We pulled up to the front entrance of Evanston Northwestern a little after 9AM. We had forgotten that you could pull right up to the Women's Hospital entrance, which would have saved me the long hallway trip in the wheelchair. I was pushed by a very friendly security guy who wouldn't stop talking about his own four kids. When he pushed me up to the labor and delivery desk he shouted "ladies- we're havin' a baby!" I felt badly that I wasn't able to thank him.
They put us in a room and asked me to put the gown on and left us alone. We were able to get my boots and pants off, but by then I was feeling different- I told Pete to go get someone. He shouted into the hallway "I think we're having a baby in here?!?" and a nurse came in. At that point they checked me and I was dilated to 5 1/2 cm. The midwife wasn't there yet. The contractions were so hard and fast that I told Pete I thought I wanted to do an epidural. I hardly had the energy to put into feeling guilty about it. They started trying to put an IV in me (unsuccessfully) and I kept trying to cope with the contractions for about 10 minutes. At this point I was unable to open my eyes anymore, but I heard the midwife come in. "Kathy- I think I want the epidural!" I said. She said okay, and then checked me only to find out I was at 10 cm. She said "Betsy- we're going to start pushing. This baby's coming in about 15 minutes." There was much noise and fuss (on my part) and I guess my elbow kept bumping the controls on the bed- causing the t.v. to turn on and off and the foot of the bed to raise and lower. Pete was very good about wiping my sweaty face with a cold washcloth and otherwise being supportive. He estimates that I pushed about seven times. At 10:00 AM on the dot, my baby was born. Pete shouted "it's a girl!" as she was placed on my chest. and we both gazed at Clara with tears and wonder. And now she's a whole week old!
5 comments:
Okay....so now I have tears in MY eyes. What an exciting story. Probably much better to read than to experience....except for the beautiful ending of course. Happy 1 week birthday beautiful little Clara!
Clara is a beauty. Thank you for sharing your birth story us. We are glad to know that it went as well as it did.
Congratulations!
samantha and sofia
ps. we just purchased a new camera, so a video for Henry should be out soon.
I'm so fighting back the tears! You guys are champs! Congratulations on your first week Clara!!
Hi, Betsy, Pete, Henry and Clara, I laughed and I cried when I read this post! Congratulations to all of you on Clara's arrival. From here on in it'll be easy. Honest.
Oh my golly - I loved this post. Read it with welling-up eyes and a curly smile. More congratulations to all of you!
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