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Olivia's Birth

I have 3 children and I'd have to say that it is true that birthing seems to get easier as you continue to have more children. My first child was a smooth uncomplicated delivery, but it was very long (22 hours long!). My second was also smooth, but I was not prepared. I thought it would be "old hat". Well, to my body maybe, but to me, the person, the soul, I wasn't even close. I surprised myself at how uncontrollable I became. So when I got pregnant with my third I was determined that I was going to be better prepared.

After having a miscarriage in March of 95 I was very happy to be pregnant again. It was New Year's Day 1996 that I took the EPT. Imagine my husband's reaction when I came out of the bathroom saying, "Happy New Year, honey, I'm pregnant!" He was surprised but happy. The pregnancy had it's ups and downs emotionally, but physically I was alright. As my due date neared I felt apprehensive because of the many changes coming our way. We are a military family that lives on an Army base. We only had a 2 bedroom apartment and since we were getting bigger familywise we needed to move to a bigger place. Unfortunately, the moving date was Sept. 10th; my due date was Sept. 9th. I was not sure how it was going to go and neither was my husband. All we could think was, "Please wait baby until we get moved!" The baby and God must have heard our pleas because a week after my due date I was still heavily pregnant.

I went into our local Army hospital for a non-stress test. Everything seemed to be fine. The doctor checked my cervix but I was only 1cm dialated. So he said he was going to strip my membranes a bit. It didn't do anything except make me spot a little bit.

It was a Monday and by the end of the week I would be approaching almost 2 wks past due. So the doctor set me up to be induced on Friday morning, the 20th if I didn't have the baby by then. I had talked to my mother the following day, Tuesday, and told her the news. She lives 2000 miles away, so she couldn't be there, but told her that my husband would call her on Friday once it was all over.

Tuesday night I began having contractions about 6pm. They were about 15-20min. apart. And they seemed to get farther apart even more as the evening wore on. I was up til midnight and finally became so tired that I went to bed. Much to my surprise I went to sleep and woke up the next morning with no contractions at all. Oh well, I figured. Then that night the same thing happened again. About 7pm I began having contractions, only this time they were stronger and getting closer together. So I began timing them as my husband was feeling a bit incapacitated from the few beers he had after dinner. He eventually went to bed to "sleep it off" and I sent our other 2 kids to bed too. I laid down myself about 10:30pm and got a rough 2 hours of sleep. When I awoke the contractions were even stronger and about 8 min. apart. "Ok", I thought, "when I begin having some show I will get Andy up to take me to the hospital." After all, with my other 2 that was my clue to get to the hospital was the bleeding. If I wasn't bleeding, I didn't want to go.

So during this time of labor I was the only one up except the TV and just kept concentrating on my breathing through my contractions which just kept getting stronger. The weird part was after every contraction I kept feeling like I needed to go to the bathroom. Yet when I would go, just a little bit would come out. After about an hour of that I began wondering if I was leaking amniotic fluid. Finally about 4 or 4:30am I couldn't take it any longer. The contractions were about 5 min. apart and even though I wasn't having any bleeding I had this notion that my water was breaking.

I woke my husband up and I called a friend who came over to watch our other children. She got to our house in about 10 min and we left shortly thereafter. Getting to the hospital took only a couple minutes since it's on the same post as we are.

When we got there we were informed that the doctor went to take a shower so we would have to wait until he was done before I could be examine to determine if I was "really in labor". "Great!", we thought, "it'll be a half hour before we see anyone!" Fortunately, they caught him just before he began showering, so we got seen right away. After the exam he informed me that I was about 4cm dialated and that I was indeed leaking fluid. So of course I was admitted.

I felt very lucky that I had such nice people taking care of me. Their were 2 male nurses who spent a lot of time with me and my husband during the next couple hours. My husband took a short leave to take care of paperwork and wake up with some coffee. It seemed so strange to me that even though the contractions kept getting closer and stronger, they didn't feel too bad because now I had company. I never realized how much having someone to talk to through it all can really help. The thought of an epidural scared me so that was out of the question and I had had meds with my previous 2, but felt that they did nothing for me. So this time I wanted completely natural. All I really wanted was a local before the baby came out so I didn't feel like I was being ripped in two.

Eventually the 2 nurses attending me had to leave. Their shift had ended. Right at a crucial point too! The doctor came in to examine me and determined that I was about 9 or 10 cm dialated. She said she couldn't tell because my cervix was in an oval shape instead of completely round. The more she examined me though the more I began to feel pressure in my rectum and I began to feel like pushing. On to the delivery room with my new nurse (a female this time) and a pediatric nurse (a male) in tow. My husband lagged behind a little bit but seemed to be ok for the moment.

The nurse and doctor spent the next few mintues getting everything prepped. I just kept thinking that I did not feel ready for all this. I guess my husband didn't either because he began to pale even before I started pushing. I guess the beer the previous evening coupled with nothing to eat and too much coffee caused him to feel dizzy. Before I knew it the nurses had him sitting in a chair several feet away with his head between his knees. They even brought in a wheel chair for him if needed. Fortunately, he didn't, but he spent the rest of the time in that chair across the room. I kept asking if he was ok, but it didn't really matter too much because the urge to push was so strong everything else was unimportant. I had a good nurse though who held my hand and encouraged me in my husband's place.

It only took a few pushes and the baby's head came out. I never got my local either! It wasn't too painful though, just a little burn. And then woosh! at 8:11am on Sept. 19th out came a baby girl who wasn't too happy! The first thing I said was, "She's gray!" But the doctor assured me that that was ok. She was crying heartily the whole time, so I figured she must be ok. I didn't get to hold her for a few minutes because they were cleaning her and such. Meanwhile the doctor was doing his examination to make sure there were no rips or tears and goody for me! there wasn't!

My husband perked up once the baby was out and spent his time looking her over. I felt pretty euphoric and that feeling only heightened when I finally got to hold my new daughter and breastfeed her for the first time. She had an Apgar of 9, 9. She was a healthy 7lbs 13oz. and 20 1/4" long. We named her Olivia Foster Schultz.

All went very well after that. I was in and out of recovery in 45 min. That's a hospital record from what I was told! I felt great! A lot of women have great birth experiences with having meds, but I can say for me my best experience was without! I didn't feel tired (even though I had been up for pretty much over 24 hours) and I didn't feel sore at all. I also am so glad that I had such great people taking care of me. Military doctors and nurses really are some of the best in the field! And I feel lucky for that because we don't really have a choice of providers in military medical care. We don't have the option of switching doctors if we don't like ones policies or attitudes. But thankfully, those same doctors and nurses are in the same military boat with us and that gives us a connection. One of the male nurses who was originally taking care of me, who had to leave before the birth, came by my room to visit me and Olivia the next day. I was touched that he even thought to do so.

And my mother....well, she got surprised. My husband went home to get some sleep and my mother called for me about a family issue when he told her that she was a grandma again! I talked to her the next day but it would've been nicer if she and the rest of my family could've been there. Unfortunately, that's one downside to military life.

Now Olivia is 7 wks old and growing beautifully on nothing but my milk I'm proud to say.

Thanks for letting me share this with you.

Lynn