Owen’s birth story could not
be more different than Emmett’s. Where
in the beginning of Emmett’s I had to put a warning that it would be emotional
and possibly difficult to read, Owen’s is merely joyful.
Tuesday July 3rd, two days after my due date,
I went to the doctor. I was declared
only one centimeter dilated, as I had been for 3 weeks. After having a c-section with Emmett, I was
determined to give birth vaginally this time.
But the odds were not looking to be in my favor. Despite the risks, my doctor and the
consulting OB determined that we would wait one week and if nothing happened we
would schedule an induction. I was
nervous about the increased risk of uterine rupture, but I was willing to risk
almost anything to avoid a c-section.
And so, we waited.
On the morning of Saturday July 7th I woke up
and went to the bathroom and there was a little bit of blood. It scared me at first, because since I was
induced with Emmett, I had never gone into labor before and I didn’t really
know the signs. I referred to my “What
to Expect When You’re Expecting” book and found that this is what’s known as
the “bloody show” and that labor was most likely 24-48 hours away. I didn’t get my hopes up, because I had just
accepted the fact that I was incapable of going into labor on my own. Chris’s parents had graciously offered to
take Emmett to their house Saturday night and sent us on a “last date” before
we had the baby.
We
went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, during which I began to feel some mild
tightening feelings in my stomach. It
didn’t really hurt and they weren’t very strong, so I didn’t really think they
were contractions. We went on to a
movie, “Snow White and the Huntsman”, during which these tightening feelings
began to get stronger. By the end of
the movie they were beginning to get strong enough to where I would call them
pains. We passed the hospital on our
way home and I jokingly said to Chris, “Hey, we might be checking in there
sometime soon!” thinking we were still maybe a day away. We got home around midnight and I took my
usual nightly shower and went to bed. I
was reading my book in an attempt to ignore the pain so that I could get to sleep. Well the pains got stronger and more
frequent. I decided to start timing
them and sure enough, they were about 5-6 minutes apart, but they were only
about 30-45 seconds long. Knowing the
4-1-1 rule (4 minutes apart, one minute long, for one hour) I thought they
weren’t long enough to bother calling the doctor. They began to get closer to 4 minutes apart about 2:00 AM, and
even though they weren’t long enough, I decided I better wake up Chris (who had
been snoring beside me since I got out of the shower) to get a second
opinion. He timed a few contractions
with me and we decided we better call the doctor. When Chris told him who he was and who he was calling for, the
doctor joked “This can’t be the Kim Correll I know, she doesn’t go into
labor!” Chris explained our situation
and the doctor suggested we go to the hospital. We finished packing our bag and Chris took a shower, all the
while the contractions were getting stronger and more often. I got to the point where I had to stop what
I was doing and double over the bed or the counter or whatever I was standing
next to whenever a contraction hit.
Lucky for us, Emmett was already at his Nana and Pawpaw’s house so we
didn’t have to wait for them to get here.
About 3:30 AM we headed to the hospital.
Chris
dropped me off at the entrance to the women’s center and went to park the
car. The hospital was so empty and
quiet that it was eerie. When Chris met
me with our stuff we hopped on the elevator and went up to labor and delivery
triage. They took me into one of the
little triage rooms to check me out. We
answered a bunch of questions and did paperwork. The triage nurse checked me and I was 3 centimeters dilated. At that point my contractions were painful
but bearable. I was able to force
myself to relax through them with a lot of concentration. They had to come and start my IV because I
had tested positive for the Strep B and needed penicillin. I started getting nervous about the IV
because I know from previous experience how much those hurt. I tend to be queasy about needles anyway,
and I noted the fact that I hadn’t eaten anything since dinner at 6:00 the
previous evening. On an empty stomach
and low blood sugar, needles tend to make me faint. I explained this to the nurse and she offered me a drink. I chose
a ginger ale for its stomach settling properties. However, one sip and I felt like I was going to throw up. They handed me something to throw up in just
in case. I forced myself to breath and
calm down and the nausea subsided. The
nurse came to start my IV and I asked if it was possible to have it in my arm
on the side of my wrist instead of the back of my hand (I had one there years
ago when I had jaw surgery and I remember it being much less painful than the
one I had in my hand when I had Emmett) and she was surprisingly agreeable. She found a vein quickly and it was in. She did a great job. Normally when I tell them needles make me
queasy, they send in their best person who can get it in quickly with one try,
thank goodness. Of course as soon as
they get the IV in I realize that I have to pee, so they help me roll my cart
down to the bathroom (the creepiest part of the IV is being attached to a cart
by your vein, ew!). Then they put me in
a wheelchair and took me to a labor and delivery room.
I
got all settled into my bed in the labor and delivery room somewhere between
4:30 and 5:00 AM. They strapped the
fetal heart monitor to me and the contraction monitor. Owen’s heartbeat was strong and all was
looking good. The anesthesiologists
came by to see if I wanted an epidural.
At that time the contractions were strong but bearable so I told me I
was going to wait and see. I continued
to breath and relax through the contractions.
I even attempted to sleep in between them, but I wasn’t getting long
enough breaks in between.
My
doctor, Dr. Rosen, arrived around 7:00 AM and checked my progress. I was expecting a lot of progress, but I
was only 4 centimeters dilated after all that time passed. I was worried about having a long labor
again like my first one. He said that 4
centimeters was a really good time to break my water, so he did that. After that things got real. The contractions became intense and they
were coming closer and closer together.
I was barely getting breaks in between and I was no longer able to relax
through the contractions. I was
gripping the bed rails or Chris’s hand and moaning and gasping through
them. The epidural was beginning to
sound like a really good idea at that point.
After about an hour of that I decided I would have them check my
progress again and if I was close to fully dilated I would try to stick it
out. Well I was only 5 centimeters at
that point. I decided that being only
halfway there, there was no way I wanted to do that much more without the
epidural. They called anesthesia to
come back and I swear it felt like hours before they showed up. I was begging anyone who would listen to get
them to hurry up. I was losing my mind
with pain at that point, moaning and crying.
And I’m not ashamed to admit that, labor is absolute hell. They finally showed up and I felt a little
queasy as I watched them lay out the needles and equipment. But you know its time when the fear of the
next contraction trumps the fear of them putting a needle into your spine. The process is still very unpleasant, and
when they were done I was still feeling the contractions. They said I would feel about 3 more and then
it should start to kick in. Boy when it
does, it is sweet, sweet relief. You
even get a little button to push when you need more pain relief. I relaxed and shortly afterwards I took a
nice nap. Of course part of me wishes I
was strong enough to do it without pain meds.
And I know that women have been giving birth for years without anything. But my nurse put it into words the best way
I’ve heard yet. She said, “Well you
could have a cavity filled without Novocain too, but why would you? Take the help if its available.” Of course a month later when you get the
bill you wish you had been stronger.
But in the moment no price is too great. I only had one complication with the epidural. All of a sudden I started feeling a little
dizzy and nauseous. My blood pressure
dipped really low and they had to give me something in my IV to bring it back
up again. That was a little scary, but
I started to feel better right away. I
didn’t have any further issues.
At
10:00 I was checked and declared fully dilated. I started pushing. I
grabbed my legs and I pushed hard. I
was determined that this baby was coming out the traditional way. I pushed through about 3 contractions and he
was getting close to coming out. They
offered to let me watch in the mirror this time, and I actually decided to
look. All I can say is…woah. But I began to believe that I was going to
be able to do this. On the next
contraction the doctor told me to push gently because he would definitely be
coming out with the next push. Despite
the epidural I was not completely numb, so I felt him being born. Owen Mark Correll was born at 10:26 AM on
July 8th. They held him up
briefly so I could see him before they took him over to the table to clean him
up. I confirmed for myself once and for
all that he was a boy. I think a tiny
part of me was still holding out hope that all the sonograms had been
wrong. They called out his weight as 8
lbs 3 oz and his length at 22 inches.
His crying sounded strong but he was still working a little too hard to
breath. They said he just came so fast
that he didn’t get all the fluid squeezed out of his lungs. He needed to go to the NICU to get better
cleaned out and to have a chest x-ray.
This struck fear into our hearts because this was all too familiar,
reminiscent of Emmett’s birth. But I
could tell his breathing was much better than Emmett’s, his cry louder,
clearer, stronger. They said he would
most likely spend about 4 hours in the NICU before being brought to the
room. We said, “Yeah, we’ve heard that
before, and last time he didn’t get out for 5 days!” They assured us this was very routine. They wrapped him up and let me hold him for just a few minutes
before they took him away. It was
wonderful to be able to hold him at that moment, even if it wasn’t for very
long. Then they put him in one of those
clear plastic incubator boxes and rolled him out. I could tell Chris was more concerned than I was about him, so I
did my best to reassure him, explaining the difference in the way his crying
sounded. Then Chris left to go to the
NICU to be with Owen. I was so happy
that I managed to deliver him vaginally.
I barely felt how tired I was. I
wasn’t even worried about Owen. All I
could do was smile.
While
all this was going on, Dr. Rosen was doing his repair work, sewing where I had
torn and also where he had had to cut me.
I was slightly disturbed by how long he was down there sewing, so I
asked him if everything was ok. He said
everything was all right, that it was perfectly within the realm of normalcy
for a first delivery even though it was my second attempt. I said, “Good, because its starting to hurt
and my button won’t work anymore.” He
said the epidural was out but that he was almost done. In what world is it acceptable to be able to
feel the doctor sewing you up? I guess
anything goes in labor and delivery.
A
few minutes after he was finally done with the repair work, my parents
arrived. We had waited until 7:00 AM to
call them and tell them I was in labor.
We didn’t want to wake anyone up at an ungodly hour. Then things went so fast they didn’t get
there until after the baby was born.
That was ok with all of us though, because they would have left while I
was pushing anyway. The nurse came with
a wheelchair to take me to my postpartum room.
On the way we stopped by the NICU to see Owen. He was perfectly fine, no oxygen necessary, chest x-ray
clear. They said they would have him to
my room in a little while. What a
relief! He needed to go to the nursery
first for some routine checks first and then he would be all ours! It felt so great to have a baby in the
healthy baby nursery this time.
Once
I got settled into my room we proceeded to make the necessary phone calls to
family and friends. I got to eat lunch,
which tasted so good even though it was hospital food. I was just so hungry I think any food would have
tasted good to me. I will say one
thing, our hospital has the best sweet tea EVER. I requested it with every meal.
I also like how our hospital gives you choices for your meals. They come and take your order each day for
the next day’s meals. Its good for
picky eaters like me. And even though
it sucks to be in the hospital, I have to admit I love being waited on. I’m sure I drank too much soda while I was
there too, but to have someone bring you whatever you want whenever you want it
is pretty cool.
The
next day Chris’s parents came with Emmett.
I couldn’t believe how big he looked when he walked in the room. I had been so used to holding a newborn for
the last 24 hours. Emmett was really
excited to see Owen. And he seemed
really glad to see us again. He seemed
a little weirded out by me in a hospital bed.
He did climb up on the bed and sit with me for a little while, but we
never did get a family picture with all of us because he wouldn’t
cooperate. My parents took him home to
our house for the rest of the day and we stayed one more night in the hospital.
It
felt really weird to be discharged and going home about 48 hours after having
Owen. To some extent I was ready to go
home, but I was also a bit nervous about it.
I wasn’t sure how difficult it would be to handle both boys at
once. My mom stayed for the rest of the
week with me to help me out. Then she
went home and I was on my own. And the
rest is history.
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