owen davis

friday, october 11, the phone rang around 5PM. i jumped off the couch to answer it. it was keith, calling from the studio, letting me know he would be home around 7PM. as we were talking, i felt a little trickle of fluid. i mentioned it to him, but didn't think it was my water breaking - i expected a huge gush that would soak me, not this wimpy little trickle! he said to watch it, and if i still thought something weird was going on, we would go into the hospital when he got home to get it checked out. i said okay, and we hung up. i figured just in case we might be in labor, i should vacuum the house and finish picking up. as i was vacuuming, i felt the fluid again. i soaked four pads before i decided this was too much fluid to be a leaky bladder, so i called keith and told him to come on home, i am pretty sure this is amniotic fluid. so he headed home, a 45-minute drive. i called my mom and gave her a heads-up, that this might be it, but i would call her from the hospital when we knew for sure. i finished packing up last minute toiletries, vacuumed the rest of the house, fed and watered the dogs, and sat down to wait. each time i changed positions, i was leaking fluid. keith finally got home around 6:30PM, and we made sure the dogs had a potty break, in case we wouldn't be back that night. we loaded the hospital bags and were off.

we live approximately thirty minutes from the hospital, but in rush hour, it took us a little longer. i wasn't having any contractions at all, but i was pretty sure my water had broken (and was still leaking), so i was nervous to get to the hospital. we were almost to our exit when we ran into an accident that had the interstate shut down completely. i panicked for a second, but we took a different exit. we made it to the hospital around 7:30PM. we went up to the fifth floor, but left our bags in the car, just in case this wasn't the real deal. we got to the nurses' station, and i told them, "i think my water broke." i'm sure they were looking at my soaked jeans and thinking, "she thinks so?" anyway, they checked us in, and i changed into my hospital gown. we only waited for a minute before the nurse came with her little strip of paper to check me. she checked my fluid, and her little strip of paper turned blue. she said, "yep, your water is broken!" and i asked her, "so we're not leaving her without a baby, right?" she said yes, so i went ahead and called my parents. my brother kyle answered, and i told him that we'd been admitted. so the folks were on their way. they live about eight hours away, and while i was hoping that they would be there for the birth, i was also hoping that i would be in labor shorter than eight hours!

the nurse wanted to go ahead and hook up my iv. i wasn't having any contractions at all, and i was told that they would wait 4 to 6 hours before they gave me any medication to cause contractions, to see if i would go on my own. i thought this would be a long night. we decided to hold off on the iv so that we could walk around the hospital a bit, see if that would help speed up the process. i was only dilated to 3-4 centimeters, no change from my doctor's appointment the day before. so keith and i walked around and around the fifth floor for about 45 minutes. after 45 minutes i had to be hooked back up to the monitors to check the baby's heartbeat and my contractions. while i was back on the monitors, keith decided he needed dinner. since i wasn't allowed to eat, he went to jack in the box and got two tacos, onion rings, a huge burger, and a sprite. i talked him into giving me some of the sprite, even though it was a no-no. he ate in the room with me. i was starving, but i made it. he felt sick later, anyway, so that was a little bit of justice. i called my best friend, betsy, but she wasn't home. i left a little message about calling her when the baby was here. keith called his family, and only got a hold of a few of them. so after that, i got my iv in and we waited. within an hour, i started having contractions. they were mild at first, but during a mild one, i heard this little popping noise. i have no idea what it was, but as soon as i heard it, the contractions doubled in intensity. they were pretty bad. keith wasn't exactly sure what to do during the contractions. he stood with me and watched the monitor, and tried to talk to me and rub my back. i was clinging to the bedrail for dear life during each contraction, and didn't really feel like chatting. at one point during a contraction, he asked me, "what are those pads you brought with you?" i said through clenched teeth, "poise pads." "boys pads?" he asked. "did you say boys pads?" he thought this was raucously funny. maybe - but not during a contraction! so he watched the monitor for a while, and told me that my contractions were a 12 on a scale of 1 to 100, 100 being the hardest contractions. i thought if i was only at a 12, i definitely needed some medication, because i thought i was dying. just after, the nurse came in and adjusted my contraction monitor. it turns out that it had slipped off - my contractions suddenly shot up to a 67! i thought, that is more like it! i wasn't as weak as i thought.

my nurse came in again around 11PM. i had a bad case of the chills, i think from the cold iv fluid. she brought me blankets, and i asked her what i could have for the pain. she checked me again, and i hadn't dilated at all, so i couldn't have an epidural yet. she gave me some staidol in my iv. it was terrible. i felt groggy and sleepy, and was totally zonked out, until the contractions would come. they were strong enough to wake me up, so i suffered through them and then fell into oblivion again. apparently during this point, i asked keith to put my socks on, which he did, and then i asked him to take them off, which he did. it's foggy. also there was a shift change right after 11PM, and i met my new nurse. i don't remember this part, either, but apparently it happened. around midnight the staidol wore off, and i came to my senses. i remember opening my eyes and seeing my new labor and delivery nurse standing there. she said, "my name is lenora. we met earlier, but i think you were asleep. do you want your epidural now?" i about kissed her. she checked me and i was dilated to five centimeters. she called the anesthesiologist in, and he put in the epidural. it was pretty painful, but nothing compared to the contractions i was having. lenora stayed with me, holding my hand. she was young, probably around 30, and had a little baby of her own. i thought she was great. once i had the epidural, i felt infinitely better. i still felt all of the pressure, but not the pain. while my nurse was putting on my heart monitor, i asked keith if he had decided on a middle name for the baby yet. we had decided on davis earlier, but he was still kind of hesitant. he said, "i guess it's davis," and lenora said, "hey, that's my last name!" i thought that was pretty great. she was the most wonderful nurse, and she was so awesome during my delivery. the baby isn't named after her, but it worked out really neat.

so keith and i both fell asleep. lenora came in around 1AM to check me, and i had only dilated to 6 centimeters. she came in hourly after that to adjust monitors or help me roll over. she was great. i slept really well, considering i was in active labor. i remember waking one time and hearing a lady next door screaming bloody murder. it was the most awful sound. i was a little groggy from sleeping, but i remember thinking, "that woman didn't have an epidural!"

around 4AM, lenora came in again, and i told her that i was having to fight against the pressure to push. she told me she didn't think i was ready, but that she would check. so she did, and indeed i was dilated to 10 centimeters. she said, "you're ready to push!" and left to go call the doctor. i was so excited! i woke keith up and told him it was time to push. then i threw up, twice. lenora came back and started to prep the room for delivery. i asked about the woman screaming next door, and she told me that woman came in and delivered within 34 minutes - she didn't have time for pain medication of any sort. no wonder she was screaming. i was thinking of my parents then, wondering if they would make it. if the drive took only 8 hours, they would be arriving around 5AM. i thought maybe they would make it after all. the nurse turned my epidural up really high, for what she called the epidural slide. the last dose of medicine would push the baby the rest of the way down into my pelvis. she checked me and said she saw lots of dark hair, and that she thought the baby was posterior, sunny side up. i was like, "i knew it!" if you follow the webpage at all, you will remember that i have thought this from the beginning, because of all my back and tailbone pain. i wasn't thrilled with the prospect of pushing him out face-up, but it was just a little gratifying to be right. the doctor arrived around 4:30AM, and we started pushing. i didn't like the pushing. we pushed for about half an hour before my parents got there. the nurse covered me up so they could all come in and say hi. i talked to them for a few minutes, and then my dad and brother went to the family waiting room. my mom stayed with us to help videotape and take pictures. we went back to pushing, and unbeknownst to me, the doctor had my epidural turned off. i guess i wasn't feeling enough "oomph" in my contractions. boy did i start feeling it then! i remember going into this daze where i couldn't open my eyes, i could only push. keith held one of my legs, and lenora held the other. i pushed for a while, and then the baby's heartbeat dropped down into the 50's. someone slapped oxygen on me, and lenora called for the doctors. i never opened my eyes and saw them, but i remember hearing their voices. they rolled me to one side, and the baby stabilized, but that was a scary moment.

i kept pushing, and i remember asking, "why is it hurting so much? i thought it wasn't supposed to hurt with the epidural." they told me to keep pushing (the cover-up for turning off my epidural!). at one point, they told keith that the baby was crowning. he stayed with me the whole time, but at that point, he started feeling light-headed. the nurses made him sit down on the couch. he rested for a minute, and got back up to finish watching the birth. when i was ready for my episiotomy, the doctor pinched me and asked if i felt it. i said yes! so she gave me a shot. never, never in my life have i had that kind of pain! not even the contractions, not the epidural, not the pushing, nothing hurt like that shot. she numbed the area and did the cut. i only had a second-degree episiotomy, which isn't that bad, considering. i remember hearing that the head was out, but i couldn't open my eyes. at this point, the doctor turned my epidural back on, and ahhhhh. then they told me to stop pushing. i felt the doctor tugging and rotating the baby, and then they said, "open your eyes!" i did, but all i remember is seeing a little peanut head where he was squished in the birth canal. i think i said something to the effect of "look at that peanut head!" and then back to eyes closed again. he was born at 6:25AM on saturday morning.

at this point i was feeling so much better - baby out! the doctor delivered the placenta, which was a really interesting feeling. she showed it to us, and told us how it all worked. somewhere in here, keith cut the cord, and the doctor started my stitches. i started to come around a bit, and i asked, "is it a boy? is it a boy?" no one would answer me! and then i started asking, "can i hold him? can i hold him?" apparently not. i asked, "does he have all his fingers and toes?" no answer. i asked, "what is his apgar scores?" finally the doctor stopped stitching me and yelled, "what are his apgar scores?" she got an answer! my mom was videotaping the baby getting suctioned and cleaned and weighed. she yelled over, "he's 7 pounds, 5 ounces!" so i figured he was a boy. and man, was he wailing, so i figured he was healthy. i kept asking to hold him. i was bawling, and hearing him squall. keith stayed with me during the stitches, and my mom stayed with owen, taping everything. finally i got to hold him. my brother and dad came in, and i held our baby for the first time. his little head was so squished, but he was just beautiful. after i held him a while, my mom held him, then my dad, then finally keith. my brother kyle declined to hold the bloody baby, but he did show some concern by pointing out that "his brains are oozing!" i assured him that it was my blood on the baby's head, not owen's.

my parents, after driving all night and staying for the birth, headed to our house to get some sleep. i drank two cokes and ate a huge breakfast. keith went to the hospital cafeteria to get some breakfast for himself. after that, it was jut the three of us for a while. owen was healthy as can be, so he stayed with us most of the time. my labor and delivery nurse, lenora, went off shift at 7AM, so he was born just in time for her to see him. she hugged me before she left, and i told her how thankful i was that she was there. she was wonderful. our new nurse came a few hours later to bathe owen and take his footprints, and to help me get fixed up with pads and ice and all the necessities. we spent two days in the hospital, resting and relaxing and learning all about our new son. he had to go to the nursery twice because his temperature was cold. he laid under the warmer - i have never seen him happier! he would stretch out and lay there like he was tanning or something. we started breastfeeding right away, which was rocky, and still is, but is working.

my parents and kyle came to visit every day. sunday my mom hung out with owen and me in the hospital while keith went with kyle and dad to the titans game just down the block from the hospital. we came home monday morning. owen is doing wonderfully, and so am i. i can honestly say that i expected a lot worse from labor and delivery. even the recovery has been easy. i couldn't ask for more.

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