Fiona’s Story

There is something about birth stories that beg to be told…any time that I hang around a group of Moms, especially if it is for an extended period of time, they invariably come up. They are our war stories, survival epics, experiences that make a permanent mark on our lives and our bodies.

While Fiona was born on the 19th, her story really starts on Friday, May 16th…

I had a quiet day, with the kids at the childrens museum with my Mom in the morning…not a day I was anticipating contractions to kick in, but they did about 4 pm. It kind of freaked me out, because if it was going to go down like Parker, we would have a baby that night!

So after dinner, stories for the kids, and last minute packing, we convinced our midwife that we would rather be early rather than late, and we headed to Spectrum, because she was already delivering a baby there. This should have clued in at that point that this was going to be very different, because we had always delivered at St. Mary’s!

We arrived around 9:30 and then spent the next four hours alternating between being monitored, walking around the hospital, updating our Facebook statuses, and being checked for progress. It was so bizarre because I have never just had to sit around before…didn’t pack anything to do other than our iphones…

1:30 a.m rolls around, and we decide to spend the night, even though we had not moved out of triage yet. Both myself and my midwife was convinced that I would wake up around 3 a.m. in active labor…so they gave us a room at Hotel Spectrum, made up a cot for Ben, gave me some sort of concoction so I could sleep, and closed the door…

Morning rolls around…and no baby…not even any significant contractions…sigh…so we headed home…

Looking back on it, it is probably a good thing we had our “dry run”, because I had been so petrified about not making it to the hospital in time for an epidural again that this kind of made me realize that it wasn’t necessarily going to be the same way…thank goodness…

I make it to Tuesday morning, after a wonderful pedicure the night before (do you think it had any impact?)…and I’m getting breakfast around for the kids around 7:15 and there is this lovely warm gush…which I responded to with an “oh crap…” and dashed to the bathroom, followed closely behind by Parker who decided that he needed to support me in my time of need and would not leave…

At first, I thought maybe I was having some other issue, but when it didn’t stop and contractions kicked in? Yep…it was the real deal…so off we went, almost forgetting to give my Mom the car keys. That would have been interesting, considering Madi was already at preschool…

So, we ended up at St. Mary’s after all and my contractions were about 5 minutes apart, starting to be painful, but I wasn’t puking, and we weren’t too late to order up an epidural…and we had a fantastic nurse named Ruth…

She had such an awesome sense of humor, not in an annoying way, but in a calming way. I mean, here I am, grimacing my way through “i-want-to-croak” pain, and she’s chatting it up about this and that, keeping the mood light.

Plus, she did not mess around, and before I knew it, and just in time before things got ugly, the anesthesiologist was hooking up my epidural…it was kind of interestiong, because a med student watched the procedure, so I felt like we were on ER or something, where they would ask the students questions or explain what was going on. But really, I was just trying to survive, without squeezing the life out of Ben’s hand.

Now, I’m glad for all you brave women that advocate natural childbirth and all, and I realize that I might have delivered a tad sooner otherwise, but to be able to “enjoy” the process a little more? Totally worth it…Ben and I were able to hang out, talk about life, and laugh together until I said I was feeling a little pressure, and voilà…time to push!

Then things got a little interesting…later we found out that she was facing kinda up and to the side, but at the time, I just knew that I was pushing…and pushing…and pushing. It was 50 minutes of my midwife, the nurse, and Ben saying “come on…keep going…bear down” and me saying “I’m trying…one more…and just come out Fiona, would you?” If it had not been my third baby, I don’t think I would have been able to deliver her, and we would have probably been off to the operating room…

But finally…at 1:50 p.m., all 8 lbs. 15 oz. of Fiona Marie was born, perfect in every way. It is crazy when you have spent 9 months with this little person inside of you, giving you heartburn, back pain, kicking you in the ribs…and then, kapow…she’s snuggled up under your chin, covered with goo, and the most beautiful thing you have ever seen.

Ben started off the pregnancy shocked, even though it was anything but a surprise…and ended up shocked as well…that things went so smoothly and (relatively) peacefully. He cracks me up…but it was true, we were so overwhelmed about how great our experience was…

Between my midwife Sandra Lynne, who was incredibly calm and soothing, and Ruth, a solid presence through it all, and Ben, my own personal cheerleader and support even through the gory parts…we made it.

Fiona had to have a little oxygen, because she was gasping a little bit, and she had this strange lump on her head from coming out wonky, but both were gone after an hour or two. I did end up puking…afterwards, so I didn’t make it through a delivery without that lovely addition…bummer…

And that’s Baby Fi’s story…the start, at least. Her next experience was meeting her grandparents…aunt…cousin…and of course, her siblings. This was another adventure involving Gerber daisies, disposable cameras, picnics on Daddy’s bedsheet, and “showing” Fiona their favorite toys and Diego books. Oh, don’t forget lots of hugs and kisses…and squeaky “hi baby…you are such a cutie” from big sis…

Such a great ending to a not fun pregnancy…and such a great beginning to a new life…I am in awe once again with the miracle of childbirth and I am so excited to see what God has in store for her life.

But mostly, right now, I’m tired…glad that I finished my little epic for Fiona to read someday…and hear how it all began…but mostly…tired…back to bed for both of us…

— Post From My iPhone