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My son's birth story. The journaling is as follows:

"Friday the 10th was my last day at work and I actually ended up leaving early because I didn’t feel well. I was worried I was getting sick because my due date was getting so close and didn’t want to be fighting an illness while going through labor. I took a nap in the afternoon, and later was puttering around the house when at about 7:00 or so I noticed that I wasn’t feeling Lukas move very much. I thought I remembered that you could do a kick count and if you didn’t feel 10 movements in about 2 hours, then you should contact your doctor. I began “counting” but really wasn’t feeling any of the normal feelings, and when I did feel something it was faint and I wasn’t sure if it was real or just in my head since I was concentrating on it so hard.
Finally at about 9:00, I called my doctors office to see if they had any instructions on the recording for that situation. Sure enough, they said to do a kick count and head to the hospital if you didn’t feel 10 kicks within 15 minutes. 15 minutes!?!?!? That’s when I really started to worry. I called Rainer, who had worked the 2nd job at Dominoes, then headed back up to his first job at the bank to do something with the computers after hours. He had just gotten started at the bank, and wanted to know if he could finish before coming down. I was a little miffed about that, but it was going to take him at least an hour to get back home, so I called my friend, Chris.
My emotions were starting to surface by then, and I had to choke back tears of worry as I told her what was going on. She happened to be in the area and on her way home, so she immediately came and picked me up instead. We headed to the hospital, and just as we were pulling into the emergency room parking lot, Lukas got the hiccups! I had never been so glad to feel those little bumps as I was then. But now what? We sat out in the car for a few minutes before finally deciding that I should go in to make sure everything was alright.
While I was registering, Rainer got there. They took us all upstairs to the labor and delivery floor and hooked me up to the monitors. Luke was doing just fine, and the nurse noticed that he had turned toward my back, so maybe that’s why I wasn’t feeling his kicks anymore. She also told me I was having contractions! She made the prediction that we would be back within 24 hours to have him. I was so surprised, and excited!
By now it was at least past midnight, so we went home to bed. Around 3 a.m. I kept waking up and realized that I was getting woken up by contractions and it was happening every 10 minutes on the dot, so I got up to shower and get something to eat before I progressed any further and had to go back to the hospital. I had a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios with sliced banana and had to stop a few times when I had some stronger contractions. I sat down to relax a bit on the couch but after only a few minutes, my nummy breakfast came back up with a vengeance. I threw up so hard, I got those red spots all over my face. After I was done, the contractions subsided to almost nothing. Phooey.
They came and went all day until that evening. I was talking to Candy on the phone and would tell her when I had another one, and eventually she said, “You know, those are coming about 5 minutes apart.” I hadn’t been timing them since they felt too weak to be real contractions. I had been told not to go to the hospital until they’re 5 minutes or less apart for at least an hour and too strong to talk or walk through, and obviously I could talk through them since I was chatting on the phone. Still, they kept coming regularly for over an hour, so I called Rainer to come home and get me.
On our way to the hospital, I kept timing them and as we started to get closer to the hospital, they slowed down to 10 min. apart. Here we go again. Do I go in or go back home? We continued on, and Rainer looked like he was so tired he was going to doze off. I told him I wanted him to take a quick nap as soon as we got to the hospital because I knew I would need him more rested and awake later. We went in and by the time I went through registration and got up to a room again, the contractions had subsided again. Sigh.
My nurse turned out to be Wendy Charron, the wife of one of Rainer’s old friends and a fellow Calvary Chapel member. She started getting me all hooked up to the monitors, but when she laid me back onto my back, there was a big drop in Luke’s heart rate! She quickly had me flip on my side to try to get his heart rate back up and it worked, but it would happen again and Wendy was concerned. She called the doctor on call, which was the new doctor, Dr. Walker. She was also concerned about it and had wanted me started on pitocin to get things going and get him out as soon as possible.
I woke Rainer up, since he had promptly fallen asleep as soon as we got into the room. They broke my water, which was a lot more painful and uncomfortable than I thought it would be, but I was only a little over 3 cm dilated by then so they had to really work at it. Then they attached a more reliable heart rate monitor to the top of Luke’s head, and called for the epidural. We were definitely having a baby soon, but now I was worried about little Lukas!
Rainer tried to support me when I got the epidural, but they had difficulties and Wendy took over. Rainer quickly went back to his little couch to sleep. Getting that epidural was one of the hardest parts of the experience for me. It actually only got me numb on one side, so they had to do it again, which I dreaded. Thankfully it was completely different and a breeze the second time around. They were doing it on the side of the bed that Rainer was facing, and I remember him covering his eyes as he lay on the couch. Ha, ha!
Once the pitocin was going and the contractions started to get stronger, Luke’s heart rate kept dropping and they would rush in the room to flip me again. They gave me some medication to stop the contractions and waited a bit before starting the pitocin up again. That med made me feel awful, making my heart race and causing me to shake all over. This happened a few more times and one time after they gave me the contraction-stopping med, I started to feel funny, like I was going to pass out. I remember looking at the anesthesiologist and saying, “I don’t feel so good…” I guess I didn’t look good either and my stats were dropping so they quickly gave me a shot of epi, (if I remember correctly). Rainer still slept though the whole thing. After calling to him to wake him and fill him in on what was happening a few times, and him just falling back asleep again, I had given up.
Wendy noticed that I was concerned, (and probably that my “support person” was still asleep) so she was so very kind and reassuring. Knowing that I was listening and watching the heart rate on the monitor, she turned it all the way down and away from me so I couldn’t see it, told me she would be watching it like a hawk from the nurses station, and said she wanted me to get some sleep. I actually did fall asleep, but was woken up when his heart rate dropped again and they rushed in to flip me. That was the last straw, and Dr. Walker thought we should do a c-section. It didn’t matter to me what they had to do to take care of Lukas, I was for it.
By then it was about 7 am and they said I would be having the c-section within the half hour, so I woke Rainer again to start calling family. However, since he’d been sleeping through pretty much the whole thing, he didn’t really know what the story was, so I ended up talking to my mom and Candy to fill them in while I was getting prepped for the surgery. I was unhooked from the monitors and wheeled down to the OR and it was a flurry of activity to get everything set up quickly. It was a little overwhelming and I kept looking for Rainer. It seemed like ages and I was about to ask where he was, wondering if they had forgotten to let him in, but was relived when I saw him finally come in and take a seat by my head.
I had seen it done so many times on TV, but the doctors usually explained what they were doing while they were working and Dr. Walker didn’t say anything. I was scared now that Lukas was off the heart monitor and I was flat on my back, the worst position for him. I asked nobody in particular, “Have they started yet? What’s happening now?” but wasn’t sure who would answer me, since I knew Rainer couldn’t look or else he’d probably end up on the floor. The anesthesiologist kindly told me they had started and were about to make final incision and deliver Lukas. I remember listening so intently, just wanting to hear him cry. I couldn’t wait to hear him cry.
All of a sudden, I heard him. At 7:44 am on August 12th, he came out crying strongly and it was the best sound I had ever heard. That was when I lost it and just started sobbing. I heard later that he had immediately peed on the nurse, too. Ha, ha… that’s my boy! They held him over the drape for a split second before taking him over to the warmer to clean him up. I saw glimpses of him when they took him over to the scale, which was in my sight, and I just watched in amazement. It was surreal to me to finally see this little person who was so incredibly close to me, connected to me, but whom I had not yet met. When they had him all wrapped up, they brought him over to his brand new Daddy and he held him up to my face. He kept sticking out his little tongue in a way that I would later learn was what he did when he was hungry and ready to nurse. Daddy held him while they finished with me. I was so relieved, and so tired by then, that I just wanted to fall asleep right there.
They got me moved back onto a bed and started to clean me and everything else up. There were a lot of bloody cloths and sheets and such and I remember poor Rainer standing there holding Lukas, seeing it all, and slooowly turning to face the corner. They wheeled me back to a room, and I remember seeing my mom sitting just outside, waiting anxiously for them to let her in. They didn’t allow anyone in for a little bit while they got me all hooked back up to everything and made sure I was stable. Meanwhile, I was on cloud 9 and wanted to soak in my new little baby. My precious, new little angel who looked just like his Daddy."

It's not really crooked, I just have a hard time taking a good picture of my lo's to post.


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