###3:00 AM: Setup###
It’s about 3:00 in the morning (on Tuesday) and I’m at the hospital. *Finally.* Judi is in bed, asleep, about nine centimeters dialated, and the nurse just said that we’re going to be delivering this baby once and for all pretty soon.
A recap: after school ended today (Monday), I called Judi at home and asked her if she had decided on a date for inducement since the school needed to know whether to keep my substitute for Tuesday or not. She told me that she had decided on Thursday, so I told the school secretary to let the sub go because I would be in on Tuesday and Wednesday before Judi was induced Thursday morning.
When I got home, it was time to set the table, get dinner ready, eat, clear the table, wash the dishes, get the kids to bed, etc. By the time we finally had a chance to talk, it was 7:30, and Judi revealed that she had been having pretty consistent contractions, every ten minutes since 6:15 or so. Of course, the doctors (and the books, and the old wives) say that nothing is really happening until contractions come every five minutes, so we didn’t worry too much. Plus, Judi has been having contractions all week, so this was no biggie.
Once the kids were asleep and the the kitchen was cleaned up, we sat down on the couch for what has become our regular ritual of watching TV and noting that the contractions are too slow. We watched The Apprentice, which I had never seen before, because my friend, Daniel is on this season (it was the season premiere and, despite the fact that his team lost the first challenge, he was not fired. Woo!), and then were pleasantly surprised to see that the ReplayTV had recorded the two-hour season finale of CSI from last season (the one where Nick gets kidnapped and buried alive).
It was sometime during The Apprentice that Judi commented that the contractions were getting pretty uncomfortable. I began to record how often they occured and, sometime during the first hour of CSI, we noticed that they had been coming steadily, every ten mintues, for two hours. Judi had called the doc earlier, and been told that regular contractions every ten minutes was good enough to go to the hospital, so we called my Mom and had her come over to watch the kids in case we had to leave.
Mind you, my Dad had come over the night before… and gone home an hour later, Nothing stops contractions like inconveniencing others.
Long story short, as soon as I got off the phone with Mom, the pain got worse and came faster. By the time she arrived 10 mintues later, Judi was having contractions every three minutes and it was quickly time to get to the hospital. I noticed, once we got into the car, that I had no gas (way to go, Seth), but Judi didn’t think it was a good idea to stop, so I just hustled her off to St. Luke’s. I ran two lights and did about 85 on Metcalf, but since it was after 11:30 in Kansas, there was nobody on the roads to notice.
Judi was pretty uncomfortable by the time we got here, but we got her inside, undressed and into bed, which all helped. By the time she had an epidural put in, it was after 2:00 and she’s now sleeping through the contractions, at 3:20 AM. The last exam put her at 9 cm, so we’re close. As soon as the doctor finishes with the delivery in the next room, she’ll come in here and we’ll get the proverbial show on the proverbial road.
###4:15 AM: False alarm###
Judi was up in the birthing… contraption and there were at least 6 people in the room; everyone thought that it was time to have this baby, except the baby. The doctor decided that we needed to give this kid a little more time and prescribed a period of rolling from one side to the other for Judi.
Can you picture that day in medical school? In between emergency tracheotomy and neurosurgery, they stick in the bit about pregnant ladies rolling around in their beds. So, it’s now about 4:30 and Judi is back to waiting, except now they’ve turned the epidural down so she can feel things a little more. She’s a trooper.
###4:55 AM: Tick Tock###
Still waiting. Turns out that the kid is “sunny-side up,” which means that (s)he is positioned to come out facing the wrong direction, so we’re waiting to see if time, a little pitocin and gravity will convince this little sucker to turn. If not, the Doc will either manipulate the kid manually during delivery or just let him/her come on out facing the wrong way. So, we’re still waiting… and now it’s 5:00 AM.
###5:25 AM: It’s a Boy!###
So, after 11 hours of difficult labor, Judi popped out a boy with – literally – a single push. She’s incredible.
The little guy came out with a head of black hair (just like the other three) and was large enough to prompt an “Oh my!” from the OB-GYN, the pediatrician and the nurse who passed him from one to the other. He weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces and is 23 inches long; not quite as heavy as Hillel, but taller). He’s been out in the world for all of 20 minutes, and he’s already passed his Apgar with flying colors, had his picture taken, and figured out how to nurse.
Obviously a genius. 🙂
###8:30 AM: Life goes on###
The little guy as born about three hours ago. Judi and I have both napped and he is now sleeping beneath the little toaster oven they brought into the room for him. She and he are both good, and I’m heading for home to shower, get changed, eat something and post this to the website. Can you believe there’s no wi-fi at the hospital?