My Labor Days...Aaron

In honor of Labor Day, I'm going to write my labor stories, for posterity!

Aaron, born June 6, 2004

It was the weekend of a cousins' reunion with Chris's mom's cousins. We spent the day Saturday at his parent's house, hanging out with some cousins we had never met before. We watched the news coverage of the death of Ronald Reagan. I laid around most of the day, even napping in the recliner some. I kept noticing mild contractions during the day but figured it was just the Braxton Hicks contractions and no biggie. After all, I was only 39 weeks pregnant, and people always told me you didn't have your first baby early. I naively believe I had one more week to go!

We got home that evening, and I got Chris to take a belly shot since I had not really done that the entire pregnancy, and I realized I might not be pregnant much longer. My contractions were getting a little more uncomfortable, but I was still smiling.

I tried to go to bed that night, but couldn't get comfortable for all the belly scrunching that was going on and the pain that came with it. Chris started scrambling around, looking for the booklet we had gotten at childbirth class, because suddenly we had both forgotten everything we had learned about when you're supposed to go to the hospital. We realized we needed to time the contractions, and when we did, they were 5 minutes apart! Time to pack up and go!!

I think it was around 1 am when we got to the hospital...or maybe 11 pm? All I know is we decided not to call the family in the middle of the night, because we knew it would be a while. I was only at 2 cm, I think. My contractions got pretty painful, and I got my epidural around 4 cm, maybe around 4 am or so. (Wow how these memories have faded!) Around 6 am we started calling family to tell them where we were. Chris's parents rushed to the hospital, and my aunt and uncle followed shortly later. All morning we just had family time in the delivery room...I was feeling fine with the epidural (just tired from being up all night), and I wasn't progressing very quickly.

Sometime around 2 pm the decision was made to do a c-section, because I had gotten to 7 cm, was progressing slowly, and Aaron was showing signs of going into distress. I cried and cried, and cried some more. I was totally unprepared for a c-section. It just never occurred to me that I might have to have one--I had even wanted to skip that week of our childbirth course! I remember after our family all left the room and I was waiting to be rolled back to the operating room, our pastor came in to pray with us. I tried to maintain my composure, but as soon as he walked in the room, I started sobbing, "I...have...to...have...a...c-section!" He was a little taken back but prayed with us nonetheless.

The extra anesthesia they put in my epidural gave me the shakes really bad--I could hardly keep my arms from flying up off the operating table. All my nervousness was not helping that situation either. We were not in the operating room for long, when they pulled out Aaron and I heard him cry. I started sobbing tears of relief and joy and emptiness. It's the strangest feeling-- such mixed emotions to suddenly be separated from this being who has inhabited your body for 9 months. I was so excited to meet him!

As soon as they took Aaron out, the anesthesiologist put something in my IV to help with my shakes, and my body immediately relaxed. The next couple of hours are pretty foggy...I was pretty out of it, but I remember getting to hold Aaron as they wheeled me to my postpardum recovery room. I got to breastfeed him for the first time, then our family came in to meet him. he was so tiny--5 lbs 6 oz, 19 1/2 inches long. In fact, his weight was just below some threshold the hospital has, so he had to go in a little isolette for 12 hours (they initially told me 24 hours).

So after the family left, the nurses took Aaron to the nursery, and I was pretty shaken up about this. I had planned on having him room in with me the whole time! I was worried about my poor little guy. But then they gave me drugs and I slept for 12 hours straight (only slightly wakened when they came in for blood pressure and temp checks). When I woke on Monday morning, I immediately asked to see my baby. They said he was doing great and could come out of the isolette early. I was so relieved! He was such a sweet little baby.

Claire's story...up next!!