When we last left the story of Sawyer’s birth, I was quite sad at my parent’s departure, and Sawyer was showing no signs of wanting to come out to greet the world. 12/11 passed without notice, as did the day of 12/12. On 12/12, we were to call the hospital at 6pm in order to check if there was room for us to come in and be induced. The response was that we needed to call back at 8pm. Apparently the maternity ward was really busy with babies that DID want to come out, and the hospital was short on nurses (a fact that will become much more pressing — to be described in a bit.) We took a nap as we figured if we were to go in, we wouldn’t be getting much sleep.
At 8pm, I called again. After holding for about 10 minutes, we were asked to come in and be admitted at 9:30 pm. So we took showers and finished packing the suitcase. We left the apartment in an odd state of calm. Scott remarked on the way to the hospital that he was somewhat bummed that he didn’t have to race us to the hospital as anticipated — reference any silly movie where a baby is being born.
Inducement is a lot slower of a process than one would think. Upon checking in, it was very quiet in the newly opened baby wing of the hospital. Nurses were even being sent home early now from their shifts because things had quieted down. In the back triage room, Scott noticed a funny drawer marked “fancy pants”. For the record, I met these “fancy pants” following the birth. They were neither “fancy” or “pants”.
We were checked into a very large room. As we were getting situated, one of the nurses mentioned in passing that it may be somewhat noisy outside in the morning. At 7am, the nurses were going on strike. She wasn’t even quite sure why, but she was looking forward to having 2 days off in order to complete her holiday shopping. Apparently she did not intend on spending the entire 2 days of the strike picketing. The new nurses would be well qualified, just unfamiliar with everything, as they were brought in from other states to help fill in.
That night was spent quite uncomfortably due to rubber covered beds. Even though sheets covered the rubber, the breathability was compromised. Scott “slept” next to me in a cot that made camp beds seem luxurious, as we both tried to tune out the sound of other women giving birth in nearby rooms. One woman was screaming so incredibly loudly, that I was quite traumatized. Placing the rubber covered pillow over my head just resulted in an uncomfortably sweaty face.
As previously mentioned, the nurses strike began at 7am on 12/13. Our first “scab” nurse was Debbie from Dallas, no kidding. She was a very big fan of the Beattles, and her granddaughter’s name is Abbey McGill for Abbey Road and the McGill character in Rocky Raccoon, “she called herself Lil, but everyone knew her as Nancy.” Debbie’s favorite jeans are Levi’s 501’s. She helped us until 7pm. Our next nurse was Michelle. She had 4 children of her own, and had helped to birth her granddaughter. She was from Chicago, but working in LA with her retired husband. They were soon moving to Hawaii, where she was going to work. She was one of the biggest reasons that Sawyer was born naturally rather than a c-section. She knew that we did not want a c-section. She made it very clear that “We’re gonna git this baby out!”
So after the uncomfortable yet uneventful night, our doctor, Dr. Heidi Wittenberg, visited our room at 8am sporting a beautiful Prada handbag and high heels. Somewhere between months 7 and 9 of my pregnancy, she seemed to have discovered high fashion and gotten engaged. Scott was amused that I made mention of the bag to him shortly after Dr. Heidi had helped speed up the birth process by breaking my water for me with a what looked like a long crochet hook.
The next few hours passed uncomfortably as pitocin was administered. At around 11am, I was beside myself in pain. Although I had very high hopes of not using an epidural, it became very necessary after the pain medication I was given wore off in well under half of the promised hour time. The next 11 hours passed relatively pain free. My Mom reminded me that there are no extra points for pain. She was right. Epiderals are very helpful.
At 10pm, it was time to start pushing. Michelle helped guide Scott and I through 2 hours of pushing. About 30 minutes into the pushing, she turned off the epidural in order to help me feel how to push. The epidural leaves little to no sensation, so it was difficult for me to feel what I was doing. Michelle let us know that she was only allowed to let me push for 2 hours, and then the doctor would come in. When the doctor made her appearance, I knew I had to prove that I could keep going and not have a c-section. I garnered up all of my strength. I thought of all the people who were pulling for us. I thought of all my family and friends who had made it through. I thought of my Mom who gave birth to me at 10 lbs 8 oz. If she could do it, so could I.
We were given a little bit of help with the suction cup that helped pop the little guy out. All in all, 30 hours passed and we got our little Sawyer. He was 9 lbs. exactly and 22” long at 1:42 am on December 14th, 2007.
Some of you may know the story of Sawyer’s birth, but some of you may not. As this blog is as much Sawyer as for family and friends, I will attempt to relate the story as coherently as my very tired memory will allow (believe me this is much easier said than done).
Sawyer’s original due date was 12/14, but as a result of his first ultrasound, it was moved up to 12/5 due to his size. As many of you already know, big babies run on my side of the family on my Mom’s side. I don’t know how this would effect the due dates, but I felt that his due date should have remained where it was.
As a result of the 12/5 due date, my parents decided to fly out to San Francisco to be here for the birth. They arrived on 12/4. My Dad arrived with a cold, which got worst the next day. He remained in his hotel room getting better by eating Quizno’s and taking Nyquil.
My Mom and I went to Bloomingdale’s in the new mall hoping that the walking would provide some “expulsion propulsion” - contractions to you and me. The idea to go walking/shopping was the original idea of my Grandma Addie Doernberg’s back in 1974 as a way to help to encourage my birth. Knowing my love of shopping, it totally makes sense that I spent the entire day before I was born in the mall.
Back to Sawyer, nothing resulted from the day at the mall except my first real backache of my pregnancy. We proceeded to replay the day over the next day in Noe Valley and other small shopping districts in SF, but to no avail. My Dad, although feeling better, was unfortunately called back to Ohio after being here to just under 2 days. (Although I love my teenage brothers very much, sometimes they are a big pain.) It was very hard to see him go home.
While Scott spend the last few days leading up to the birth trying to finish up important work related projects. My Mom and I spent the next few days watching tv and knitting. It was really nice to spend time alone with her, as this had not happened in a very long time (again, I love my brothers, but they have always really loved attention).
So, with no birth in sight, except for the impending inducement day of 12/12, my Mom went home a day early on 12/10. It was very hard to see her go home too.
