MCR's thoughts...: Birth of my son

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Birth of my son

I started having back pains in the early morning of July 7th. My due date was the 11th so I knew this might be labor. By 8am the pain in my back was so bad I could barely walk around. Peter decided to go do some yard work and said he would check on me around lunchtime. I wasn't sure if I was in labor since all the pain was in my back but I couldn't think what else would hurt that bad! I eased my way around the house, getting my things together and trying to distract myself.
Peter came inside a little after one and I told him that I thought "it was time" and that we needed to go to the hospital.
He said "OK, let me go finish up a few things outside and then I'll come in and get ready".
My response was "NO, you need to get ready NOW!"
So he hopped in the shower and we left for the hospital.

When we got to the hospital we walked to the nurses station and a nurse asked "can I help you?" At that point the pain was so bad I could barely speak, so in a squeaky voice I said
"I think I might be in labor",
"when is your due date?"
"the 11th"
At that point an older nurse came over, took one look at me and said
"put her in a room, she is having a baby today!"
So, they got me settled in a room and started the process of getting everything hooked up and ready to go. I couldn't tell how far apart my contractions were because it was all back pain. I wasn't crazy about having an epidural but the doctor on call convinced me to get one. He told me that I needed some relief or I was going to be too worn out to deliver. They gave me the epidural but it didn't really help. With the epidural they give you some pain medication, the pain meds helped but the epidural never took, my legs were never even numb or heavy.
I'll fast forward through the next few hours, the delivery was very difficult but fortunately I had a great delivery nurse, she saved me, stayed right in my face and kept me focused when I really thought I was going to die.
My son, Wythe Carrington Rightmyer was born at 9:59 that evening. As soon as he came out he started shrieking this ear piercing shriek, not the typical newborn cry. The doctor had to leave the room for a bit, he said the screaming was getting to him! I experienced that euphoria that really can't be explained you are so focused on this baby that just came out of you that you are almost completely unaware of anything else. You want to cry, laugh, sleep, jump for joy all at the same time! He seemed so little and red and angry and absolutely precious. I was kind of taken by surprise when I saw his head...it was pretty misshapen because the doctor had had to use the vacuum to get him out, poor baby had a serious cone head! But the doctor and nurses assured my it would quickly go away and by the next day it was much improved. They let me hold him for awhile but not as much as I had hoped. When he was born he had a fever and they were concerned about that so they were really checking him out and doing some things to him and then they gave him a bath to try and lower his temperature. Poor Wythe just screamed and screamed. He settled down for awhile then was up most of the night crying, that was pretty much the pattern for the rest of the hospital stay. Short naps and lots of crying. We didn't realize it at the time but it was a sign of things to come! But we were very thankful for our healthy boy, he weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces and was 20-1/2 inches long.