A Mother's Day gift for Sam

I'm sitting in our labor and delivery room at the Loudoun Community Midwife Center watching my beautiful wife rest peacefully after five hours of rough contractions (followed by an epidural).  It's 7:30AM on Mother's Day, May 11th, 2014.

Yesterday Sam was 10 days overdue.  We were scheduled to come in last night so that she could be checked and receive Cervidil (for the cervical ripening), because the midwife center has a policy stipulating that they have to induce when the mother is more than 10 days overdue.  During her previous checkup (on Thursday) Sam was not dilated at all and she had not felt any contractions, despite being overdue.  Last night I watched uncomfortably (because it was so uncomfortable for Sam) as two different nurses checked her cervix.  She was dilated to 2cm and she was a 5 on the Richter scale.  Just kidding.  I don't understand all this birthing stuff.  She was a 5 on some kind of birthing scale, so when the nurse called the main midwife (Margie), she said that Sam didn't need the Cervidil and she could go home to get a good night of sleep before receiving the Pitocin for the induction.  I keep calling it pertussis, but I think that's a disease.  We were told to be back around 8:00AM to start the induction.  They said they might have to insert a balloon in Sam's nether regions in order to widen Douglas' escape route.

They also told Sam that she was having contractions every 5-10 minutes, but she couldn't feel them.

We were very happy to not have to do the Cervidil and to be able to go home to sleep before the big day.  Well, we thought we were going to sleep.  I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about Sam, the baby, and what kind of videos I would make when Baby O arrives.  Yes, thinking about videos and photographs keeps me up at night.  Weird, I know.

At 1:30AM Sam started having harder contractions.  She let me rest until about 2:30AM, at which point she told me to start getting things ready.  I prepared some food (mostly for me, because they feed the mother here), took a shower, made the bed, and carried things back and forth to the car, all while Sam was bending over in pain every 3-4 minutes.  At 4:00AM she decided it was time to head back to the birthing center.  Despite the pain, we were (are) elated that the baby is coming on his own.  Sam didn't want to be induced.  Our prayers were answered.

The rough contractions continued until Sam asked for the epidural.  By that time she was already dilated to 7-8cm.  At 6:30AM they broke her water to help the baby along.  Now we wait.  They told me to try to get some sleep.  Ha!  The baby is coming any time now and I'm freezing in here.  No sleep for me.  Sam and the baby are stable, so I'm going to lie down (on my chair/pull-out bed) and think about making videos.

I forgot to mention Roy Hall.  Sam was told that she needed to get a good meal in before coming to the midwife center last night, because she wouldn't be able to eat anything all night after receiving the Cervidil.  I looked up places to eat near the midwife center and found one called Not Your Average Joe's (http://www.notyouraveragejoes.com).  When we arrived I told our waitress (Emma) that the reason we were there was to eat a "last supper" before going to have a baby, and the reason we picked that particular place was due to its proximity to the birthing center.  Emma told her manager (Roy) and he came over to tell us that he wanted to pay for our dinners on Mother's Day.  He asked us to call and talk to him directly, and he would get us whatever we wanted, to be picked up at a time convenient for us.  Because Mother's Day is on Sunday I asked if the same offer would be available on Monday instead (we'll be here at least two days anyway).  He readily agreed to Monday, probably because Mother's Day is going to be crazy busy for him.  So thank you, Roy Hall, for your kindness.  Sam filled up on a house-roasted turkey bit and the delicious-looking "peanut butter thing" (peanut butter and chocolate chunks folded into vanilla ice cream and rolled in Oreo cookie crumbs, topped with fresh whipped cream and drizzled with hot chocolate and caramel sauces).  I ate butter-nut squash.  Nothing else.  I have to be really careful with what I eat these days because I have multiple hemorrhoids.  Oh, the irony.  Sam is pregnant and I have hemorrhoids.  How's that for sympathetic pregnancy?

It's 8:30AM now.  Did I mention that Sam only gets to suck on ice chips right now?  Boring.  I bet she's thinking about Peanut Butter Thing.

Hmm, now it's 8:35AM and they just gave Sam a shot of Terbutaline.  Apparently the baby's heart rate is down.  They say he's not responding well to the contractions.  Now they're talking about a C-section if he doesn't start responding better soon.  Not good.

It's 8:45AM.  Sam tried to push the baby out, but he's being stubborn.  I held one of her legs while she pushed.  She pushed hard.  His heart rate is too low.  They just wheeled her out to take her to wherever they do c-sections.  I'm alone in the room right now, waiting for someone to come back here to dress me so I can join Sam.  I don't like not being with her.

Daniel Douglas Ogden was born at 8:54AM.  He weighed in at 9 pounds 3 ounces.  He is 23 inches long.  I got dressed up in the hospital outfit and went into the c-section room right after he was born.  What a neat feeling to walk in the room and hear him exercising his vocal chords.  They told me to "look away" right AFTER I saw what they were doing to Sam.  Wow.

Funny fact about the c-section experience:  The anesthesiologist asked Sam where she is from.  When she answered "Utah," he showed her his identification badge.  The name on it?  Joseph Smith.

Now we're in the postpartum room where we'll stay for the next three days.

Happy Mother's Day to my dear wife!  I respected mothers before this experience.  That respect has deepened immensely.

 I will make myself heard!

 Red Potato - post bath

I'm not happy with you!  Never bathe me again!