Well, for one thing, we had to take mama to the hospital today to take care of her massive headache.
It all started one day, a faraway last Monday, May 23, at 3:52 when Megan gave birth to Beatrix, who I have beside me now as I play Chrono Trigger. Now mama is nursing her, headache-free. I am relieved. Gramma is gone with Aunt Laurie, having a night on the town. The house is normal. Just the four of us.
However, having my mom over to help with kitchen duties and watching Lucy has been exactly what we needed. The timing was perfect. We all thought that, by the 24th, when she started her visit with us, that we'd have a couple-week-old baby for her to hold. But as it turns out, Beatrix didn't come out until exactly two weeks after Megan's expected due date.
And, as always, pregnancy and birth have their resulting complications, and never go smoothly. As a result we're done with having kids. Two girls will be enough.
Alright, so after 42 weeks of pregnancy, Megan's contractions started to get serious the evening before her c-section was scheduled. We took to the hospital to see what was what. They said walk around for two hours. We walked around for two hours and got Jimmy John's from the U District location. It was the end of the street fair, and all the vendors were cleaning up, but the streets were still cleared off. It was around 7pm on Sunday. Very weird. Very weird evening.
During the walk her contractions started to get so strong that we'd have to stop walking, she'd grab my hands, lean on me, and I'd be a wall for her as she dealt with her pain. We were walking back, stopping along the way every few minutes to have a contraction.
Oh yeah, they told us to walk around in the first place cause her cervix was only dilated 2cm. That was after last week, when her doctor said she was only dilated 1cm. We were sure she'd been more than two since that week was over, but oh well. So they said to get walking to see if she would dilate. So after the walk around U District, we came back to the hospital and did laps down several hallways several times to fill out the two hours.
We go back up to Labor and Delivery, 6th floor, UWMC. They ask us to wait in the waiting room. A fucking hour later, they let us in. After they let in a much less pregnant girl and her man, who got there after us. Goddam fucking hospitals and their ... procedures. Who knows.
They let us in. She dilated 2 more centimeters since the walk started! 4cm dilated. Probably why the contractions were so painful. We got her to contract as much in 2 hours as she did the last week. So they're like, yep labor's serious now. We knew we'd be there all night.
Thanks, TJ and Sean, for watching Lucy while Megan and I were at the hospital. Stellar gentlemen you are.
So after she'd been having contractions for like many hours, Megan asked for an epidural. The procedure was really frustrating. Megan's contractions were coming every two minutes, during which the doctor had to stop what he was doing. Then he couldn't get the needle in right, and another doctor, more experienced and British, came in to help him. He thought he was stuck on a ligament or something, from what I could gather. Also, Megan had to stay perfectly still. So she couldn't move from her position of sitting on the edge of the bed, head down, back stuck out. Poor girl. It looked like torture.
So she's contracting really really fast, she's trying not to move, it's painful as fuck, and this doctor can't get the fucking needle in her back. British woman helps out, and there, it's in. Fuck. And this all happened at like 2 or 3am.
Megan starts feeling better. She gets an hour of sleep. Somehow I managed to sleep for like four or five hours. 8am rolls around. Monday. I'm ready to get up. Well rested enough. I go downstairs to get coffee and a Seattle Times. I think Megan was sleeping. The epidural was working.
Nurses and doctors are coming in and out, telling us stuff, doing stuff, looking at monitors, reading charts.
Around 11am, Megan starts pushing. First laying on one side, then the other, then for a long time on her back. A nurse said that usually after one hour of pushing, women typically get really discouraged, but the important thing is to keep at it, despite no apparent results.
This did not happen with Megan. Noon rolls around. 1pm rolls around. 2pm rolls around. Everyone's confident it will happen soon. 3pm rolls around. Megan is pushing for the life of her. Three big pushes during each contraction.
When I began to see baby head at around ... I dunno. Somewhere in there, I saw a spot of white head and dark hair on it start to appear during pushes. Slowly, gut-wrenchingly slowly, more and more of the head appears each time she pushes, but every time it just sinks down back in there.
I start to get more and more freaked out as the time drags on and Megan works her life off to push that motherfucker out of her. She's getting all red-faced, and ... I won't get into detail. Suffice to say, pushing a baby out is hell on a woman's nether-regions.
Four hours. 3:30 or so, another doctor is called in to give an opinion on our options. It was looking like a c-section, and all its recovery time and agony was imminent, despite Megan' superhuman pushing powers.
The new doctor's opinion is that either forceps or a vacuum will work. Another male, older, middle-aged, clearly respected by everyone doctor comes in. Suggests. Episiotomy. Everyone snaps to work.
They shoot Megan's vagina up with painkillers. SHE DOESN'T FEEL A THING.
They cut her. Two more contractions later, the baby comes out.
Now let me back up. Those two contractions were, from my perspective, the longest, and the ones I'll remember best. Because those were the ones where I saw a baby exit a vagina. Bananas.
Oh my god was I glad it was over. I cried when I saw Beatrix there, getting cleaned up by a cloud of masked, gloved pediatricians. It took me about five or ten minutes, but I lost it. Tears were coming out and I was in front of a shitload of people I didn't know, but I didn't care. She was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen in my life.
I'm done typing now.
Here are some pictures.
It all started one day, a faraway last Monday, May 23, at 3:52 when Megan gave birth to Beatrix, who I have beside me now as I play Chrono Trigger. Now mama is nursing her, headache-free. I am relieved. Gramma is gone with Aunt Laurie, having a night on the town. The house is normal. Just the four of us.
However, having my mom over to help with kitchen duties and watching Lucy has been exactly what we needed. The timing was perfect. We all thought that, by the 24th, when she started her visit with us, that we'd have a couple-week-old baby for her to hold. But as it turns out, Beatrix didn't come out until exactly two weeks after Megan's expected due date.
And, as always, pregnancy and birth have their resulting complications, and never go smoothly. As a result we're done with having kids. Two girls will be enough.
Alright, so after 42 weeks of pregnancy, Megan's contractions started to get serious the evening before her c-section was scheduled. We took to the hospital to see what was what. They said walk around for two hours. We walked around for two hours and got Jimmy John's from the U District location. It was the end of the street fair, and all the vendors were cleaning up, but the streets were still cleared off. It was around 7pm on Sunday. Very weird. Very weird evening.
During the walk her contractions started to get so strong that we'd have to stop walking, she'd grab my hands, lean on me, and I'd be a wall for her as she dealt with her pain. We were walking back, stopping along the way every few minutes to have a contraction.
Oh yeah, they told us to walk around in the first place cause her cervix was only dilated 2cm. That was after last week, when her doctor said she was only dilated 1cm. We were sure she'd been more than two since that week was over, but oh well. So they said to get walking to see if she would dilate. So after the walk around U District, we came back to the hospital and did laps down several hallways several times to fill out the two hours.
We go back up to Labor and Delivery, 6th floor, UWMC. They ask us to wait in the waiting room. A fucking hour later, they let us in. After they let in a much less pregnant girl and her man, who got there after us. Goddam fucking hospitals and their ... procedures. Who knows.
They let us in. She dilated 2 more centimeters since the walk started! 4cm dilated. Probably why the contractions were so painful. We got her to contract as much in 2 hours as she did the last week. So they're like, yep labor's serious now. We knew we'd be there all night.
Thanks, TJ and Sean, for watching Lucy while Megan and I were at the hospital. Stellar gentlemen you are.
So after she'd been having contractions for like many hours, Megan asked for an epidural. The procedure was really frustrating. Megan's contractions were coming every two minutes, during which the doctor had to stop what he was doing. Then he couldn't get the needle in right, and another doctor, more experienced and British, came in to help him. He thought he was stuck on a ligament or something, from what I could gather. Also, Megan had to stay perfectly still. So she couldn't move from her position of sitting on the edge of the bed, head down, back stuck out. Poor girl. It looked like torture.
So she's contracting really really fast, she's trying not to move, it's painful as fuck, and this doctor can't get the fucking needle in her back. British woman helps out, and there, it's in. Fuck. And this all happened at like 2 or 3am.
Megan starts feeling better. She gets an hour of sleep. Somehow I managed to sleep for like four or five hours. 8am rolls around. Monday. I'm ready to get up. Well rested enough. I go downstairs to get coffee and a Seattle Times. I think Megan was sleeping. The epidural was working.
Nurses and doctors are coming in and out, telling us stuff, doing stuff, looking at monitors, reading charts.
Around 11am, Megan starts pushing. First laying on one side, then the other, then for a long time on her back. A nurse said that usually after one hour of pushing, women typically get really discouraged, but the important thing is to keep at it, despite no apparent results.
This did not happen with Megan. Noon rolls around. 1pm rolls around. 2pm rolls around. Everyone's confident it will happen soon. 3pm rolls around. Megan is pushing for the life of her. Three big pushes during each contraction.
When I began to see baby head at around ... I dunno. Somewhere in there, I saw a spot of white head and dark hair on it start to appear during pushes. Slowly, gut-wrenchingly slowly, more and more of the head appears each time she pushes, but every time it just sinks down back in there.
I start to get more and more freaked out as the time drags on and Megan works her life off to push that motherfucker out of her. She's getting all red-faced, and ... I won't get into detail. Suffice to say, pushing a baby out is hell on a woman's nether-regions.
Four hours. 3:30 or so, another doctor is called in to give an opinion on our options. It was looking like a c-section, and all its recovery time and agony was imminent, despite Megan' superhuman pushing powers.
The new doctor's opinion is that either forceps or a vacuum will work. Another male, older, middle-aged, clearly respected by everyone doctor comes in. Suggests. Episiotomy. Everyone snaps to work.
They shoot Megan's vagina up with painkillers. SHE DOESN'T FEEL A THING.
They cut her. Two more contractions later, the baby comes out.
Now let me back up. Those two contractions were, from my perspective, the longest, and the ones I'll remember best. Because those were the ones where I saw a baby exit a vagina. Bananas.
Oh my god was I glad it was over. I cried when I saw Beatrix there, getting cleaned up by a cloud of masked, gloved pediatricians. It took me about five or ten minutes, but I lost it. Tears were coming out and I was in front of a shitload of people I didn't know, but I didn't care. She was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen in my life.
I'm done typing now.
Here are some pictures.
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