Timeline of Pregnancy/Labor
(From Daddy's perspective)
March 2001 - Well, you know.
November 30 - We went to dinner around 6:00 p.m. with our friends, the Winter family, and had spicy food from P. F. Chang's. Meggan had a couple of light contractions before and during dinner.
December 1 - The fun begins at midnight when Meggan starts having stronger contractions that keep her up a lot. I, of course, could sleep through an AC/DC concert and slept fine.
We had planned on finishing some Christmas shopping and were not going to let a little birth stop us. ;-) Looking back, it is easy for Meggan to see she was having contractions Saturday morning, but at the time we weren't so sure. They were not spaced evenly, and the pain level varied greatly. So we shopped. When we arrived home around 1:00 or so, momentum started to build. We decided to pack the hospital bag "just in case".
We started counting minutes between contractions around 4:00 or so Saturday evening. Usually around 15 - 20 minutes or so. Still sketchy. Then around 6:00, they started coming around every 10 to 15 minutes. We started asking ourselves, "Should we go to the hospital?" Our childbirth class taught us to go to the hospital when the contractions were 5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute, for 1 hour straight. So we stayed at home, still not totally sure if this was the real deal.
Around 7:00 or so, the contractions started coming every 6 - 8 minutes apart, and we started to really get ready. Meggan was trying to relax, and Tom was finishing last-minute "nesting" by cleaning the house and stuff.
Then, right before 9:00, the contractions jumped to every 4 minutes apart, and we freaked out a bit. I had images of Meggan delivering in the car even though the hospital was only 6 minutes away. Sigh.
We arrived at St. Vincent and went to triage. 4 centimeters dilated and definite contractions. Needless to say, we get admitted.
We walk to our room and get settled. I call Jody to see if she is able to come up to visit and to help. Not too much longer and Meggan is screaming EPIDURAL! Just kidding, she wasn't screaming, just begging forcefully. The nurse talked us in to trying Nubain first and it helped take the "edge off". Meggan was instantly "drunk" on Nubain which made conversation more interesting. After a few hours though, it was time to bring out the bad boy himself. . . an epidural.
I, being the good husband I am, stayed by Meggan's side as the epidural (with a LONG needle) is shoved into the "love of my life's" back. . . for a while at least. After a couple of minutes holding my shaking honey, I get very queasy and had to step out into the hall before passing out. Oh well, there goes my chance for being in the next Marlboro ad.
After the epidural is finished, Meggan instantly feels MUCH better. The major downside to the drugs is the slows down the show. So we wait. And wait. 5 centimeters. . . 6 centimeters. . .
December 2 - Strangely enough, around 6:30 a.m., Meggan feels a VERY strong desire to have a bowel movement. I of course am wondering "can't you hold your bm until later"? Meggan then asks the nurse for a timeout from the labor process so she can #2. The nurse however wasn't buying it. She had to really convince Meggan that it was now time to push the baby out.
So. . . Meggan begins pushing. I really help out by holding one of Meggan's legs up. Meggan is awesome as she pushed so hard and did exactly as the nurse was asking. Push hard, count to 10, then do it 2 more times. After quite a bit of pushing and some strong contractions, Meggan's water breaks. Now it is seriously show time. More pushing, more pushing and. . . BLOOP! I see his head! I see his head! (Tom is giving play by play from the South touchdown area) A little more and the rest of Noah's body just slides right on out. Noah Ferdinand Schenk is born at 8:22. After some crying by all of us, and some hugging, Tom grabs the scissors and welcomes Noah to the world by cutting the umbilical cord.
Noah scores a 9 on his APGAR test (smart kid) and seems great! Mommy breastfeeds him soon after and we go to our room where we stay until December 4. Mommy and Daddy couldn't be happier!
A little poem I wrote totally from scratch based on our experience: ;-)
Centimeters Dilated
1 - 2, put on shoes
3 - 4, head for the door
5 - 6, I need a fix
7 - 8, the pain is great
9 -10, let's do this again