Two Years Ago: Happy Birthday Caroline
Dec. 5th, 2004 08:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puppetmakerI had not slept well that night. I am a light sleeper anyway and there was too much going on outside of the room. About 3 am I listened to a woman deliver a baby. I heard the baby’s first cries. I fell back into a light sleep. I finally gave up sleeping about 8. The night nurse and the day nurse were doing the shift change. The day nurse helped me take a short shower and get some orange juice. I wasn’t hungry. There was talk among the nurses about the snow that had started to fall.
My doctor came in to do rounds and checked out my progress. I was progressing but very slowly. They gave me a drug to help the labor along. I was fine most of the morning but then rather having one contraction then a moment to breath and then the next contraction, I started having wave after wave of pain. I still wasn’t at the point where I should start pushing the baby out so they gave me the option of an epidural to help with the pain. Once they got that in place, I couldn’t feel anything from the waist down. I had Peter read to me. Apparently I had him read one news story about a Christmas Tree donation a couple of times. I took a nap.
It came time to start pushing. They turned off the epidural and I started pushing in earnest. At the time it seem to take an eternity. In reality it was about 2 hours of heavy labor. I can remember thinking that there was no way I could do this. Apparently I said this out loud too. The Doctor kept telling me that I was doing fine and just one more push. They put a monitor on the baby’s head so they could monitor her heartbeat. When I pushed the heart rate seem to spike. I was getting worried about the baby but they told me this was normal. I didn’t believe them. Then at 2:54 pm I pushed Caroline David into the world. The Doctor put her on my chest while Peter cut the cord. Her cries were one of the most beautiful sounds I had ever heard in my life. I had a daughter and in a split second everything in my life changed.
They took her to be weighed (6 pounds 13 oz) and cleaned her up. They commented on her feet which were a bit on the large size. I can remember hearing the nurse say Oh my goodness. I though something was wrong so I said in a panicked voice What? Oh don’t worry. Nothing is wrong she just has big feet for a baby. To which my husband responded that doesn’t surprise me. Look at her mommy’s feet. Yes, I don’t have exactly dainty feet. She also inherited my long toes.
They let me hold her and Peter finally got hold of my Mother who was in a meeting which took some doing to find her. I held my little girl and looked at this little life that I had just pushed out. They moved me from the delivery room to a hospital room. It was not one that was usually used but there had been quite a few babies born that day. They told me that I was lucky that we had gotten there when we did since the snow was making travel close to impossible. Anyone with a 4X4 was being sent out to get people home and the next shift into the hospital. A number of the nurses ended up working a double shift. Peter made it home but it was a close thing. He had to tell Ariel that she would have to wait a day to meet her baby sister. I spent that evening with Caroline bonding as they say. I looked at her and all the pain I had gone through that day had been worth it.
It is still worth it. She is now a beautiful little girl with her own quirky sense of humor. She gives great baby hugs and kisses. Her laugh brighten up my day even when I am at my most down. She is the light in my life.
I am grateful for Caroline. So very grateful.
My doctor came in to do rounds and checked out my progress. I was progressing but very slowly. They gave me a drug to help the labor along. I was fine most of the morning but then rather having one contraction then a moment to breath and then the next contraction, I started having wave after wave of pain. I still wasn’t at the point where I should start pushing the baby out so they gave me the option of an epidural to help with the pain. Once they got that in place, I couldn’t feel anything from the waist down. I had Peter read to me. Apparently I had him read one news story about a Christmas Tree donation a couple of times. I took a nap.
It came time to start pushing. They turned off the epidural and I started pushing in earnest. At the time it seem to take an eternity. In reality it was about 2 hours of heavy labor. I can remember thinking that there was no way I could do this. Apparently I said this out loud too. The Doctor kept telling me that I was doing fine and just one more push. They put a monitor on the baby’s head so they could monitor her heartbeat. When I pushed the heart rate seem to spike. I was getting worried about the baby but they told me this was normal. I didn’t believe them. Then at 2:54 pm I pushed Caroline David into the world. The Doctor put her on my chest while Peter cut the cord. Her cries were one of the most beautiful sounds I had ever heard in my life. I had a daughter and in a split second everything in my life changed.
They took her to be weighed (6 pounds 13 oz) and cleaned her up. They commented on her feet which were a bit on the large size. I can remember hearing the nurse say Oh my goodness. I though something was wrong so I said in a panicked voice What? Oh don’t worry. Nothing is wrong she just has big feet for a baby. To which my husband responded that doesn’t surprise me. Look at her mommy’s feet. Yes, I don’t have exactly dainty feet. She also inherited my long toes.
They let me hold her and Peter finally got hold of my Mother who was in a meeting which took some doing to find her. I held my little girl and looked at this little life that I had just pushed out. They moved me from the delivery room to a hospital room. It was not one that was usually used but there had been quite a few babies born that day. They told me that I was lucky that we had gotten there when we did since the snow was making travel close to impossible. Anyone with a 4X4 was being sent out to get people home and the next shift into the hospital. A number of the nurses ended up working a double shift. Peter made it home but it was a close thing. He had to tell Ariel that she would have to wait a day to meet her baby sister. I spent that evening with Caroline bonding as they say. I looked at her and all the pain I had gone through that day had been worth it.
It is still worth it. She is now a beautiful little girl with her own quirky sense of humor. She gives great baby hugs and kisses. Her laugh brighten up my day even when I am at my most down. She is the light in my life.
I am grateful for Caroline. So very grateful.
