This was a great weekend, our baby came out so healthy, and everyone is doing great.
The night before the baby’s birthday, I took Sherri out to eat at Ambrose Butchery. It is a nice little restaurant in the niles area. It has a really nice vibe there, it is not as good as when “the vine” was around, but good enough for me.
We were admitted into the hospital on wednesday, hoping the baby would come out on thursday. But the baby did not come out that day. So Sherri and I were sent home on friday at around noon time because the nurses said that because her water sack had not popped, there was nothing we could do. So we went home and ate chipotle, however at around 3:30pm, sherri started to feel a lot of contractions, I then started to time her contractions as it started initially coming every 10 minutes, but eventually it got down to 4-5 minutes at 5:00pm.
I actually called the nurses hotline to figure out if I should bring my wife in, and the nurse was asking me what level pain is your wife in. I was trying to come up with a number, but then you could hear Sherri scream really loud in the background. The nurse told me that it sounds like she is in a lot of pain, so she should come in to the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital at 5:15 pm, and were quickly admitted, and had the nurses check us out. However, even though her contractions were less than 5 minutes, but her water sack was not broken yet, the doctor wanted us to walk around for 1-2 hours. So we ended up walking around that one wing 30 times. We would walk around several minutes until the contraction started, then my wife would go lean against the wall and breath really hard. I wanted to help her feel comfortable, so I would hug her and tell her all the fun things we would be doing with the baby, and all the fun things we had done together.
Eventually after one and a half hour, we went back to the room and waited to see what was happening. Nothing was really happening, and they wanted to send us home with no real solutions on what to do, so Sherri was displeased and we ended up talking to the head nurse, Naseema. That lady understood Sherri and said “what do you want to do? This is your body, and we can make whatever you want happen, you want a cocktail that will make your water break by the morning? we can do that”. So we decided we wanted that, as the nurse went out to talk to the doctor, Sherri and I heard her what sounded like popping sounds. It looked like someone had thrown 2 water balloons at her butt, with the amount of water I saw. Excitedly, I called the nurse’s to tell them “sherri’s water had broken”. Naseema came and said something like “Praise God, Won’t He do it?!”, with clapping of hands and swagger.
We came late so i went out to get dinner, and I didn’t know I could not get Sherri hard food, so I got her a chicken salad and myself a salad. Our nurse, Melody, let us eat it even though Sherri was suppose to be on a liquid diet. And guess who told Naseema what Sherri ate, I did! I have a hard time lying 🙂 Got us all in trouble.
So the nurses just told us it wait as for the dilation to be bigger, so I just went to sleep. I think several hours later I woke up when they turned on the lights, and I just sat there watching trying to figure out what the nurses were doing.
The hardest part for me during all this was trying to figure out how I was suppose to help and not be in the way. When the anesthesiologist was coming in to administer the epidural, I had to move to the a corner of the room as to not be in the way. That guy had a huge workcart that he was pushing around with all his stuff. So he needed so much room to set everything up. I just know that he came just in time, because Sherri was starting to be in so much pain, and once that epidural was in, she started feeling really good. I feel like the anesthesiologist has the least amount of interaction with the patient. He comes in jokes with the nurse, and just concentrates on setting up everything and injecting the needle. Then he goes away and I don’t see him until after the birth for 10 minutes when he just makes sure everything is out of her body.
The birthing process wasn’t too scary for me, but it was interesting trying to help my wife push. I kept on telling her she was doing good. The nurses gave us a crash course in how to push out the baby in 5 seconds, we did a practice push, and then we were off to the races. Here is a list of random things I remember from active labor
- They told me not to stand too close to the sterilized tool table
- Sherri was only given ice chips to eat, no water
- Baby had a full head of hair that they told me I could see
- The hardest part of getting the baby out was that her head was stuck behind a bone.
- The doctor was trying to help push out the baby at the end, but because Sherri had abs the doctor could not really tell. I just remember him and the head nurse made a comment asking “what did Sherri do to have such strong abs”
- Sherri could feel a contraction was coming because the baby would tighten up her legs and push it into her chest
- My wife had a lot of power, and long contractions (2 minutes long). Nurse said most people have 1.5 minute contractions.
- Initially we were only going around 1.5 minutes, but Sherri was strong so she went to whole 2 minutes of contractions pushing.
- The doctor caught the baby, and there was also a giant gush of water with it, I think he got soaked all over his gown. Everyone in the room was surprised by how big the water was.
- There was an indian couple a room or two over, and I could hear their baby crying while we were in labor. (It is kind of boring just waiting for the next contraction)
- It is also interesting listening to the head nurse come in and tell the other nurses what they should and should not be doing. (our nurse had asked another nurse to come help out while she had to help another patient)
- Nurses are really good cheerleaders, because only the woman can push out the baby, so they say things like “you are doing good, push harder, give me one more”.
- I was really thirsty from talking to sherri, so I would drink water while waiting for the next contractions.
- I think around the halfway point, the nurses gave my wife a break of around 2-3 contractions to catch her breath.
- Babies have such long oval heads when they fly out.
- The placenta is interesting to cut, because it it feels like I’m cutting squids.
- Sherri told me that the baby looked at her and touched her chin
- Sherri also think she heard the baby say her name.
What were my initial reactions when I saw the baby? I was so happy and overjoyed, I have been waiting my whole life for a kid. Now I can use all the random skills I have acquired over time to play with my baby. She also had a beautiful head of hair, and lovely eyes. It was one of the happiest moments in my life, and I got to watch it live and I did not faint. (I don’t know why people think I would faint at the sight of blood).
We spent a couple more days in the hospital watching them do basic things to the kid and having them show us how to swaddle and breastfeed. I actually enjoyed the hospital food because it makes me think of church retreat food when I was growing up as a kid. Very simple foods, but something nostalgic about it.
Our kid is so good, or always milk drunk and asleep. We took her to eat at skillets once we left the hospital. The lady at the restaurant said our daughter was the youngest person to eat at their restaurant (3 days old). It is interesting hearing the hospital say our kid is actually able to go out into the world, just try your best to not put her next to sick people, and keep your hands as clean as possible. But the baby does have some basic immune system.
