Mackenzie's Grand Entrance

What they say about no two births ever being alike is most definitely true! I just gave birth to my third child, Mackenzie Ellen on June 11, 1999 after a relatively short labor.

I found out I was pregnant on Dec. 7, 1998. I don't know what possessed me to buy the home pregnancy test. I never had any morning sickness. It had been 3 months since my last period, but it wasn't unusual for me to skip several months between them. But, there was a niggling feeling in the back of my mind, and I had to know. The first test, the second line was very, very faint. It was just a shadow of a line. So, I went ahead and took the second test. There was no doubt, then. The test line showed up brighter than the reactive line! This couldn't have come at a worse time. Firstly, we were not planning on having any more children. We already had a daughter and a son, and we'd given away all of our baby things, presuming we were finished with the Baby Thing. Secondly, my husband and I were having marital problems. We weren't expecting to stay together, but, things do change :)

I had my first prenatal visit on January 18. Everything looked fine. I was 18 weeks at this point. I was scheduled for an ultrasound on Jan. 22 to confirm my due date and to check the baby's growth. We also wanted to know the sex of the baby, so we could start re-buying everything we'd given away. The ultrasound technician told us that it was either a girl with swollen genitalia, or a boy that's missing a vital part ;p She wasn't too sure, but if she had to guess, she'd lean towards a girl. Since she wasn't positive, I still had my hopes set on a boy. See, my grandfather had passed away right before Christmas, and I'd told my grandmother that if we had a boy, we'd name him Kyle Robert-- the Robert being after my grandfather.

While not suffering any discomforts that were directly related to the pregnancy-- no back aches, morning sickness or anything like that-- I had several other distressing things. UTI's, tooth aches that made me feel as if I was going to die, and other various things. My husband is in the military, so I didn't have a choice as to where or whom I got to see. When I went in to L&D at 23 weeks with hematuria, I got stuck with an untrained technician who catherized me (which was the most painful thing I experienced in the whole scheme of things) She also got to insert the speculum-- and managed to pinch my labia in the process. Found out she'd never done either of these things before. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? No one weighed me or took my blood pressure or temperature. None of the 'normal' things were done. My midwife was furious at my treatment, when I told her at my next appointment.

After that, things smoothed out. I never did end up with the dreaded backache I had with my other two. Sleep became non-existant, but I survived. Had one episode of false labor-- sure felt real to me, tho!! My contractions were 4 1/2 mins apart lasting about 90 seconds apiece. I had quick deliveries with my other two children, and I was afraid I wasn't going to make the 30 minute drive to the hospital. It would figure that, as soon as they hook me up to the monitor, to check the baby's heartrate and my contractions, they would stop. Completely. I was SO disappointed. I was hoping to go into labor on my own for the first time ( I had to be induced with my other two children) Well, I was sent home in a matter of about an hour, to wait. And wait. And... wait.

My due date comes and goes with no other activity. My midwife stripped my membranes at two separate appointments, in an attempt to get things going, but nothing worked. I'd been taking Evening Primrose Oil since about 37 weeks (once the baby decided she was going to stay head-down and we didn't have to worry about doing an external cephalic version) and that was helping a bit with dilation.

I go past my due date, one week.. then, two weeks. They schedule me for an induction on June 11. I have to report in at 7:30 am to get things started, after calling at 5:30 to make sure they aren't having a baby boom and have to push back the time.

Well, I call at 5:30 only to find out I have to be there at 7, not 7:30. My sitter isn't supposed to be showing up until 6:30, and we'd have morning rush-hour traffic to contend with. My husband and I were running around like chickens with our heads cut off, trying to get all the last minute things organized. I finally gave up, figured my friend-- who is the mother of 4, all under the age of 4, knew what she was doing, and if she had and Q's, she could call!

We get there, I get changed into those lovely hospital gowns, and hop into the bed. I had my birth plan all made up-- but, had it geared towards a natural birth, not an induction (was thinking positive, hoping...) I didn't want an IV-- the last one I had was SO painful-- the nurse had gone through my vein then back into it, and wouldn't redo it. I had a great nurse who knew what she was doing, this time, and the IV wasn't bad at all :) They protested when I said I didn't want glucose water-- because I wanted to breastfeed, and the glucose can cause neonatal hypoglycemia, which can result in the baby being formula fed in the nursery to raise their glucose levels. I told them that if the labor got to be long, then I'd think about it, and that pacified the Doc and nurse :) lol.. turns out, I wouldn't need it.

They start the Pitocin at 9am. I'd already been having a couple of mild contractions. The contractions started almost immediately. They weren't bad at all.. for about the next 3 hours. Then, the intensity picked up, almost out of no where. I'd planned to do this naturally, but changed my mind _really_ fast! The anesthesiologist took his good old time getting to my room-- almost 30 minutes-- and, by that time, I'd hit transition. I was bouncing my leg as hard and as fast as I could to distract myself from the pain. I'd already tried the breathing exercises-- sorry. They did nothing for me. Finally, the guy got there. I'd asked for an epidural, but there wasn't time. He ended up giving me an intrathecal injection. Blessed relief from the pain of the contractions. But, then, I had to push. I was told to blow through the urge. Blow?!! Trying not to push is like stopping a freight train with your bare hands. It ain't gonna happen. Cathi, the nurse, just told me to blow. Or give small pushes. Yeah, right. They had to get the doctor in there, I couldn't push, yet! I was the only woman laboring on the floor, why wasn't the doctor in here?! The doctor arrived-- he was the same doc I'd seen for my post-date appointments, and I really liked him. He sat down, broke down the bed, stuck his gloves on, and told me to have at it! I was halfway through a contraction, at this point, so only got 1 1/2 good pushes in-- felt the baby's head descend, then, as soon as I stopped pushing, felt it recede completely. The next contraction, pushed once... twice.. her head was out... third time and Mackenzie Ellen burst into the world in a howl of glory! Her head was perfectly shaped, she was a beautiful pink color (with a bit of blue tinging her extremeties) screaming up a storm. Her apgars were 9/9. They let us bond in the room for over an hour before taking her to the nursery to weigh and measure her. I got to nurse her-- her latch left something to be desired, but we've finally worked that kink out. Found out later that she was a mere 8lbs 7 3/4 ozs. I say 'mere' because she's the smallest of my children (Daughter was 9 lbs 4 oz and son was 10 lbs 4 oz) 4 hours of labor from start to finish and 6 minutes of pushing.

She just had her first well-baby check-up yesterday. She's gained a pound and a half since leaving the hospital, and is doing great! She's a joy to have around-- never fussy, eats when she should, sleeps the rest of the time. I feel blessed by this unexpected blessing :)

Meg Stemen