On Friday afternoon, May 1st, I went on a long walk near our home with my mom. It had been a long week at school, it was beautiful, and I was dying to get some exercise. We walked through Manito Park (a few blocks from our home) first and around the duck pond. The bathrooms were open there but I passed the opportunity, thinking I'd use the restrooms at Cannon Hill Park instead (about a mile away). When we got to Cannon Hill Park I was desperate and (what do you know?) the park restrooms were locked. I about died at that moment. I considered knocking on some stranger's door, but decided I could make it back to Manito. If any of you have experienced what it's like to be 39 weeks pregnant, you know there's NO room down there. It was miserable!
This little walk is a big part of the labor story because from that moment on, I started feeling REALLY uncomfortable - like I had done something to my bladder and caused some sort of infection or spasming. Jonathan and I went to hang out with friends on Friday night and then we spent Saturday morning at my little brother's tennis tournament, but the whole time I was not quite feeling my best. By Saturday afternoon our plans to "bust out" a long list of baby to-dos went on hold for a long nap instead (later, I was very happy about our nap!)
We ate a big Spaghetti dinner at around 7pm since Jonathan was planning on running Bloomsday early Sunday morning (a 10K road race in Spokane). After that, my bladder pain really started to intensify. I'll spare the more graphic details, but for the next four hours or so, the pain gradually increased until I found myself in all sorts of interesting positions in order to breathe through the pain. You might be thinking "Oh Amy, of course you knew you were in labor at that point (that or you're pretty stupid)". In hindsight I can see the correlation (obviously), but I really couldn't tell if I was contracting on the whole because the only thing I could feel hurting intensely was my bladder. Around the time Jonathan started noticing me pacing the house and using breathing strategies, he told me we should head to the hospital. After packing the last items in our bags, taking a shower & drying my hair, we were ready to go. When we walked out the door we had been timing contractions for about ten minutes and realized they were about a minute in length and were a little less than three minutes apart. It's funny because I still thought they'd be sending us home in an an hour or so with bladder medicine (Jonathan insisted we take our bags regardless).
We arrived at Sacred Heart at midnight and went through the ER to Triage (where they check laboring moms before assigning them a room). The nurse there, Stacy, checked me and I was dilated to 4 cm. She laughed and assured me I was definitely in labor. She said they were a bit busy so they'd have a room ready soon. While we waited they had lots of questions/paperwork for us. By the time we finished the paperwork and they had our room ready, a little bit over an hour had gone by.
As soon as we made it to our birthing room, the nurse started setting me up for an IV. Sadly, he didn't have any luck (at all). I am not joking when I say that the trying took 45 minutes. Jonathan can attest to this! While this was happening, things were really picking up. My contractions were basically back-t0-back, I was trying to move around the room in between IV attempts, and I was doing my best not to pass out (due to earlier unmentioned events, I had nothing in my system). After this long period of time that resulted in the lovely pictures below (five days old),
the nurse went in search for back-up. Stacy, our wonderful Triage nurse, came and immediately found my vain. I was given an IV immediately to help w/ fluid and pain. She also asked the other nurse, "have you checked her recently/yet?". She proceeded to check me, announcing I was 9 centimeters and the baby was dropping rapidly. At that point I said, "please stay and be my nurse. I really don't want the other guy." I know I was probably really rude but I wasn't in an entirely rational state! She did end up staying and actually, within about a minute, I was ready to push that baby out into the world.
Sadly, my doctor did not make it to the hospital in time to deliver the baby. The hospital doctor, Dr. Olson, delivered Clara. He shook my hand, put his gloves on, and there she was (this was according to Jonathan, as I don't remember much). The craziest part for me, by far, was Jonathan saying the words, "it's a GIRL!" I guess I said "It's a girl?!" back (he has a pretty good impression of this). I just couldn't believe it. I know that sounds stupid since we decided not to find out. But I swear that most of this pregnancy I have been thinking "boy". I hope my mama intuition picks up soon or I could be in trouble:)!
Since she arrived in the middle of the night (2:29 am) and labor was a bit crazy, Jonathan didn't bring our hospital bags in (no camera - again Stacy came in big and let us borrow her digital for the immediate afterwards pics) with us. Also, he called our families only after Stacy announced I was 9cm dilated. Mama Hook, Mom Vaughn, Leah & Travis made the trek to meet her at around 3:00am. This was not the labor/delivery story I had pictured at all! As I look back on it, though, I know I have many things to be thankful for. I know it could have been much longer - and I have a HUGE new respect for moms that spend a long time in labor. I also know that we could have cut it a little bit too close, and I'm glad we got to the hospital when we did. I was so thankful that Stacy was there (we delivered a card & gift to the hospital today for her). I am so thankful (and continue to be) for my amazing husband who just said nice things over and over & helped me keep breathing - even though he admits the whole experience made him feel so powerless and unable to do much. And most of all I am so thankful for a healthy, beautiful little girl. And to think I thought she was a boy?!
Here are just a few of the hundreds of pictures we (Jonathan mostly) have taken so far. I know there are lots, but we're having a hard time choosing our favs. What do you think? A little Amy? A mini Jonathina?
Here is a little glimpse of Jonathan's intense photo shoot w/ Clara this afternoon. He was capitalizing on the fact that she had her eyes open for an extended amount of time:)...
These last two are classic. Just after Jonathan's photo shoot of Clara this morning, he ran to get the camera in order to capture this first pic. After snapping the shot, he called me in and said, "you have to see this". Sure enough, Clara had decided she's been pictured-out...for one day, at least:).
Ah yes, one more thing. Clara was a name that has been atop our list for most of the pregnancy. Ironically, we settled on our girl name long before the boy name (maybe that should have been an indication??) We both love it. I have only known one Clara, a darling 4th grader I taught in Colorado. Her middle name, Joanne, is the name of my grammy. We both want Clara to love life, other people, and the Lord Jesus Christ like my grammy. One more funny thing about her name. My grandad pointed out that a famous actress in his time was named Clara Bloom. Our little Clara was born on Bloomsday. Kind of funny, huh?
