Reminiscing

The Day That William Arrived

One year ago I was beginning the seventh week of my sixth year of teaching. I was a little bit stressed out because I needed to video tape a lesson for one of my projects for my graduate degree and I knew I was running out of time with the baby coming. I was able to find a camera and video tape a lesson that morning during reading time. The cafeteria was serving country fried steak that day and I hate getting school lunch, but for some reason it sounded so delicious. I was also suffering from heartburn the last month of my pregnancy and knew I would be taking my chances eating that for lunch. Well, I took my chances and enjoyed every last bite. When the students left, I felt a heartburn episode coming on so I quickly got my stuff together and headed home. I figured I would have to come in early the next morning to get organized. When I got home my heartburn was really starting to hurt so I laid down on the bed and tried to sleep through it. I woke up about an hour later with the worst pain of my life trapped in my chest. For the next seven hours the only way I found relief was to stand in the shower until the hot water would run out. When it did, I would stand (the pain intesified if I sat or laid down) against the wall until the hot water filled up again. We called the doctor on call and his only advice was "Take Maalox Max." By that point I had been stuffing myself with Tums, Mylanta, and Maalox Max, but I kept throwing it up. I was worried the baby wasn't getting enough nourishment because I couldn't keep anything down and it had been almost 12 hours since I'd eaten anything. My friend Trish came over with her snowcone machine (she always saves the day!) and I ate ice chips. Finally around midnight, the heartburn subsided and I went to bed. 2 hours later I woke up with contractions. They were 8 minutes apart. I remember thinking "Labor is awesome! I get relief for a little bit whereas the heartburn just stayed and I had zero relief." I called my mom at 5 AM and she told me to call a sub for my class. I did and at 8 AM I called my doctor. He told me to go to the hospital. I argued with him worrying that I would make the trip to the hospital only to find it was false labor and then be sent home. He said "Well it's better to go and find out. You need to go to the hospital." I sent Isaac on some errands and an hour and a half later we left for St. Mark's Hospital. We arrived around 10 AM. I checked in and was dialated to a 5 so they told me to stay. I was wheeled to the delivery room. I couldn't believe my baby was coming. I started to get really nervous about the pain so I asked for an epidural. The anesthesiologist came about 45 minutes later. When he injected the "test dose" I felt an urge to push. The nurse checked me and was shocked to discover that I was at a 9. The anesthesiologist apologized and informed me that I would only be able to get the test dose. Four pushes later William was born at 1:55 pm. He was the scrawniest baby I had ever seen. Isaac thought he was the biggest thing he'd ever seen. He weighed in at 5 lbs 5 oz and was 19 inches long. I was so happy to have my son. I was also worried about his weight, but the nurse kept insisting it was okay to help me enjoy the moment. Later we found out he had low blood sugar and he had to be placed in the NICU. I'll never forget those days and nights in the hospital when we'd go visit William. He was so tiny and so sweet and I loved holding him in my arms knowing he was mine. I never dreamed motherhood would instantly be so wonderful and amazing.