Yo Ali!: October 2008

So what started off like any other week ended in the birth of Orion Andrew Nataani Ali. The story started with a trip to Super - Bo to bowl - my top score that night was a 67 but hey I never claimed to be a great bowler.

Amy, Jarrod, Brooke, Tallo, Amit and Jessica - the crew that went bowling. The bowling trip was Wednesday night followed by a potluck on Thursday. I was feeling great and looking forward to our pending trip to Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta that coming weekend - not to mention the prenatal massage I had scheduled. I love weekends away and Eric and I were calling this the last Hurrah weekend.

Early Friday morning about 2:30 AM I rolled over in bed and felt the strangest "pop" and a sensation of peeing the bed - well I don't remember ever being incontinent so I got up and went to the bathroom and sure enough I couldn't stop this flow of fluid if I had the strongest kegel muscles in the world. I stuffed one of Eric's wife beater tank tops between my legs and went back to bed to wake Eric up. He jumped out of bed and started to read his "Birth Partner" book then looked at me and said "this can't be happening, we don't have a birth plan written." I started laughing hysterically. After a 1/2 hour debate about should we or should we not - we decided to go to the OB ward and get checked. I called the ER to see what midwife was working and after getting transfered to the ER doctor on call and explaining who I was he said "ohhhh you must be Eric's wife" Let me tell you it was a comedic start to a weekend that proved to rock my world.

After getting checked out in labor and delivery and told that yes indeed the fluid was amniotic, the midwife on duty wanted to admit me. I explained very nicely that that was not going to happen - there were just too many details to take care of before the birth. We left the hospital and came home - while I tried to sleep, Eric cancelled our hotel, massage appointments and his trip to Vegas for the following weekend. After a couple of hours of sleep, I got up and called work and gave them a heads up about what was happening. We putzed around the house and later in the afternoon finally made our way to the hospital.

So because my water broke and I was technically only 36 weeks and 5 days along I had to be monitored way more then I ever wanted to be. I was too early to have had been tested for Group Beta Strep so I had to have an IV and antibiotics and fetal monitoring. Friday passed uneventfully and as we eased into Saturday with no contractions in view - I decided to take 2 doses of oral prostraglandin which kicked my contractions into gear. I labored throughout Saturday afternoon and into the evening. I really believe I could have delivered on Saturday evening but there was a change of shift and a new midwife came on that I was not as comfortable with. My contractions slowed down to every 7 minutes and this proved to me that your mind, body and spirit really have to be alligned in order to labor and deliver a child.

Sunday morning dawned clear and bright and my favorite midwife came back on shift. My contractions stayed steady but did not progress and by 3pm in the afternoon I decided to try some pitocin. This definitely increased the intensity and duration of my contractions and after 2 doses I said "NO MORE". I labored through the afternoon and into the evening with the support or Eric and Barb. They say that I cracked jokes when not concentrating on making it through each contraction but to be honest, I don't remember the jokes nor cracking them. What I do remember is the absolute overwhelming feeling that each contraction brought with it.

Eric and our fantastic doula Barb Steppe! She was with us for 22 hours and provided 22 hours of amazing support, whispered words of wisdom and a great sense of humor.

When I envisioned my birth, I always pictured myself standing or squatting when it came time to push. Well, I tried those positions and they just didn't feel right so I ended up on my side with Eric supporting my right leg. We pushed for about one hour and once they wheeled in the mirror I found it much easier to focus on pushing and Orion was delievered onto my belly at 8:09 pm. While I was getting cleaned up - Orion looked up at me with his big eyes and my heart skipped a beat and I was a goner, smitten with this new little being. Once the cord stopped pulsing - proud pappa Eric did his fatherly duty and cut it. I delievered the placenta and it got boxed up and stuck in the freezer so we can plant it in the garden at a later date.

I called my mom on Friday to tell her my water broke and this sent her into a panic as she was on vacation in Alaska. I think her quote to me was "but my ticket to come down is not until halloween!" She then traveled for 2 days from Kenai, Alaska to Seattle, Washington to Phoenix, Arizona to Albuquerque, New Mexico to rent a car and drive 3 hours to meet and greet her first grandchild. Mom stayed with us for 2 weeks and held Orion non-stop sucking up all of his lovely sweet baby-ness.