Dr. Kroeker (the on-call doctor... and Dr. Peters' daughter). I had been delighted with her when I saw her in the office during my pregnancy. She has the same sweet bedside manor as Dr. Peters and we are glad she was the doctor on call if he couldn't be there. Dr. Kroeker was called at 8:06 p.m. and arrived at 8:38 p.m. At 8:44 p.m. I started pushing and the head was visible within a couple of pushes. It took only 4 contractions worth of pushing for Erin to be born.
Erin Michelle made her appearance at 8:55 p.m. weighing in at 7 lbs. 8 oz., length 20-1/4", head circumference 14" and chest circumference 13". She was gently layed on my belly and I cried and cried. I escaped episiotomy free and only had one small tear that needed a couple of stitches. So, basically I was no worse for the wear. I was feeling pretty good shortly after delivery and look back on the whole experience of laboring and delivering Erin fondly. With two beautifully smooth deliveries under my belt, Paul, Tracy & Varrin have now dubbed me: BORN TO BIRTH!
The only disappointment to our entire experience this time around was on the post-partum side. We were moved to our room and arrived about 11:15 p.m. Unfortunately we were informed that things were so busy at the hospital that in this "privacy free zone" as Varrin calls it, fathers were not allowed to stay over night. So Varrin had to go home for the evening and Erin and I were left to fend for ourselves. We had a good night of bonding just the two of us, but both of us would have rather had him there.
Varrin did come back the next morning though, and we had our fabulous "Special Lunch for Two" around 12:00 p.m. We were visited in the hospital by our good friend Charlottle Graham and Dr. Peters came by to see how we were all doing. Dr. Kroeker and the pediatric office came by to check up on Erin and I in the morning and we were both declared, "Doing well!"
We decided early after delivery that we were game to go home as soon as possible. Our wish came true and we were able to discharge around 5:00 p.m. on the 9th, Edison's 1st birthday!! A new baby sister... what a birthday present! Grampy, Grammy & Edison came to visit us in the hospital and we all walked out together.
The first thing Edison did to his baby sister was slap her in the face. The first thing Erin did when shown a picture of her big brother shortly after her birth was cry! Hopefully this isn't an indication of things to come <smile>.
Welcome Erin! We love you and think you are mighty adorable!
