Guess what? It's here! I'd tell you more, but it's much better in her
own words. (There was some problems trying to post this message last
night.) Congratulations to Joya, Bob & little Dylan from us all.
lots o' love,
Georgie & the gang
--------------MESSAGE FORWARDED--------------
Sean Dylan Trian Beebe was born Monday, September 8 (our first
anniversary!)
at 11:16 p.m. He weighed 7 pounds, 1 & 1/2 oz., and measured 20"
long.
Bob and I just got home from Santa Monica-UCLA hospital this
afternoon.
He's beautiful, everyone tells us, and we agree. He looks nothing
like I
expected, though. He looks kinda like a Campbell's soup kid - either
our
wide-faced ancestors prevailed over our long-faced ones, or else
hanging out
upside down for 10 weeks compacted his head, because he's got a really
wide
face. And big wide eyes. His coloring is like mine - maybe even
darker,
though newborns look so different than they later do it's hard to
tell, but
his features, if you cover the distracting dark hair, look like Bob as
a
child.
Balki seems OK so far, though upset at the crying. We were a little
disturbed at first when the baby was wiggling and fussing, because
Balki,
though he didn't do anything bad, just seemed a little TOO interested
- so I
swaddled the baby before letting Balki sniff again, so he would know
it was
a human and not some new form of squirrel, squeaky toy or other prey.
And
then he seemed to understand more - we did some modified "group hug"
pack-building sort of things. Of course, we're keeping them separate
except
for tightly supervised interaction, like I'll try gradually sitting
out in
the livingroom holding the baby more, etc.
Read on only if you're interested in (edited) childbirth details.
I went into the hospital early Monday morning after noticing odd
bleeding at
3:30 a.m. They said this was normal in the last few weeks and sent me
home
after the monitor said the baby was fine. We got a few hours of sleep
and
went back at 12:30 when there was more blood, and some crampy-like
contractions. My doctor checked, and said I was 3 cm, but since I
didn't
want her to break the waters artificially, she said to go home, it
would be
soon, though.
When I stood up, though, the waters leaked, so they admitted me. This
was
at 2 p.m. The next three hours the contractions were a little stronger
and
more regular, but not much - I could still walk and joke about wanting
to go
to the beach instead (there was a beautiful view from the 5th floor
delivery
room window). I had some mistaken idea at that point that it wouldn't
get
TOO much worse, and was really feeling quite cheeky ...
At about 5 p.m., the doctor did another exam and I was only 4 cm., and
still
in early labor judging by that and my upbeat mood. She said the bag
of
waters - which I guess had resealed, this happens - was coming forward
first, so she broke it. There was meconium in the fluid (don't ask if
you
don't know what this is), so they had to monitor the baby continuously
and
hook me up to an IV, etc. - all of which was something the natural
childbirth classes wanted one to avoid, but we weren't going to risk
any
harm to him.
Breaking the waters also resulted in immediate strong frequent painful
contractions, so that by 6:15 I was past the second stage of active
labor
and getting into the "transition" phase of about 7 cm. - shaky,
chilled,
throwing up, panicking about not being able to relax through the pain
like
we'd been taught in our natural childbirth class, etc., thinking it
had been
6:15 forever (there was this clock in my field of vision) ... I knew
that
this was normal, and was a sign that things were progressing well, and
that
I was supposed to hold out, not get the drugs, because we were soon to
get
to the supposedly emotionally satisfying pushing stage. Bob and my
doula
and even the nursing staff made all the appropriate comments that I
was
doing so well, being so strong, etc. I didn't know whether to believe
them
or not - though I'm afraid I did make them feel somewhat obsolete,
because I
did NOT want to be touched or massaged or walked through guided
relaxation
or anything we'd studied - I wanted to just go internal and try to
work
through it myself with breath, visualization, etc. - but no positions
were
working, and I could feel myself getting more panicky with the pain.
Even
the down times now felt like what in early labor I'd considered bad
contractions.
So by 8:15 I said this whole do it without pain relief thing was some
unnecessary neo-Puritan work ethic guilt trip sham (some of the books
said
"Julie said labor was painless but hard work", or held out the
possibility
of a "birth climax") ... and I couldn't take any more contractions,
even
knowing that it would likely be only another couple of hours - because
at
one very two minutes I figured that meant another sixty! Not that I
remember having sixty up until that point - more like 10-20, but time
was in
this weird rushing by standing still place. My biggest concerns were
that
the baby be safe and that I didn't let everyone down by backing out of
the
natural thing. When Bob and the doula assured me I wouldn't be a
failure,
and the doctors and nurses said the baby would be unaffected, I said
give me
the epidural (I might have held out, at least longer, if I'd
remembered that
there was a trace amount of narcotic and not just the marcaine, but I
wasn't
remembering everything.)
It took them until 8:35 to ready it, and by that time I was 9 cm. and
my
insides were starting to push without my conscious control. He would
have
probably been born by 9:15 if I'd kept going without pain relief, but
I
didn't feel I could take even one more contraction. My childbirth
instructor later told me that the fact that labor was so fast (4 hours
active?) was why it was so intense. I'd read this sort of thing in
the
books, too, which made me feel a bit better - though I still think it
could
also be that I'm just more of a baby than I realized ...
So after the epidural kicked in, then I had two hours (epidurals slow
down
labor contractions) of warm, tingly, happy feelings in my legs and no
pain,
which made me able to joke again, and ask for some of that relaxing
music
we'd brought. It started ever so slightly to wear off as I got to 10
cm.,
and although they had to instruct me to push, I did by the end at
least feel
when the contractions were coming, and finally a bit of a pressure to
push,
and could feel the baby come through, so I got an idea of what the
experience is like without the panic pain.
Bob's eyes got really wide and his mouth dropped open as the baby was
being
born - it was something to watch! (Him AND the baby.) They told me to
close
my eyes though, because watching was slowing things down. But I got
to see
at the end. They whisked him (the baby) off to the other end of the
room to
do medical things to him because of the meconium, so I didn't get to
hold
him for over half an hour, and then for only three minutes! (I think,
about
the times), and then he was whisked off to the nursery with Bob in
tail for
more procedures. I didn't get to hold him again for over another
hour!
Meanwhile, I hadn't needed the episiotomy, but I did require a couple
stitches.
But there was one complication - since the doctor had done the cord
blood
collection, it had somehow affected the placenta's ability to detach.
So
she pulled on the cord to get it to come, which unfortunately ripped
the
placenta, so she had to go in and manually (unfortunately I mean
literally!)
remove it from the uterine wall.
I am still in a great deal of abdominal pain whenever I move my legs
as a
result, which means more pain meds - I'm trying to take as little as
possible to not make the baby too sleepy. This also made me want to
stay in
the hospital another night, because getting to the bathroom at home
would
have otherwise been problematic last night. The doctor wasn't going
to
authorize it as "medically necessary", though, so I was faced with the
options of leaving or paying $1000 because my insurance wouldn't cover
it.
My mom then made a bunch of phone calls and raised some hell with
patient
relations and the doctor changed her mind. So we came home today, and
for
the next couple of days we hired a post-partum doula (assistant) to
help
with things like laundry, mobility-related baby care while Bob runs
some
errands, etc. I also lost a lot of blood/color, so am busy eating
iron-rich
food.
So basically the only thing that was on my "birth plan" that turned
out the
way we'd wanted was they used none of the rash-inducing plastic tape!
But we're very happy, albeit tired, and speaking of which I'd better
go to
bed because he's going to want to nurse again any moment ...
Love to all!
_Joya (& Bob & Sean & Balki)
Received on 2003-09-13 21:43:02
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