Condes Family Chronicles: We'll start at the very beginning...

...a very good place to start!

Since several have asked about Caleb's birth story and I'd like to make note of the details I may not remember a few years from now, let's give it a whirl! Be warned - it's long.

Long before I was even pregnant, I had decided I wanted to avoid pain medications in delivery if at all possible. Some people don't want drugs... I just didn't want to be told to stay in bed :) Because of this desire, I was terrified of being induced and prayed and begged the baby would come on his own terms. I was scheduled to be induced 1 week and 5 days after my due date, but at a routine check 1 week and 2 days late, it was discovered that the amniotic fluid levels were low and I was sent straight to the hospital.

(Phone call to George...)

"Honey, do you have any important meetings this afternoon?"

"Ummm.... none that important!"

Funny how God prepares you for things you don't even know are coming. Even though George expected to work the entire week (and it was only Tuesday), that morning he had meetings with several people around the office to bring them up to speed on what they would need to cover when he was out the following week. After he and I got off the phone he walked over to his boss' office and said, "Remember that conversation we just had 20 minutes ago? Yeah, I'm leaving now!"

With my midwife's blessing (Lia), I headed to Panera for a quick lunch since I didn't expect to be eating much for awhile. Made a few phone calls and walked to the hospital, praying George would be there very soon because honestly I was scared out of my mind at this point from all the horror stories I'd heard about Pitocin!

I checked into the hospital at 12:30 and George was there by 1:00. Shortly thereafter we were settled into our Labor & Delivery room (with a lovely view of the parking garage across the street - yuck) and got my IV going around 2:30pm. I was hoping to get some rest the first few hours since I was expecting a long night, but every time I'd doze off somebody else would come by to "just ask a few questions" - anesthesiology student, anesthesiology resident, nurse, midwife, etc. I tried to distract myself from all the waiting with TV and movies, but who are we kidding... me? TV? Yeah, that didn't work so well, but thankfully around 5:30 I at least could feel enough to know we were on our way when Eileen left as the midwives were switching shifts.

Around 7:30 Mike (George's brother) took his lunch break so we asked him to stop by and keep us company for awhile since this was the part of labor we expected to spend at home and had all sorts of movies, games, etc. lined up waiting to distract us. Sitting in a hospital bed waiting for IV meds to kick in wasn't exactly MY plan... :) I remember distinctly that while he was there I went from feeling enough to know there was indeed medication in my IV to beginning to get more uncomfortable. After he left I had the nurse put my monitors on telemetry and we started walking the halls for most of the next two hours.

Carol was the overnight midwife and she came by around 10:00 to talk with George and I about breaking my water. We agreed that since I was GBS negative the risk was extremely low, and since it might speed up labor by 30-60 minutes we decided to go for it. I tried not to focus too much on the clock throughout my labor, but do remember noticing it was about 10:30 at this point. I was 5 cm dilated and not yet fully effaced.

When you take childbirth education classes they generally say you average 1 cm of dilation per hour of labor, so when things got immensely more painful and intense after my water was broken I started to waffle a bit on my desire not to have pain meds. If I truly had five hours plus pushing still ahead of me, this was getting really rough. I headed to the shower for awhile to see if the water would help me manage the pain. After all, this wasn't just pain for pain's sake... labor is pain with a purpose, so I tried to keep remembering all I had read and been taught about relaxing through the contractions and focus on meeting the beautiful baby I'd been so anxious to see! I was sitting on a chair in the shower and when the contraction came I would press my left arm into the shower wall, squeeze George's hand with the right, and had him putting counter-pressure on my hip. Maybe a strange combination, but at the time it sure felt good!!

Around 11:30 they nurse asked me to get back in bed for a few minutes so they could adjust my monitors. I had started talking to George about considering an epidural, so we agreed we'd have Carol check to see how I was progressing. If I was progressing well, no pain meds. If progress was slow... we'd talk again. Being in bed at this point was pure torture but I was excited to learn I was up to 7 cm, which meant 2 cm of progress in just one hour! If you doubt my claim of torture, just ask George... I was a huge pain anytime they had me get into bed!! I had sent him to find something in the suitcase but every time a contraction came I would just start snapping my fingers until he came back to press on my hip again!! When I realized what I was doing I felt really bad, but he told me this was the one time I could snap my fingers at him and he would just do whatever I needed, no questions asked :)

They finally let me get back out of bed (phew, almost gave in to the epidural!) and I asked them to make arrangements to bring the tub in and get it set up in the room. I knew I was reaching the end of my patience with the shower and was grateful to only have 3 centimeters remaining. Since my body had taken over so intensely after they broke my water, they also turned down the Pitocin - praise the Lord! Definitely was motivated by the knowledge the tub was coming and I'd soon get to rest in the water!! Funniest part about this stretch of my labor was when I realized I was dozing off between contractions.... while sitting on a chair in the shower. Good thing George had his arm around my shoulders so I never fell over! Wouldn't that have been a sight!

Well wouldn't you know they had just come to tell me the tub was filled and ready when the nurse came in and started messing with the monitor on the baby's heart rate. Since I was still on telemetry, I could hear her talking back and forth with another nurse who was by the computer while my nurse was working on my monitor. A few minutes later Carol came in and I could hear them discussing the monitor while they adjusted it. I had just announced that I wanted to move to the tub after the next contraction had passed when they told me that I needed to head to bed instead because there was an issue with the baby's heart rate monitor that needed to be corrected first. This is where things start to get a little foggy for me, but this is what I've been able to piece together from my memory and what George told me afterwards...

When they had me get back in bed, Carol hooked up the internal heart rate monitor to the baby's head, which confirmed what they'd been suspecting... baby's heart rate had been in the 80's for 15-20 minutes. They had me on my right side... no change... left side... no change... hands and knees... no change... and about that time realized I was at 9 cm (again, 2 centimeters in one hour!) so told me that with the next contraction I would bear down. Excuse me? You want me to push? But what about the tub that I can see over your shoulder taunting me? (Still not fully processing everything that's happening...)

Next thing I know, there were about 20 people in the room. Midwife, OB who oversees my midwife and steps in when complications arise, OB resident, pediatrician and a few pediatric nurses, plus several more L&D nurses. Again not fully processing, but did realize this meant it was time for baby to be born and starting to set in that we likely wouldn't get baby placed straight on my chest. By this time they had an oxygen mask on me to stimulate the baby's heartrate as well. I had George in my left ear, our primary nurse (Maura) in my right ear, and countless others completely surrounding my bed. Some were telling me to push... others were counting... doctor saying "this baby needs to come out NOW! push harder than you ever thought possible!" They were using the vacuum to help him him out, and George said at one point when the suction released the doctor fell back a step.

Nothing like intensity from the doctor to motivate a mommy!!

Less than 30 minutes later (1:40am) our precious boy made his entrance. Still a bit of a whirlwind as they clamped and cut his cord and rushed him over to the pediatricians, but we were grateful to hear him crying his lungs out. After all the scary stuff and rush delivery, his APGARs were 8 and 9!! Way to go, Caleb :) Through the fog I heard someone on the other side of the room say "9 pounds!" It didn't quite register with me at the time how large that was since so many babies in our family have been 10 pounds plus, but hey, not too bad for my first one, eh?