A while back, I said that I would post Ruth's birth story, and here it finally is! I've had it written out for a couple of months, but I wanted to remember every lurid detail and had to decide how much of that to sanitize for the blog. And, of course, there's always the "I've been busy with my babies!" excuse. ;)
I love reading other people's birth stories, but if they aren't your cup of tea, I won't be offended if you skip it today and tomorrow. :) Just for fun, you can read part 1 and part 2 of Gemma's birth story, too, if you like. You'll find that Ruth's story is utterly and completely different!
Ruthie’s
due date was Christmas Eve, but since Gemma had come several days later than her due date, I convinced myself that it
would be cool to give birth on my own birthday, December 28, or, perhaps, on
her Uncle Derek’s birthday which was New Year’s Eve. Either way, there would be the distraction of
the holidays to focus upon while we waited for our precious little one to come!
For a couple of weeks, I had had random episodes of two or three “real” contractions, in addition to my frequent Braxton-Hicks, but Ruthie’s birth story really begins on Saturday, December 22 around 2 am. We heard Gemma coughing over the monitor, and then crying, so John went up to her and found her in a puddle of vomit. Poor girl! He changed her bed while I bathed her, and thankfully she kept down some diluted juice while I rocked her back to sleep.
The next day, she wasn’t quite herself, but at least she was much better. We decided to go out to eat that night at Outback, thinking it might be our last time out as a family of three. It was! On the way home, we stopped and got a few groceries, and I gave John a haircut that night.
On Sunday morning, December 23, I woke up considerably earlier than my alarm, which had become a bit of a habit! My stomach was feeling a little icky, which made me wonder if today was the day! After some sweet devotion time, I packed up Gemma’s overnight bag (just in case I went into labor before Heidi arrived in town) and painted my toe nails. By breakfast, the only thing that sounded good was the jello I had made for Gemma yesterday, so I polished it off!
We went to church, but by the end of Sunday School, I was feeling ickier still and told John that I needed to go sit in the car. I got in and got settled, and then had to stick my head out the door into the parking lot to throw up that orange jello I’d had for breakfast. Feeling a bit better, I ate a granola bar and rested, listening to the service online over my phone. By the time we left to go home, I was feeling sick again, and John had to pull over so I could throw up again in the gutter. It was clearly Gemma’s bug, and not labor.
I slept for most of the afternoon, but was really quite sick. Whenever I as much as rolled over in bed, I threw up again. Along with the vomiting came the other common symptoms of a stomach bug, and it was just generally nasty. Still, the worst part by far was that I couldn’t keep any fluids down, and my wrists and ankles were starting to feel tight and tingly. By evening, John had come down with it, too, but thankfully he only threw up once and felt better. He went out and bought us some Gatorade, but I couldn’t keep that down, either. It actually felt kind of good to sit on the couch while we watched the evening service online, and I started getting contractions I had to blow through! (You know how some women take castor oil to “clean them out” and it often helps induce labor? Sometimes I wonder if this bug had the same effect!) I started timing them, but they spaced out to 20 minutes apart by the end of the hour, and then stopped completely.
Heidi called and convinced us to page the midwife on call for advice. I’m so glad that she did! When Susan heard my situation, she called some anti-nausea medication into our pharmacy for me. By the time I took the second dose, I started to be able to keep my diluted Gatorade down. My wrists and ankles still felt tight and tingly, which concerned me (I have had low blood-pressure issues), but since the midwife hadn’t been concerned about the baby, I went to sleep just praying that I wouldn’t go into labor that night. I had no idea how I could have handled it while I was so sick.
Monday was Christmas Eve! I started feeling a little better, but spent most of the day in bed. That night, Heidi arrived from Colorado! I felt like I could go into labor at any moment but also still felt pretty weak and I prayed once again that tonight would not be the night.
Tuesday was Christmas day! Derek and Liz arrived that morning and we had a fun, full day celebrating together. It was also a day of feasting—we ate lasagna, bread and salad for lunch, chocolate cake for dessert, and later that evening had another huge supper of very heavy, buttery shrimp scampi. That afternoon, we went on about a mile-long walk. I was thankful to be feeling so much better! That night, we all stayed up kind of late watching a movie. I was torn between wanting to rest and thinking but it’s Christmas!
For a couple of weeks, I had had random episodes of two or three “real” contractions, in addition to my frequent Braxton-Hicks, but Ruthie’s birth story really begins on Saturday, December 22 around 2 am. We heard Gemma coughing over the monitor, and then crying, so John went up to her and found her in a puddle of vomit. Poor girl! He changed her bed while I bathed her, and thankfully she kept down some diluted juice while I rocked her back to sleep.
The next day, she wasn’t quite herself, but at least she was much better. We decided to go out to eat that night at Outback, thinking it might be our last time out as a family of three. It was! On the way home, we stopped and got a few groceries, and I gave John a haircut that night.
On Sunday morning, December 23, I woke up considerably earlier than my alarm, which had become a bit of a habit! My stomach was feeling a little icky, which made me wonder if today was the day! After some sweet devotion time, I packed up Gemma’s overnight bag (just in case I went into labor before Heidi arrived in town) and painted my toe nails. By breakfast, the only thing that sounded good was the jello I had made for Gemma yesterday, so I polished it off!
We went to church, but by the end of Sunday School, I was feeling ickier still and told John that I needed to go sit in the car. I got in and got settled, and then had to stick my head out the door into the parking lot to throw up that orange jello I’d had for breakfast. Feeling a bit better, I ate a granola bar and rested, listening to the service online over my phone. By the time we left to go home, I was feeling sick again, and John had to pull over so I could throw up again in the gutter. It was clearly Gemma’s bug, and not labor.
I slept for most of the afternoon, but was really quite sick. Whenever I as much as rolled over in bed, I threw up again. Along with the vomiting came the other common symptoms of a stomach bug, and it was just generally nasty. Still, the worst part by far was that I couldn’t keep any fluids down, and my wrists and ankles were starting to feel tight and tingly. By evening, John had come down with it, too, but thankfully he only threw up once and felt better. He went out and bought us some Gatorade, but I couldn’t keep that down, either. It actually felt kind of good to sit on the couch while we watched the evening service online, and I started getting contractions I had to blow through! (You know how some women take castor oil to “clean them out” and it often helps induce labor? Sometimes I wonder if this bug had the same effect!) I started timing them, but they spaced out to 20 minutes apart by the end of the hour, and then stopped completely.
Heidi called and convinced us to page the midwife on call for advice. I’m so glad that she did! When Susan heard my situation, she called some anti-nausea medication into our pharmacy for me. By the time I took the second dose, I started to be able to keep my diluted Gatorade down. My wrists and ankles still felt tight and tingly, which concerned me (I have had low blood-pressure issues), but since the midwife hadn’t been concerned about the baby, I went to sleep just praying that I wouldn’t go into labor that night. I had no idea how I could have handled it while I was so sick.
Monday was Christmas Eve! I started feeling a little better, but spent most of the day in bed. That night, Heidi arrived from Colorado! I felt like I could go into labor at any moment but also still felt pretty weak and I prayed once again that tonight would not be the night.
Tuesday was Christmas day! Derek and Liz arrived that morning and we had a fun, full day celebrating together. It was also a day of feasting—we ate lasagna, bread and salad for lunch, chocolate cake for dessert, and later that evening had another huge supper of very heavy, buttery shrimp scampi. That afternoon, we went on about a mile-long walk. I was thankful to be feeling so much better! That night, we all stayed up kind of late watching a movie. I was torn between wanting to rest and thinking but it’s Christmas!
No comments:
Post a Comment