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Kristin's Birth

My daughter was supposed to be born on July 4th 1994. We were POSITIVE that was the day. Of course, she wasn't on time. This was my first child. She was growing quite rapidly inside. The doctor saw me in his office on the day she was SUPPOSED to arrive. He told me to come back in a week, but didn't expect it to be that long. A week later, I showed up at the doctor's office. He was SO surprized to see me and said that I still hadn't dilated anything. I was at a 1. My doctor told me to come in the next morning at 6am to be induced.

I had been told by many people that being induced was the WORSE way to bring a child into the world. I was very scared. I had been having sex all week in hopes that it would bring on labor. I went on long car drives, took long walks, and even helped my husband move. NOTHING worked. Later that night, my mother and I went bowling. I was going to be induced in the morning and was told not to eat anything past 6pm and here it was at 11pm and I was STARVING. So, I figured it wouldn't hurt to munch on some chinese food. I ate some hot and spicy food and went home to rest up for the next morning. As I laid there, my stomach was aching. I had to keep running to the bathroom. I felt like the chinese food went right through me. I did this for almost an hour. I was running to the bathroom, holding my stomach figuring it was the chinese food. Never had I imagined that I could actually be in labor. I mean, come on. I was going to be induced in less than 6 hours. My father was so worried about me that he took me to the doctor. It was 1am. Finally, it hit me... I was in LABOR. My daughter was on her way into the world.

The nurse asked if I wanted a wheelchair. I was too excited and scared to say yes. We walked up to the labor rooms. I stood in my room yelling at my father. I must have shouted 5 or 6 times about how I was in labor, and where was EVERYONE. He went to get a nurse and she checked me. I was dilated to 3 and my contractions were 3 minutes apart. I was really over reacting and was in serious pain. I kept begging for drugs. I had signed forms saying I was to have an Epidural. I would have to say that was the best thing I could have done. The only problem was that the epidural slowed down my labor and they had to induce me anyhow.

When I went into hard labor at 9am that morning, I couldn't feel my legs. I had to have 2 nurses lift my legs up into the stirrups. I began to hypervenalate and my breathing techniques went out the window. They had to put on an oxygen mask, and then I got really scared. It made it worse. The nurses had to sit on top on my stomach to help push the baby out. She never had dropped. As a matter of fact, they had to break my water because it didn't happen on its own. After 48 minutes of pushing, I brought my 7lb 13 oz baby girl into the world. I was so overwelmed with emotion. I was scared. I couldn't believe that this long baby had been inside me for so long. It was truly a life changing experience. I was lucky. I got to stay in the hospital for 3 days.. Not many moms get to do that nowadays.

If you would like to know anything else.. Please don't hesitate to ask. I love to talk about the birth of Kristin Kelli. Mercedes