A Baby Story

So, here's how the whole deal went down.Liza woke up sometime around 5 a.m. and called Brookwood to make sure they hadn't gotten slammed with births the night before and that they could still take us at our scheduled time of 6:30.  They could.  So, we show up and pretty much immediately get escorted to Labor and Delivery room 14.  Liza changes into a gown and then, after asking some questions about various things, they hook her up to an IV and start giving her this drug that induces labor.  Meanwhile I go move our car from the "emergency" entrance to the parking garage and begin settling up our bill with admitting (by the way, paying a large amount of money up front is not exactly the way you want to start the whole birthing experience, but that's how it happens, I guess).

So, Liza's in labor.  And she's doing great.  Our nurse Tami is kinda hanging out with us and keeping an eye on things.  We're watching t.v. and just waiting for things to happen.  Dr. McKenzie comes in to check how she's progressing.  She was only dilated at 1 cm., which is what she'd been for over a week (I won't take the time here to explain what being dilated means; ask your mother).  Things are progressing slowly, and Liza's contractions are getting worse.  I'm able to see a monitor that shows Story's heartbeat and the intensity of the contractions.  Tami offers Liza some drugs.  She refuses.  5 minutes later, she changes her mind and accepts.  Tami says it will just take the edge off.  Evidently it does, and Liza goes to sleep.

Things kinda progress like this for awhile.  Tami monitors. Dr. McKenzie checks on the progress.  Liza's pain worsens.  We all wait.  Etc.  Both of our families eventually arrive and the waiting continues.

So, what are we waiting for, exactly?  Well, sometime around 4 0r 5 cm. Liza can get an epidural, which is the really good anesthetic so that she doesn't feel much pain at all.  Also, around 5 cm. things really begin to progress a lot more quickly.  Around 3 cm. Liza's first dose of drugs have worn off and she's really hurting.  So, they give her another dose, but Tami explains that this time it won't help as much.  Liza quickly asks for the drugs anyway.  They don't help at all.

Tami eventually goes to get Dr. McKenzie to come check Liza to see if she's progressed far enough to get the epidural.  She has.  We all rejoice.  We all have to leave the room while the anesthesiologist does his thing.  So, I decide to go get some lunch while I have the chance.  I get a corn dog and onion rings for some reason. Those aren't two selections I normally eat, but I did.

Once, Liza gets the epidural, things are a lot better.  She's a little loopy, but it's okay.  She's not feeling the pain.  I, however, can still see the little monitor.  Remember?  The one showing Story's heartbeat and the intensity of Liza's contractions.  Well, I'm watching these really intense numbers that Liza's both experiencing and not experiencing.  As soon as it peaks and begins to decline, I'm seeing Story's heartbeat nosedive.  Now, I'm not a Dr.  I don't really know what that means, but I'm pretty sure it's not "good."  However, I d0n't want to say anything and upset Liza, plus, Tami the supernurse is sitting right there watching the same thing.  After awhile, I realize she's really watching it closely, and that she's not happy with what she's seeing.  She keeps getting Liza t adjust her position to try to relieve some of the pressure off of Story, but it's not really working.  After about nine hours of labor, Tami excuses herself to go talk to Dr. McKenzie.  Meanwhile, we wait.

Dr. McKenzie comes in and asks our families to leave while he checks things out.  He examines Liza and looks over the print-outs of all those numbers I've been watching.  He calls our families back in and then sits down on the edge of Liza's hospital bed and gives us the low down.

Liza's body is progressing but progressing slowly.  Meanwhile, Story's getting really tired of the whole thing. So, he thinks it's best that we go ahead and do a C-section.  This was something we had been prepared for, so we weren't too worried about it.  Once we made this decision, there was a whirlwind of activity.

The families say 'bye and are hurried out of the room.  The anesthesiologist comes back in to up Liza's medication.  A bunch of other nurses come in to help Tami do whatever it is they were doing.  I'm given some stuff to put on: a cap, some booties, a big surgical smock and a mask.  They roll Liza out of the room, tell me to get dressed and that they'll come get me.  So, I put all the stuff on and wait... for about 25 minutes.

Then Tami comes in and take sme to a room where Liza's laying on a bed and there are about 15 other people in there doing doctor stuff.  I sit down beside Liza's head and ask her how she's doing.  She says she's doing good and that she really can't feel much of anything, just what feels like some pushing and pulling.  I'm sitting there for just a couple of minutes before they tell me to stand up and look over the little curtain at the sterile area.  And then... they pull Story out.  She cries.  Liza cries.  I cry. I'm trying to hold the video camera steady and capture everything.

They take her over to a little table to examine her.  So, I go film that.  They weigh her and I film that.  They take her over to Liza and I film that.  We cry, and I tell Liza how proud I am of her.  Then a nurse takes Story and tells me to follow her.

We walk out into the hallway.  She tells me to take off my surgical stuff.  My hands are shaking, and I'm having trouble untying the straps. Finally, I give up and just rip it all off.  Then she hands Story to me and says, "okay.  Let's go show her off."

And that's how it went down...