{"id":1658,"date":"2008-03-16T15:31:16","date_gmt":"2008-03-16T20:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/2008\/rosie-labor-cliff-notes\/"},"modified":"2008-03-16T15:46:33","modified_gmt":"2008-03-16T20:46:33","slug":"rosies-labor-the-cliffs-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/2008\/rosies-labor-the-cliffs-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"Rosie’s Labor: The Cliffs Notes"},"content":{"rendered":"

I intend to write up a detailed account of Rosie’s Labor Story at some point, just as “I did with Lucy’s”:\/news\/2007\/the-labor-story. But until then, I thought it might be worthwhile to note a few of the highlights. <\/p>\n

p{color:gray}. Editors’ note: You may note the relative shortage of photos in this post. That’s because things really did go so fast that we don’t have lots of pix of the labor process itself — that are presentable to the public, at least. (But particular thanks to Super-Doula “Dora”:http:\/\/dorawinchester.com\/ for the fabulous shots she did take!) For a few more pix, see the earlier post, “Rosalind Hazel Boyd”:\/news\/2008\/rosalind-hazel-boyd\/, as well as the modesty-enabled link to a bonus photo embedded in this post, below.)<\/p>\n

I’m really pleased with the way this labor and birthing process went, even though it was a totally different experience from Lucy’s birth. Rosie’s labor started deliberately and intentionally (due to “my amniotic-fluid leak”:\/news\/2008\/baby-on-the-way), and a big part of the process for me was getting my head around the idea that a) we were going to need to induce labor in some way and b) our baby was going to arrive about two weeks early. But once I _did_ get my head around that, it went very smoothly.<\/p>\n

Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how events looked, starting midday on Thursday, March 13:<\/p>\n

* *11:20 am* Midwife appointment. Yes, Ann is leaking amniotic fluid. Yes, that means the baby must come out soon. <\/p>\n

* *1:50 pm* That emotional appointment (complete with fussy toddler) ends with concrete plans: meet Debi the Midwife at Evanston Hospital around 4:30 pm.<\/p>\n

* *2:10* Ann & Lucy arrive at home. Lucy gets a few ice chips plus a sip of Gatorade and settles in for a much-needed nap. Papa gets Mama a Subway sandwich for lunch — the last one needing microwaved lunchmeat for this pregnant lady!<\/p>\n

* *2:50* Ann tries to nap. (As if!)<\/p>\n

* *3:10* Ann abandons nap attempt, decides to listen to what her inner-pregnant-lady really wants. Goes for a walk to get head in the game. Papa catches up with her to make the neighborhood rounds.<\/p>\n

* *4:30* After several more walks (with contractions), Ann is feeling encouraged that labor could be a possibility in the near future, even though contractions slow dramatically when she stops walking. Lucy is awake and heads off to stay with Grammie & Grandpa for the next couple days. <\/p>\n

* *6:00* Arrive at hospital. “Hi, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m trying to have a baby.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d We snag the one room with the oversized labor tub. Sweet!<\/p>\n

* *6:30* Try standing in the shower with water hitting nipples in hopes of stimulating contractions. Ineffective and _boring._<\/p>\n

* *7:30ish* Use breast pump to try to stimulate contractions, plus “go on walks”:\/news\/2008\/rosalind-hazel-boyd\/ in between attempts. Ineffective, and Ann starts to feel worried and pretty exhausted.<\/p>\n

* *10:30* Last walk in the hospital halls with Jon. Ann talks through her anxieties, feels much better, and goes back to labor room ready to try Pitocin.<\/p>\n

* *11:00* Ann is hooked up to a very slow Pitocin drip. The “BBC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s _Pride and Prejudice_”:\/news\/2008\/rosalind-hazel-boyd\/ helps to distract us all. Ann & Jon get some much-needed sleep. Doula Dora sits absorbed by the movie — for all six hours of it!<\/p>\n

* *4:00 am (Friday)* _Pride and Prejudice_ ends just at the same time that Ann decides she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to lie down anymore for these contractions, as they are getting strong enough to need attention.<\/p>\n

* *4:20* Bounce on birth ball and blow raspberries through contractions. Watch first half of _Liar Liar_ and giggle a lot. “The pen is bluuuuue!”<\/p>\n

* *5:10* Ann wants to get into the labor tub. Midwife Debi checks Ann (4.5 cm!) and breaks the forebag of water (5 cm!). Ann gets into the tub. (Click here<\/a> for a photo that is totally modest, in our opinion, but Ann is almost entirely naked, so sensitive viewers may want to skip this.) They start to dial down the Pitocin, since labor is well underway. At Ann\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s request, Jon turns on some “Lotus”:\/news\/2006\/jiggy-with-mama\/ for us to jam to during active labor — the perfect choice!<\/p>\n

* *5:50* Ann rocks, floats in water, make low moaning sounds through hard contractions. Definitely hard work. Ann inexplicably starts saying, “Yar! Yar! Yar! Yar!” at one point. Inner pirate is released. We think this is transition.<\/p>\n

* *5:57* Time to get out of the tub. Right now! “I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m feeling pushy! I feel like I have to poop! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m totally going to poop!” Midwife Debi orders the delivery-instruments table, instructing them to bring it quickly — she thinks a baby is coming fast, not a poop. Debi finally checks Ann: 10 cm, fully dilated.<\/p>\n

* Leaning on birthing ball on bed (sort of hands-and-knees), Ann pushes. In between pushes, Ann babbles, “okayokayokayokayokay.”<\/p>\n

* *6:05* Rosie is born! Mama\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s commentary: “Thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus.” Mama can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop thanking the Lord that the baby is _out._ And that everybody is healthy, of course, but the _out_ part is really the focus at this moment.<\/p>\n

Everybody out!<\/p>\n

p{color:gray}. Photo: “Eehhverybody out!”<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Whew! That was intense! And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m really pleased with how it went. Midwife Debi has commissioned me to tell more people that all the Pitocin horror stories aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily the norm. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true — this birth was much faster than Lucy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s typical for a second birth anyway, and it felt similar in intensity, just all crammed into one hour of active labor instead of four or five. Fast and furious!<\/p>\n

Recovery is going well, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re looking forward to joining together as a family at St Lou! More on that soon.<\/p>\n

Thumbs up<\/p>\n

p{color:gray}. Photo: Papa shows off Rosie’s fresh footprints (inked by the nurse on his forearm) in the delivery room.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I intend to write up a detailed account of Rosie’s Labor Story at some point, just as “I did with Lucy’s”:\/news\/2007\/the-labor-story. But until then, I thought it might be worthwhile to note a few of the highlights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kids"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1658\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}