Its a girl March 1987 part 2

I woke up in the middle of the night the other day realizing... I never blogged about Daughter #1's actual birth. I knew I talked about it once but I couldnt remember telling the most important parts of the story.

So here goes...

I am 19, living with my parents because Hubby was sent to Virginia first and then California second, my first child, what the hell did I know?

First I am seeing the doctor that delivered my sister and yes he is ancient. He first tells me that Daughter #1 is breech and that I will need a C-section. Turns out she turned in time. Then about a week before my due date he tells me that my military insurance is not going to pay him enough and that my mother will need to give him 500 dollars on the side. So of course we leave there like F@#$% you and we attempt to find a doctor that will accept military insurance. The only one we can find is the Stonybrook University Clinic. So I call on March 1st, Hi I am due next week and I need an appointment, Um yeah our next open appointment is April 26th. Um yeah my due date is March 7th. Yeah well sorry. No you dont understand blah blah blah, ok they squeeze me in for March 5th at 1pm. I go there and they take blood and examine me and are like you are already dilated, you arent gonna make it through the weekend. Its a Thursday.

I go home and they call and they are like Oh my god you have gestational diabetes you must come in tomorrow 8am for more tests. Oh ok.

Nightime comes and my back hurts so bad. I fall asleep but i wake up around 11pm and I go into my parents room and they are still awake. I am like, oh man my back is killing me and my mother says, go sit in daddys chair and watch tv for awhile.

So I sit in the big brown chair in the den watching tv... all night long. I cant fall asleep because my back hurts so bad and I really have no idea that I am in labor.

When my father gets up to go to work in the morning at 6am I am still in the chair and he is like, are you still here? And I am like yeah my back is killing me. He wakes up my mother who is like holy crap maybe you are in labor.

Well I have an appointment anyway at Stony Brook so we go off to the doctor. I go in and I am telling them that I am there for more blood sugar tests but that I think i am in labor. So they send me up to labor and delivery and they are like yeah you are in labor but you have a long way to go so go walk around the mall.

Haha Ha... walk around the mall? I have been up all night and I am enormously fat and there is no way in hell I am doing that. They tell me that I am dehydrated so I go home and drink large quantities of Hawaiian Punch. I almost turned into that giant glass pitcher that breaks through the wall I drank so much. If you are too young to remember this reference look it up on line.

So I wait home for about 12 hours. 12 hours of Hawaiian punch drinking and watching tv. At around 8 pm my father, my mother and I head off to the hospital with my stuffed animal in hand.

Oops I forgot about the fact that Hubby was in California and I had called him at 7am California time. He tries to leave California but soon finds out how ridiculous the United States Navy is. They wont let him leave until he is done with his day of school. He doesnt get on a flight until 11pm California time. And he heads east.

I am in the labor room and they tell me that I am not far enough to be admitted. I start crying and my dad is there patting my hand and I am in pain but more so I am so sad that my hubby isnt there. I miss him so much and I want him there when I have his baby.

They hook me up to an IV and they tell me to walk the halls. I am throwing up still after 9 months of morning, afternoon and night sickness and so I am carrying a bucket with my IV pole and literally running from chair to chair and sitting down with each contraction. My mother in law arrives and she and my mother are walking the halls with me and they still are refusing to admitt me. I have really had it. I have been up for over 36 hours at this time, I am in labor alone without my hubby and I am wiped out. I just sit on the chair and refuse to walk and refuse to do anything. The on call doctor finally admits me and they put me in a room and give me morphine so I can sleep. Lets just say... I would have taken anything at that point to get rid of the pain.

So it is what 2am at this point and they admit me and I sleep for about 5 minutes and then I wake up in more pain than ever. Meanwhile hubby is on a plane from California to New york with a stop over in Chicago. He begs to get off the plane in Chicago and they let him knowing his wife is in labor. He calls someone at the hospital to find out if I have had the baby and no I am still in labor after , what are we up to 28 hours at that point?

I might add that Diet Coke is new and I have never drank diet soda but I am craving it like nothing I have ever craved before.

At 7am my water breaks and the doctors are like ok, now you can have an epidural. Wow finally. Well by the time the anesthesiologist comes in and they give me the epidural it is like 9am and hubby is on his way from the airport. Uncle Mike to the rescue. He is driving like he has a heart in his trunk to get hubby to the hospital before I give birth.

Well when he gets there I have already had the epidural and he doesnt even believe the 35 hours of labor I have suffered through so far.

But he gets there in plenty of time and just four hours later our beautiful first daughter is born. Hubbys daddy immediately goes and gets me a diet coke which was probably the best one I have ever had. I go off to my room and hubby goes out to the diner with my family.

The next day my cousin (who was killed in a drunk driving accident)brought me tuna on a bagel. I had loads of visitors who all brought pink bunnies and little pink dresses. It was exhausting and amazing all at the same time.

I wanted so bad to bring my new baby home before hubby had to be back in california Tuesday. I had a fever though and they wouldnt let me go. I begged please I will only have one day with my hubby before he has to go back to the Navy and he will not see her again until she is 6 weeks old. They finally let me go home and we spend one night together with our new baby sleeping on our chest as we squeezed into the bed I grew up in.

My little pink bundle is 21 now and older than I was when she was born. I have loved every bit of it from those days in March when I spent 39 hours waiting for her until now when I just sent her off to her last year of college.

My life as a mom began that day in 1987 and has only gotten better with time. 4 times over. I am grateful for every moment.