Carolyn asked me recently if it hurts when you have a baby, and I told her it does, but the doctor can give you some medicine to help that if you need it. I told her I had had that medicine (that wonderful, beautiful epidural) with each of them, but for some reason, when she was being born it started to work and then stopped. It was the only time with any of the kids that I ever asked for more, and the more didn't do anything either.
So tonight, when someone asked which baby was the hardest to have, Carolyn was quick to declare herself that baby.
Then more questions came.
Who took the longest? Without looking, I think that was Sammy. We had recently graduated, our insurance was ending, and the doc agreed to start him a week early while we had insurance. I guess my body just wasn't quite ready, because it seems like he actually took longer than Adam (who took about 12 hours from the time we got to the hospital, see below).
It was pointed out that Adam was the only one that didn't need the doctor to break my water since my water broke and that's why we headed to the hospital. And walked the hallway. And walked the hallway. And walked the hallway. And labor kept stopping. So they hooked me up to pitocin and got him there. We actually made the doctor come to us for our appointment. We had one set the next morning, and Adam arrived about the same time as our appointment. At least we didn't put him too far off schedule.
Who took the shortest? The girls were all pretty close to the same. With each of them, by the end my doc was watching my water really closely because about a month before their due date it would get really low, so then she had me drinking "till you live in the bathroom." By about a week before their due date she decided to get them here while we knew they were safe, and the schedule was about the same for each. Be at the hospital at something like 6:30am (maybe it was 6am, need to look up my facts), started shortly after, and my girlies all arrived between about 12:30pm and 1:30pm.
(Now this is turning into random memories.) :)
The boys were delivered by the same doctor at the same hospital, and all the girls were delivered by the same doctor at the same hospital.
When Melanie was born, we had some friends having a baby at the same hospital at the same time (someone Jamie worked with), so the two dads would meet in the hallway once in a while to check on each other. If I remember right, we won. Before we left we went to hang out with them for a bit, and got in trouble for taking baby and not dragging the baby bed along with us.
After taking the "how to take care of your baby" class 5 times, before heading to the hospital to have Madeleine I decided that no-way-no-how was I taking it again, and if they told me I had to, I was going to tell them I would rather just teach it. I think a nurse asked me about it and I told her I knew way more than they had to teach, and no one asked again.
I loved keeping my babies with me at the hospital, and hated it when they were in the nursery. They had Madeleine out for a couple hours in the middle of the night. I couldn't sleep waiting for them to bring her back, so I finally called looking for her. Thankful for many happy memories of cuddling in my hospital bed at night with those new sweet little babies.
When we were at the hospital having Adam, we watched "Pure Luck." Hard movie to watch while in labor, laughing through contractions (maybe laughing was helping the contractions?). That was the first time I had seen it, and it became a birth tradition as long as we could find it. Now we own it, and the kids love it too (a hilarious clean comedy with loads of physical humor).
When we were at the hospital after Erin was born, at one point there were several hours when it was just Jamie and I with no visitors. The TV was off and we were both reading (and cuddling Erin). The nurse walked in and commented on how quiet it was. "We have 4 others we'll be going home to, so we're enjoying the quiet while we can!"
They took Piper away for a while the first night she was born, too. I was pacing and frustrated that they weren't bringing her back!
ReplyDeleteLove that you took the time to write this. I keep meaning to do it for my own...to officially have it in one place. Thanks for re-inspiring me to do it!