The Joyous Arrival of Makenzie Noelle
My husband and I enjoyed a fast courtship and engagement. Kyle was 30 and I was 28 when we married in 1997. Despite our ages, however, we decided to wait a year before trying to get pregnant because we wanted to get to know each other better. We conceived our first child one week to the day before our first wedding anniversary. We found out on Labor Day that we were expecting a baby on May 16, 1999. How fun it was to call family and friends and wish them a Happy Labor Day and then go on to explain the significance behind the word "Labor"!
The first trimester of my pregnancy was very typical; I threw up every morning at 9:30 for 3 months straight. I am a school teacher and I think my 3rd grade students experienced a sadistic enjoyment with the fact that I always managed to "schedule" my vomiting incidents during math time!
The second trimester went much more smoothly and I actually enjoyed being pregnant. The third trimester, however, was definitely a test of my patience and endurance. I continued to work every day. Each morning I marked off the day and waited anxiously for May 16th to arrive. Imagine my disappointment and frustration when my due date came and went with no baby! I had been dilated to 2cm and 50% effaced for 3 weeks! I have since learned that those numbers really don't mean much when it comes to predicting your baby's arrival.
Finally, on May 20th, I'd had enough. My husband and I went to my obstetrician's office for a cervical ripening treatment at 10:00 that morning with high hopes that we would have a baby before the day was done. At precisely 10:00, the doctor placed a Sidotec (spelling?) tablet just above my cervix and told me to wait. They hooked me up to a monitor and we watched as NOTHING happened for 2½ hours! Finally my doctor came in and told us to go eat some lunch and walk, walk, walk! So off we went to the mall. At 3:00 we returned to the doctor's office and they placed another tablet on my cervix. Much to our surprise and amazement, I started having contractions after only 10 minutes. They were exactly 2 minutes apart and I was dilating and effacing at a very rapid pace! My doctor sent us over to the hospital at 5:00 and we checked in for what was sure to be a long night.
At 6:15 the obstetrical resident broke my water and things really started happening. For an hour I experienced moderate pain that continued to escalate. I was able to endure it, however, without much difficulty. At 7:15 the nurse injected Nubain into my IV and I was a VERY happy camper. Then, finally, at 8:15 the anesthesiologist arrived with my epidural. By that time the Nubain was beginning to wear off, so I was very glad to see him. His aim was right on and I didn't feel a thing - not a "burning sensation", no "pressure", nothing but blessed relief!
My baby was face up, so the nurses kept coming in every 30 minutes to turn me over in an attempt to get the baby positioned correctly. I was trying to catch some sleep, however, and was more than just a little put out at the constant interruptions. Every once in a while my doctor would come in looking tired and distracted. When I asked her why she seemed so troubled, she explained that she had had another patient in the hospital that night whose baby was stillborn. My doctor was deeply saddened by this. It was hard to be excited when we knew that just down the hall was a family who was experiencing such loss.
At about 2:00 in the morning I was awakened by the loud sound of beeps going off and suddenly my doctor, the obstetrical resident, neo-natal nurse, the hospital obstetrician on call and several other nurses came rushing into the room. The fetal monitor showed signs of fetal distress - I had dilated from 7cm to 9cm in less than 2 minutes! My doctor examined me and determined that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck. They decided to do an amnio-infusion (flushing the uterus with IV fluid). The next thing I knew, the doctor was telling me to push and, with the help of a mirror, I was finally able to do it correctly. My husband pushed my left leg up towards my chest and my nurse pushed my right. Everyone was cheering me on and telling me how great I was doing - I felt like a champion!
Makenzie Noelle arrived in relative silence. I was told later that the amnio-infusion caused her to inhale and swallow most of the IV fluid, so the first few minutes of her life were spent suctioning liquid from her lungs and stomach. What a traumatic entrance! She recovered quickly, however, and was soon screaming the way you would expect a normal newborn to scream. It's the sound every new mom can't wait to hear! Things are going well now. We're finally settling into a routine that's mutually beneficial! She has slept through the night for 4 nights in a row now, although I'm so worried that something is wrong that I'm waking up anyway just to check on her! She is such an easy baby that I can't wait to do it again! She is my May Blessing!
