Rutgers
Well-known member
Thank you all for the kind remarks and wishes on the other thread. Michele and I were touched by all of them. Even the smart-assed ones ;-)
Just got Michele and Sara home this evening. My mom came over earlier today and we had dinner waiting in the crock pot. The whole house smelled great! Thanks Mom!
Lucky is suffering from postpartum depression I think. I'm sure it was pretty lonely for him around here the last few days though I did stop by to feed him and let him out and play a bit three times a day. He's confused a bit about such a little person being around and has taken a more active role in watching out the windows and checking out the yard. The guard instinct seems to be kicking in. He lays under the crib if she's in it. That being said, it will be a LONG time before I completely trust ANY dog around her. We are taking all steps to insure he doesn't have any opportunity to hurt her (not that he would intentionally)
Forgive me if I am repeating anything here.
Michele started having contractions Saturday night. Originally we thought they were false simply because Michele remained very active through here pregnancy. We opted to skip church Sunday morning. She went about cleaning, laundry organizing, etc (she is constantly doing this pregnant or not) and I headed out to the shop. Around 4 pm she started showing some discomfort from the contractions. We called our birth coach and she thought Michele was in labor and would give birth that evening or the following morning (she was right!)
We went for some ice cream and to the park to look at the ducks and take a walk. I started timing contractions, but there was no regularity. A few 10 minutes a part, three in a row 5 minutes apart, then 15 minutes. While we were at the park, Michele's water broke. Now we had no doubt it was the real deal.
We came home and called the midwife. Michele was taking a shower and still having contractions. Once again, no regularity to them, but the intensity was increasing. The midwife asked what color the water was. I told her (was not clear, but colored). She said to get to the hospital ASAP. We did. It's only about 10 minutes away. By the time we got there it was about 6pm. Michele had and exam and was dilated. Off to the birth ward where she labored for 3 more hours...100% without drugs. This was important to Michele, mainly because she had a REAL bad reaction to anesthesia in the past, and gets terribly sick from anything stronger than Motrin.
I'll spare you the gore, but Michele was almost fully dilated, ready to push, when we found out Sara was in the breech position (ready to come out butt first). I don't think it was the fact that she was breech that got me worried, but that everyone was whispering and calling other people to come in. Then they told us what was going on and that she would need to be delivered C-section. We didn't want to hear that. They called for the surgeon who was at home, and we had to wait for him to get there. This was the longest time of my life, and I admit, I was flat out scared shitless the whole time. We consulted with him of the options, such as what would be the negatives of still delivering "conventionally", could we reposition the baby, etc. He said there was a risk of the baby's head getting caught, and the all kinds of horror associated with the, and that Michele was too far along to attempt to reposition. For Michele and Sara's safety, it had to be C-section.
They took Michele, gave me a set of scrubs and off to the races. I had to wait outside for what seemed like and eternity while they prepped her. As the surgeon was on his way in from scrubbing, I asked him if he hunted. He told me he has a nice 6X over his fireplace he got in Montana. He asked me why I asked, and I told him "cause I don't trust a man that don't hunt. I meant it. (a side note, the anesthesiologist was our senator in the Michigan State Senate, Michele and I both supported him heavily in his last campaign, and he's fixin' to take a shot at the Governorship nest election.) What made it even worse was my wife was naked in a room with 10 people I didn't know, and all I could hear was laughter, and not just a chuck here and there. It sounded like a comedy club. (no comments from the peanut gallery please). I just sat there wondering what the hell? Afterwards I realized that these people are all quite professional and were just lightening the air a bit, I assume for Michele's benefit.
I never experienced the horror stories I heard about women going crazy, getting violent, etc during labor. I know Michele was in a lot of pain and discomfort. More than I can imagine I'm sure. I could tell she was hurting, but damn! She war tough as nails about it. I couldn't have been more proud of her. Finally they called me in. I sat behind the curtain that separated her from the surgeons and tied to comfort her. After a few minutes I asked if I could look over the curtain, and the nurse said "go ahead". Now, prior to going in they told me that if I passed out, they wouldn't get to me until they were done with Michele and the baby. No problem. Blood doesnt bother me. I looked over just in time to see someone sqeeze on Michele's belly and a baby shoot out with a bunch of blood and other stuff, but no guts (which was just fine) Michele was calm and smiled and said "it feels like someone's tugging on me" I took a picture, but I don't know if she'll want to see it.
They put Sara in a little tub under a heat lamp, wiped her off, counted fingers and toes, weighed her, checked her color, and about 100 other things. Once again, time got real slow. Turns out they weren't panicking, just working fast. after a few minutes, they told me everything checked out and she was normal and healthy. I thanked God! They started sewing Michele up and I went next door to the recovery room and got to hold naked Sara against my bare chest for about 1/2 hour until Michele was done getting sewed up. I felt pretty guilty that almost an hour went by before Michele got to hold our daughter. I felt bad for our birthcoach as well. I pleaded for her to be able to come in the room and they said "NO" Looking back I understand why, as not a single square foot was wasted in the O.R. It was the most efficient thing I've ever seen.
A little background on our birth coach. Her name is Jen, and she goes to our church. She is quite the renaissance woman. She is 37 years old, has three children, is an ordained pastor (not just of the internet either, she went to seminary and everything), served as a White House Intern (Once again, no comments please), is a certified Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth Instructor, and is starting here schooling to be a midwife. What really makes here so awesome though is that just over a year ago, she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and beat it. What she had to go through in order to do that was as bad as all the stories you hear, but through loosing weight, hair, being sick fro chemo, etc, there she was, raising her kids and offering encouragement to other people with their struggles. She came over every Monday night for classes with Michele and I for the last six months, and was there the whole time Michele labored. She was as excited as we were to see Sara born, and maybe even more. I'm ready to cry as I type this that she "got benched" in the last few minutes of the game while they called in someone else to win the game with a field goal after she took a beating all night moving the team down the field.
Anyhow, I ran home to let Lucky out after Michele and I spent some time with Sara and they went to move them into our room. I came back a bit later to find Sara bundled up with a little stocking cap laying in the clear plastic tub/bed they had for her. She was not moving at all, and I couldn't see her breathing. I made a little noise with my moth and saw her eye lids flutter a bit. I was dead tired, but I couldn't sleep. I couldn't go more than 5 minutes without looking at her. Both cause I was afraid and amazed. She slept thought the night. In all my life, I'd never seen a woman look so beautiful as Michele did when I walked into that room.
Michele is recovering well. Once again, shoe's doing this without the benefit of heavy duty pain stuff. They gave her morphine right after the surgery, but she barely used it. Did I mention that I am proud of her? Words cannot express. She hit the ground running on the motherhood thing and is doing GREAT.
Monday was full of visitors, Doctors, and Nurses. Monday night, she slept well except for a few 15 minute episodes of crying. I changed her diaper a bunch, and it didn't bother me at all. Honestly, I feared that more than anything in this world for the last 9 months. It may sound strange, but I look forward to it almost. It's the one thing that allows me to to something for my daughter that she cannot do for herself.
I cannot remember anything that has made me feel so good as her laying on my chest sleeping with two fists full of my shirt. I have taken to calling her Rubber Ducky.
I'm so glad to have the friends here that I do to be able to share this with. You guys are like family to me, and I cannot begin to tell you how much the posts, the PM's, the Emails, the letters, the phone calls, the prayers, and the baby gifts mean to Michele and me.
Here's some more pictures they took at the hospital. We've got to get the ones we took developed yet.
http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid=f8441c63-e4f1-4da5-983a-705c397f169d&babyid=9a3631a8-7006-4f1a-9521-ed5e13d0cc59
Thanks for reading!
Paully
P.S. Lee, I know you're reading this, and you were right. I 'll settle up with you later on our wager. I miss you brother.
Just got Michele and Sara home this evening. My mom came over earlier today and we had dinner waiting in the crock pot. The whole house smelled great! Thanks Mom!
Lucky is suffering from postpartum depression I think. I'm sure it was pretty lonely for him around here the last few days though I did stop by to feed him and let him out and play a bit three times a day. He's confused a bit about such a little person being around and has taken a more active role in watching out the windows and checking out the yard. The guard instinct seems to be kicking in. He lays under the crib if she's in it. That being said, it will be a LONG time before I completely trust ANY dog around her. We are taking all steps to insure he doesn't have any opportunity to hurt her (not that he would intentionally)
Forgive me if I am repeating anything here.
Michele started having contractions Saturday night. Originally we thought they were false simply because Michele remained very active through here pregnancy. We opted to skip church Sunday morning. She went about cleaning, laundry organizing, etc (she is constantly doing this pregnant or not) and I headed out to the shop. Around 4 pm she started showing some discomfort from the contractions. We called our birth coach and she thought Michele was in labor and would give birth that evening or the following morning (she was right!)
We went for some ice cream and to the park to look at the ducks and take a walk. I started timing contractions, but there was no regularity. A few 10 minutes a part, three in a row 5 minutes apart, then 15 minutes. While we were at the park, Michele's water broke. Now we had no doubt it was the real deal.
We came home and called the midwife. Michele was taking a shower and still having contractions. Once again, no regularity to them, but the intensity was increasing. The midwife asked what color the water was. I told her (was not clear, but colored). She said to get to the hospital ASAP. We did. It's only about 10 minutes away. By the time we got there it was about 6pm. Michele had and exam and was dilated. Off to the birth ward where she labored for 3 more hours...100% without drugs. This was important to Michele, mainly because she had a REAL bad reaction to anesthesia in the past, and gets terribly sick from anything stronger than Motrin.
I'll spare you the gore, but Michele was almost fully dilated, ready to push, when we found out Sara was in the breech position (ready to come out butt first). I don't think it was the fact that she was breech that got me worried, but that everyone was whispering and calling other people to come in. Then they told us what was going on and that she would need to be delivered C-section. We didn't want to hear that. They called for the surgeon who was at home, and we had to wait for him to get there. This was the longest time of my life, and I admit, I was flat out scared shitless the whole time. We consulted with him of the options, such as what would be the negatives of still delivering "conventionally", could we reposition the baby, etc. He said there was a risk of the baby's head getting caught, and the all kinds of horror associated with the, and that Michele was too far along to attempt to reposition. For Michele and Sara's safety, it had to be C-section.
They took Michele, gave me a set of scrubs and off to the races. I had to wait outside for what seemed like and eternity while they prepped her. As the surgeon was on his way in from scrubbing, I asked him if he hunted. He told me he has a nice 6X over his fireplace he got in Montana. He asked me why I asked, and I told him "cause I don't trust a man that don't hunt. I meant it. (a side note, the anesthesiologist was our senator in the Michigan State Senate, Michele and I both supported him heavily in his last campaign, and he's fixin' to take a shot at the Governorship nest election.) What made it even worse was my wife was naked in a room with 10 people I didn't know, and all I could hear was laughter, and not just a chuck here and there. It sounded like a comedy club. (no comments from the peanut gallery please). I just sat there wondering what the hell? Afterwards I realized that these people are all quite professional and were just lightening the air a bit, I assume for Michele's benefit.
I never experienced the horror stories I heard about women going crazy, getting violent, etc during labor. I know Michele was in a lot of pain and discomfort. More than I can imagine I'm sure. I could tell she was hurting, but damn! She war tough as nails about it. I couldn't have been more proud of her. Finally they called me in. I sat behind the curtain that separated her from the surgeons and tied to comfort her. After a few minutes I asked if I could look over the curtain, and the nurse said "go ahead". Now, prior to going in they told me that if I passed out, they wouldn't get to me until they were done with Michele and the baby. No problem. Blood doesnt bother me. I looked over just in time to see someone sqeeze on Michele's belly and a baby shoot out with a bunch of blood and other stuff, but no guts (which was just fine) Michele was calm and smiled and said "it feels like someone's tugging on me" I took a picture, but I don't know if she'll want to see it.
They put Sara in a little tub under a heat lamp, wiped her off, counted fingers and toes, weighed her, checked her color, and about 100 other things. Once again, time got real slow. Turns out they weren't panicking, just working fast. after a few minutes, they told me everything checked out and she was normal and healthy. I thanked God! They started sewing Michele up and I went next door to the recovery room and got to hold naked Sara against my bare chest for about 1/2 hour until Michele was done getting sewed up. I felt pretty guilty that almost an hour went by before Michele got to hold our daughter. I felt bad for our birthcoach as well. I pleaded for her to be able to come in the room and they said "NO" Looking back I understand why, as not a single square foot was wasted in the O.R. It was the most efficient thing I've ever seen.
A little background on our birth coach. Her name is Jen, and she goes to our church. She is quite the renaissance woman. She is 37 years old, has three children, is an ordained pastor (not just of the internet either, she went to seminary and everything), served as a White House Intern (Once again, no comments please), is a certified Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth Instructor, and is starting here schooling to be a midwife. What really makes here so awesome though is that just over a year ago, she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and beat it. What she had to go through in order to do that was as bad as all the stories you hear, but through loosing weight, hair, being sick fro chemo, etc, there she was, raising her kids and offering encouragement to other people with their struggles. She came over every Monday night for classes with Michele and I for the last six months, and was there the whole time Michele labored. She was as excited as we were to see Sara born, and maybe even more. I'm ready to cry as I type this that she "got benched" in the last few minutes of the game while they called in someone else to win the game with a field goal after she took a beating all night moving the team down the field.
Anyhow, I ran home to let Lucky out after Michele and I spent some time with Sara and they went to move them into our room. I came back a bit later to find Sara bundled up with a little stocking cap laying in the clear plastic tub/bed they had for her. She was not moving at all, and I couldn't see her breathing. I made a little noise with my moth and saw her eye lids flutter a bit. I was dead tired, but I couldn't sleep. I couldn't go more than 5 minutes without looking at her. Both cause I was afraid and amazed. She slept thought the night. In all my life, I'd never seen a woman look so beautiful as Michele did when I walked into that room.
Michele is recovering well. Once again, shoe's doing this without the benefit of heavy duty pain stuff. They gave her morphine right after the surgery, but she barely used it. Did I mention that I am proud of her? Words cannot express. She hit the ground running on the motherhood thing and is doing GREAT.
Monday was full of visitors, Doctors, and Nurses. Monday night, she slept well except for a few 15 minute episodes of crying. I changed her diaper a bunch, and it didn't bother me at all. Honestly, I feared that more than anything in this world for the last 9 months. It may sound strange, but I look forward to it almost. It's the one thing that allows me to to something for my daughter that she cannot do for herself.
I cannot remember anything that has made me feel so good as her laying on my chest sleeping with two fists full of my shirt. I have taken to calling her Rubber Ducky.
I'm so glad to have the friends here that I do to be able to share this with. You guys are like family to me, and I cannot begin to tell you how much the posts, the PM's, the Emails, the letters, the phone calls, the prayers, and the baby gifts mean to Michele and me.
Here's some more pictures they took at the hospital. We've got to get the ones we took developed yet.
http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid=f8441c63-e4f1-4da5-983a-705c397f169d&babyid=9a3631a8-7006-4f1a-9521-ed5e13d0cc59
Thanks for reading!
Paully
P.S. Lee, I know you're reading this, and you were right. I 'll settle up with you later on our wager. I miss you brother.
Last edited:
haha...