Cohen's Story

Okay, for those of you who have been wondering...here's the story of Cohen's birth...

I woke up early Saturday morning (probably around 2:00 am) to a contraction. No big deal...just a braxton hicks contraction I thought...so I went back to sleep. A few minutes later, I woke up to another contraction. "Why are these contractions so strong?" I asked myself. Then a few minutes later, another one. I started to get really annoyed. My alarm clock was going to go off at 3:00 am because I had to go to work...I REALLY needed to get a little more sleep. "Why won't these contractions just stop?" I asked myself. Finally, at around 2:30, I decided to start timing them...they were consistently about 3 1/2 to 4 minutes apart. I decided I should wake Mike up. We sat there in bed together, timing contractions. Same thing...3 1/2 to 4 minutes apart. "How in the world could I be in labor?" I asked. "My due date isn't for another 4 weeks?" My other boys were both about a week & a half early...so I was expecting Cohen's arrival around the middle of August. NEVER in a million years would I have expected to go into labor at the end of July. "What do we do?" I asked myself. "His nursery is still a construction zone & all the baby clothes are in a box somewhere in the basement! I CAN NOT be in labor! I'm not ready!!!" Just then, my alarm clock went off. Time to decide if I was really in labor, or if I should just get up and get ready for work." After a few minutes of deliberation, I...thinking that there was NO WAY I was really in labor 4 weeks early...decided to get up & get ready for work. As soon as I stood up, the contractions started getting quite a bit stronger. Being through this war before, I then KNEW that I was in labor...and was probably dilated to a 3 or 4. In between contractions, I called my station & then my parents, while Mike packed a couple bags. Mike then loaded everything (including two very sleepy boys) into the car & we took off. We met my parents at their house & dropped off Connor & Aiden...then it was off to the hospital.

At the hospital, my nurse determined that I really was in labor...as I was now dilated to a 5 or a 6, she said. She told me she would call my doctor. A few minutes later, she came back into the room to tell me that NONE of my doctors were on call. Another doctor (who sometimes helps out my group of doctors) was on call for them. I was absolutely devastated! I am of the opinion that there is nothing worse when you are in labor, than to be delivered by someone you have never met before. The doctor (I think his name was Dr. Whiting...but I'm not sure because I wasn't really paying attention to trivial details such as that at the time) came in to talk to us. He was about a million and a half-years-old. He explained to me that he was a little concerned that I had gone into labor so early. He told us that he could try to stop the labor, although he wasn't sure if he would be successful since I was so far along at that point...plus, he said the drugs could be hard on the baby. The other option would be to just go ahead and have the baby, although that could be dangerous...as his lungs may not have been fully developed yet. He left the room to let us decide what we wanted to do. Both Mike & I felt good about just having the baby, so we told him our decision. At that point, the doctor told me that if I WAS going to go ahead with the labor...he would recommend not having an epidural. "Why in the world would I NOT have an epidural?" I asked him. He explained to me that once an epidural is administered, labor usually slows down...sometimes, it slows down so much that pitocin has to be given to get it going again. If this were to happen to me, the pitocin could be extremely hard on the baby since he was premature. Could he give a girl any worse news?!? He asked me how I felt about that & I said, "I've never gone through labor naturally...so it scares me a lot." He went on to tell me that LOTS of women do it & it's NOT SO BAD. At this point, and in a lot of pain, I said to this doctor, "And how would YOU know that it's 'not so bad'? How many babies have YOU given birth to?" (Yes, I know...I'm going to hell...but I was in SERIOUS pain at this point & this old man was telling me that it "wasn't that bad"! Anyway...) The doctor then left the room again. My nurse came to me at that point and said, "Listen...he's an old guy & he's very old-fashioned. If you want the epidural, you get the epidural. If we have to administer pitocin, we'll deal with that when we get there." A few minutes, & a few EXTREMELY strong contractions later, I called for the anesthesiologist. Once he got there, I was dilated to an 8...continuing my trend of getting epidurals at that magical number (I haven't ever gotten an epidural sooner than that because I go through labor so quickly). The epidural DID slow my labor down quite a bit (I sat at an 8 for the next several hours), but it never completely stopped it...so I never had to be given pitocin. At 7:00 am, one of my regular doctors (Dr. Reese) came in & took over for Dr. Whats-his-name. I was so relieved! He said he would check back in with me about an hour later. At around 8:00 am, he came in and broke my water (it has NEVER broken on it's own). He told me that he was going to go see some patients at the office, but that he would come back as soon as I was ready to start pushing. Once my water was broken, I started having HORRIBLE contractions...and wouldn't you know it, my epidural started wearing off at the same time. I have NEVER felt such pain in all my life!!! I thought the contractions at an 8 were bad...little did I know what contractions at a 10 would actually feel like. I started hitting my epidural button to administer more fluid...but eventually, I maxed it out & the machine wouldn't give me anymore. (Haha! I felt like such a junkie!) My nurse called the anesthesiologist & he came and gave me a good dose that took most, but not all, the pain away. My nurse checked me again & said I was ready to push. She called Dr. Reese & he said he would be over as soon as he could. We waited...and waited...and WAITED (for about 30 minutes) but no Dr. Reese. Eventually, another doctor (Dr. Gamette) came in. He said Dr. Reese was too busy at the office, so he was sent in.

Dr. Gamette got all suited up & the NICU unit was called in just in case Cohen couldn't breathe. I have NEVER given birth with so many people in the room before...it was a little bizarre! Anyway, about two minutes & three pushes later, Cohen was born. I heard this itty bitty cry (that sounded more like a kitten than a baby) and then NICU whisked him away to the other side of the room to be given oxygen. I was so scared, but about three minutes later, the NICU staff started to trickle out of the room, saying that he was breathing on his own now & doing great! I have NEVER felt so much relief in all my life! This little baby & I have been through a lot together...with all the problems I had at the beginning of the pregnancy, and now an early delivery...I was just SO happy to know that he was here & healthy! So, that's the story of Cohen's birth! It was a little scary, but ended up having a happy ending! I mean how much happier can it get? I ended up with a healthy (although very small) baby...plus, I got to skip out on the 9th month of pregnancy (and the stretch marks that come along with it)! --Lindsay