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Robert Richard Lang's Birth

On April 28, 1996, my fiancee and I were at my grandma and grandpa's house when I felt a trickle down my legs that was warm. Fearing the worst (that I had "wet" myself) I went into the bathroom, and of course I didn't have to go...it was my water tearing a little. We went into the hospital, where they checked me, said I was 2 cm's dialated, and that I had broken my water sort of. It wasn't a full break, just like a little tear. I wasn't proceeding any at all, so I was sent home, since the water didn't do a full break.

The next few days we were in and out of the ob's office, and the hospital. My water was leaking, but it wouldn't break. Finally, on Wednesday, May 1, my OB told me that the next time I felt that "trickle", to go in to the hospital and they would keep me there until the baby was born. I was wearing a pad at the time so that if I "leaked" again, they could confirm one way or another if it was my water or not. It was.

At about 7:30 that night we checked into the hospital, and they checked...I was till leaking, but no breakage yet, and still only 2 cm's dilated. They decided to induce me. They got the IV's started, put the monitoring on me, and told me to rest and relax and enjoy the birthing process. My fiancee and I sat there watching tv, waiting for my mom to show up, and I remember thinking, "Hey, this isn't so bad...I've always heard that getting induced was the absolute worst, but it isn't.". My mom finally showed up (she wanted to be there for her first grandchild...claims she deserved it after waiting this long :) ).

At about 2am, the nurses came back in to do another check (they had been coming in periodically before that, but nothing major happened), and discovered that I was only 3 cm's dilated. I progressed 1 cm in 5-6 hours...not very good they said. My water still had that leak in it, so the nurse decided to break it. When she did that I let out a scream (the only time I screamed though :) ). The time then was 3am, and my mom decided she didn't need to be in the room with my and Adam (fiancee).

Adam sat there with me telling me to focus on his button on his shirt with each contraction. Big mistake on his part...he wasn't allowed to leave..I needed my focal point. By 6am I was fully dilated, and began the pushing. Sometime during the night internal monitors had to be put on the baby because they kept losing his readings. My mom would come in periodically to give Adam coffee and see how I was progressing. I started pushing around 6am, but wasn't getting very far because of the hard labor.

I was given I mild painkiller to take the edge off the contractions. I kept begging for them to just do a c-section, so it would be all over with, but they kept telling me no, it wasn't necessary. I kept asking for an epidural, and was told there wasn't time. When my OB came in, she commented that she was surprised I hadn't had an epidural, given that I had dilated so quickly. Can anyone say kill the nurses? I was getting very agitated with the pushing, my legs felt like they were on fire, and I started stressing out. The baby began going into distress, so I was put on oxygen. I promised to calm down and be good if they would take the oxygen away (it smelled horrible), and about fifteen minutes later, Robert Richard Lang made his first appearance to the world, at 7:14, on Thursday, May 2nd. He weighed 7 lbs, 8 oz, and was a beautiful little baby. He scored a 9 on the apgar test both times, and I was told that had it not been for the painkiller they gave me, he would have scored a 10. As a side note, my OB gave birth the following Sunday.

Carrie Courter