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Week by Week

Baby Girl

Here is a birth story coming from Lincoln, Nebraska:

I had a somewhat difficult pregnancy with preterm labor beginning in the 32nd week and trying to finish up my last year in college with a major in nursing. I had many long hours on my feet at the hospital doing nursing clinical. The evening of April 21, 1997, 2am, I was at Saint Elizabeth Community Health Center (the hospital which I was to give birth in) doing clinical work in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit when I was asked to go to a delivery and do integrated care (care given to the newborn right after it is born). I went to the delivery and as I stood watching this woman push her baby out I felt a strange tugging feeling between my legs and then a gush of warm fluid-my water had broken! I was not due until May 1st but I was in the 38th week so this was O.K.-considered full term by my nurse midwife. I quietly left the delivery leaving the care up to the other nurses present and went to the nursery to call my midwife. Because I was not having contractions my midwife said I could go home-then she changed her mind and told me to go get on the monitor-and I was having contractions about 1 minute apart-although evidently not very painful. The nurse did a vaginal exam and found that I was 2cm dilated, 70% effaced and leaking light meconium stained amniotic fluid. By this time it was 3 am and I called my husband to tell him my water had broken and that he needed to call my parents for a ride to the hospital because I had our only car. He arrived at the hospital around 3:30 and contractions were beginning to get painful. I was up and walking the halls (stopping occasionally to do my Lamaze breathing when a contraction hit) until about 4:30 then I tried to get some rest. I was checked and around 4 cm. I rested until about 6am when the contractions became quite painful and I needed to continue breathing through them-it was just me and my husband. I began asking when I could get into the water and the nurse checked me (I was about 5 1/2 cm) and said she would call my midwife. The midwife said she would not be there for awhile because she needed to shower but said I could get in the water. I got into the water and the contractions became much stronger and more painful-I continued with my Lamaze until I could stand being in the water no longer and wanted out-I wanted medication! I got out of the tub around 730 and the nurse said she could not give me medication because she could not get ahold of my midwife-she had left to come to the hospital already. The nurse checked me and I about 8cm-the dreaded transition. I got into bed in the side lying position and had my eyes closed breathing through contractions. My midwife arrived and began setting up supplies and occasionally rubbing my back and whispering in my ear "work with the contractions". I cried through contractions and needed frequent drinks of water for my dry mouth. My husband was a wonderful support helping me get on track when I began to panick. Soon I was 9 1/2 cm and I was allowed to push-I pushed for about an hour when the baby's heart rate dropped and it was necessary to move fast. I was asked to push absolutely as hard as I could and her head kept bobbing in and out and finally appeared with the rest of her body following shortly after (born at 8:50 am April 22nd). She was laid on my tummy (we didn't know it was going to be a she) and when the cord stopped pulsing my husband cut our link. She breastfed for awhile and then I got in the bathtub with her and my husband and I gave her a bath (she still loves her baths til this day). She weighed in at 6.6 and 20 1/2 inches and had lots of dark hair. I took a week off from school, I needed a little rest and had to allow my ten perineal stitches to heal. I resumed my school work a week later and graduated May 9th with my class. Today, our little girl is growing like a weed and making her parent's lives very interesting.