Wednesday evening - Wednesday night, really - I had a soccer game that started at 10:10 p.m., and I had to play. We'd lost several one goal games this season, and we were playing the worst team in the league. I wanted to be in on a win, doggone it.
I had my phone, and first babies take their time anyway, right? And, besides, Adam wasn't due until the 28th. Well, for the most part, everything went according to plan. We won easily, and the phone didn't ring. So far, so good. When I got home, Jean was in bed because that's what people do when they don't have soccer games scheduled to start after 10 p.m., but what she didn't tell me was that she had been having widely spaced contractions since about 11 p.m. (right about when our game ended). So I crawled into bed and tried to sleep, eventually succeeding around 12:50 or so.
1:10 a.m.
Jean: "My water broke."
Me: "Hhmmph?"
Jean: "I think I'll take a shower."
Me: "Hhmmph."
Jean: "Should I call the doctor yet?"
Me: "Hhmmph."
I gradually roused from my stupor and started timing the contractions. They were all over the place - anywhere from 2-10 minutes apart and of varying intensities. Jean called the hospital, and they told her to come in but not to rush. I showered and grabbed my bag. We packed me some snacks, loaded the car, and headed out at 3 a.m. We checked in. Jean was at 2 cm.
Five hours later (8:30), Jean was at 3 cm. We decided to wait a couple of hours before deciding whether or not to give Adam a little help. Jean had wanted to give birth as naturally as possible, but when the water breaks early, your options become more limited. After about 12 hours, infection becomes a serious concern, for instance. Anyhoo, not much was happening (light to moderate contractions every 5-7 minutes), so we decided to accept Pitocin at 11 a.m.
Pitocin tends to make the contractions more intense and more frequent. It worked as advertised. The problem then was the freaking pain. Jean's body was doing in two hours what it should have done over 5-6 hours. She handled it amazingly well, but it was just too much, and we requested an epidural, which was administered between 1:15 and 1:30 p.m. At that point, they checked Jean, and she was at 7 cm.
The last couple of hours of labor flew by. After the epidural was administered, we welcomed Jean back to sanity, and she was able to speak in complete sentences devoid of any profanity at all.
The nurse recommended that I get a bite to eat at the cafeteria so I went downstairs and quickly wolfed down the worst cheeseburger and fries in the history of Western civilization and got back to the room for showtime.
Around 3:30, the doctor arrived to evaluate the situation. With only a couple of pushes, Adam thought he was ready, but the doctor knew better. He was rotated the wrong way (he should have been facing the floor, but he facing the ceiling). As the room quickly filled with hospital staff, the doctor was able to get Adam oriented better, but they still needed the forceps to guide him out. Also, he had managed to get his cord tangled around his neck, so the time was now. They had Jean give a few more pushes, and, before you knew it, he was out and announcing his presence with authority.
After the initial cleaning and testing and weighing and measuring, they had to take him to the nursery for a couple of hours because he had breathed some of the fluid. That gave Jean a little recovery time. Forceps are great for guiding babies, but they're hell on moms. She needed lots of stitches. That's going to slow her down some over the next few weeks, but she's already feeling much better. All I know is she's moving around a heck of a lot better than I think she should.
In the two hours Adam was being monitored, I was able to visit him in the nursery, and I got to experience what for me was the neatest thing in the history of things. The first time I spoke to him, he seemed to recognize my voice, immediately making eye contact and proving in the process that his ears and eyes were in good working order. For the first time in a while, I was speechless. Almost. After getting that reaction, I wasn't going to stop for anything.
They brought him back to the room at 6 p.m., and we all got to know each other a little better, which is pretty much what we've been doing ever since.
Jean, middle of the night, before epidural
Jean, mid-afternoon, after epidural
Yeah, Jean's pretty much my hero.
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