PICK ME, PICK ME!!

Alrighty friends, here's the deal. Today is the day for voting in Michelle's contest for the best birth story. If you are so inclined, please go to her site and vote (FOR ME) for the best story out of the ones she's showcased (which would be MINE). It's very easy - all you have to do is go to her site, and leave the name of the person who's story you wish to vote for (that's J-U-L-I-E), and when she announces the winner (ME), I can send you each a note thanking you for your vote.

Okay, so all joking aside - there have been some great stories I've read - some made me laugh, some made me cry, others made me cringe. Please go to Michelle's site and vote for the best one. The winner gets a cool bracelet. And don't worry, if you don't vote for me, I'll still love ya anyway!!

The birth of a Puckey

Okay, I finally have a chance to sit down and type up another birth story for Michelle's contest. This is the story of Puckey. Well, first a little back story. After I had Bug, (#2), my doctors told me it would probably be best to NOT have anymore babies. "Okay," I thought, "I can handle that - healthy boy, healthy girl. Good enough."

Well, after a couple of incredibly unhappily married years to my (now ex) husband, we got divorced. Not a pretty thing to deal with, and certainly with it's own consequences. I often tell my kids now that I NOW know, and I want them to understand, why God hates divorce and that's why they need to make smart choices in the future. (But that's a WHOLE other topic)

I met Ande one night at a birthday party for a co-worker of ours. We had actually worked for the same company for over a year and didn't know each other. We got to talking, and found out that we were in very similar stages in our lives - both going through divorces, I had 2 kids, he had 1, we were both done having children...blah blah blah. Ande was cute and funny, and we became fast friends. I quickly realized we'd be married someday.

Fast forward 2 years, to 2002. Ande had given his life back to the Lord, and I had gotten saved around the same time. We were allowing God to be a part of our relationship, and wanted more than anything to honor Him. We got married on March 14, 2003 in a beautiful wedding at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. Just the two of us, and his cousin & his wife as witnesses. Very cool. Before the wedding, I got the Depo-provera shot, so I wouldn't have to worry about taking the Pill.

The shot made me SUPER cranky. I talked to Ande about stopping the shots, and we talked about the "what-ifs" if I got pregnant. I talked to my doctors, and they said it would be okay for me to have another child, as long as the delivering doctor knew my history of retained placenta and all that. So we decided to let God do His will in our lives, and just take things as they came. We didn't tell any of our friends or family members, so as to not get the pressure of "so, are you pregnant yet?" kind of questions.

In December 2004, I started feeling pretty crummy. My cycle was never really regular, so I didn't really know if I was "late" or not. I decided to get a test, and sure enough, it was positive pretty much immediately. Being the pessimist that I am, I did another one to be sure. Yep, STILL positive. I was scared and excited all at once. I wanted a creative way to tell Ande without just blurting it out. Since it was December (and almost Christmas) I decided to wrap up one of the tests and give it to Ande as a "gift". Of course, I couldn't stand to wait until Christmas itself, so he got the "gift" that very night. He was a little stunned at first, but then was really excited about the baby.

We didn't tell anyone our big news until February. I will never forget the look on my mother in law's face when we told her. We almost always went to lunch together as a family after church on Sundays. So this particular Sunday, I handed her a card that was addressed to her and my father in law. The card said, "Congratulations!" on the front. She looked at it, a little puzzled, and then opened it. I can't remember exactly what I wrote, but it was something to the effect of "Congratulations on becoming Grandparents again!" I think I might have had my first ultrasound pictures in it, too. She immediately burst into tears of joy, although I think she could have killed Ande and me for keeping it a secret for so long!

Ande was very excited all through the pregnancy, and was really happy when we found out Puckey was a girl, although he thought for sure she would be a boy. (We've since discovered that Ande and his brother can apparently only make girls, which has been a big joke in the family) Ande picked her real name (which I won't reveal here, for privacy reasons), and even made baby purchases occasionally.

Finally, my due date in August came, and went. I ended up being induced a week later. We got to the hospital at something like 6:00am, only to sit in a labor room for HOURS before they actually got to me to start the pitocin. I have no idea what the nurse was thinking, but she set the drip on the bag so that it emptied in MINUTES. Needless to say, I started having some pretty bad contractions REALLY quickly. We were watching weird old black and white movies in my room as we were waiting for things to progress, and Ande kept dozing off. I was starting to really struggle with the pain, so we called for the nurse. I don't know what in the world she gave me, but I started to feel really weird. I would fall asleep between contractions (which meant I would sleep for about 3 minutes, have a contraction, then go back to sleep for 3 minutes....) The few times I managed to stay awake, I would say really odd things to Ande, then I would ask him if I really said it out loud. I didn't like how I felt at all!!

After a while of waiting, I was taken to the delivery room to be given the epidural. That went fine, and I felt comfortable again. It was getting to be late, and Ande was hungry. He called his dad and asked him to bring some food. Ande went down to the parking lot to meet his dad and didn't come back. I thought maybe he was just eating in the cafeteria or something so I wouldn't have to smell his dinner (since I was hungry too, but they wouldn't let me eat). The nurse came in to check me, and she said I was ready to push. Ande still wasn't back. I tried calling his cell phone, he didn't answer. I was starting to panic, thinking he was going to miss our baby being born! I finally got him to answer the phone after several tries, and much to my dismay he told me he was locked out of the hospital and couldn't find a way in. NICE. My nurse called security and they let him in. I could hear him talking as he came down the hallway, and I heard my mom's voice, too. So they both come into the delivery room and my doctor comes in and tells me to push. I push twice, and then he tells me to stop, because he didn't even have his gown on yet, and Puckey is on her way out. One more push and she was born (piece of cake!!). My husband later joked that the doctor nearly needed a catcher's glove because Puckey came "flying" out. Puckey was 7lbs, 6oz, and about 20" long. She was the most beautiful baby I've ever seen. Seriously. Her head was perfectly shaped, her skin was pink, she wasn't all wrinkly...she was perfect. I also remember thinking, "YEAH!! I didn't poop on the table!!" (That makes more sense if you've read my other 2 stories here, and here.) Then probably the WEIRDEST thing I have EVER had happen to me in my life happened. (It's sorta gross, so if you get queasy easily, you might want to skip this part) My placenta wouldn't deliver (again), so my doctor reached in and "swept" my uterus with his hand. He got the placenta out, with minimal bleeding, and ordered an IV antibiotic to prevent infection. The image of my doctor with his arm (which seemed to be up to the shoulder) inside me is permanently seared in my brain. CREEPY. But it worked, so I'm okay with it.

The pediatric doctors wanted to take Puckey to the nursery to do the necessary newborn stuff, so Ande went with them (I think he was terrified that something would happen to her). My mom must have gone with him, because I don't remember her being in the room at that point. As I was lying there, I started to feel nauseated. I asked the nurse if I could get up and go to the bathroom, but since I had an epidural she wouldn't let me. She offered me a shot of something to help me feel better. I said that would be fine, so she gave me the shot. Almost instantly I felt better. For about 3 minutes. (Okay, more TMI coming up....you've been warned) All of the sudden, I felt something happening "down under". Yeah, apparently one of the side effects of this particular anti-nausea drug is uncontrollable bowel movements. Again, I was horrified. My nurse was nice though, and she just cleaned me off as best she could until I could get up on my own. I don't think I had to "go" again for a week!

You'd think after all that, I might be done, but there's one more story coming....LOL

Yeah for contests!!

Michelle, over at My Semblance Of Sanity, has decided to have a contest. Anyone can enter, IF you have a birth/adoption story to tell. (I would imagine it would need to be your OWN story, not your cousin's sister's daughter's story). Michelle doesn't exactly have a prize picked out yet, but I have seen some of the prizes she's given away for other contests, and they are pretty COOL!

Here's the rules:
Post your birth/adoption stories on YOUR blog, and post a link to Michelle's blog. If you do not have your own blog, but would still like to participate, you may post your birth story in the comments section of Michelle's blog here. Don't forget to post a link in the comments on Michelle's blog, or else she won't know you posted a story...

Michelle will pick ONE story each day to be "showcased" the next day on her blog. At the end of the contest (which runs until 2/26). On 2/27, we will get to vote on the showcased stories, and on 2/28, Michelle will announce the winner on her Gabbin' Mama blog.

Invite all of your blogger friends to participate - the more, the merrier! Plus, you know how us Mamas L~O~V~E to tell our birth/adoption stories. Daddies are invited to tell their stories, too. Although, Nate, over at CFHusband should not be allowed to participate, since anyone who reads HIS story would just HAVE to vote for him!! He'd win by a landslide! LOL (Just kidding, Nate, if you happen to read this)

I will be posting my stories in 4 separate posts...I'll start with Bubber, since he's the oldest. Most of my stories will contain stuff that some may consider TMI, but since they are MY stories, I'll tell them the way I remember!!!

So as not to confuse anyone - Bubber and Bug have the same dad (my ex husband Dan). I don't have a birth story about Nans, because she is not mine biologically. Puckey and The Jib have the same dad (my husband Ande).

The Story of Bubber

I had just turned 20. Literally, 3 days prior I had my 20th birthday. My due date was October 20, which had come and gone 2 days before. I tried walking, eating spicy food, driving down bumpy roads, etc. None of those things worked. I even went BOWLING the day AFTER I was due. Imagine the looks I got when people asked "When are you due?" And I said "Yesterday". Most people took a large step backwards, as if they thought my water was going to break at that moment. My (then) boyfriend Dan and I had rented a couple of movies and I just couldn't even stay awake to watch the first one, much less the second. I joked that I would most certainly go into labor the next day because I didn't get to watch the movie I actually WANTED to watch (I don't even remember what movie it was anymore...). So, I went to bed. It must have been midnight.

At 5:15am, I woke up to this weird "pop" feeling in my belly. I laid there for a minute, then started nudging Dan to try to wake him up. After several attempts, I finally just yelled his name and he said, "WHAT?" (He had only been asleep for a short time, so he was pretty mad to be getting woken up already) I told him that I thought my water had broken. He laid there quietly for a few seconds until what I said had registered with him. Then he literally JUMPED out of bed and started running around asking what he was supposed to do. (Think chicken running with it's head cut off)

I got up and did the "shuffle" to the bathroom (those of you who have had your water break on it's own at home or elsewhere may know what I mean) to confirm if it was indeed the case. Yep. So I told Dan to call the doctor and our parents, while I packed my suitcase. Okay, so I am a procrastinator. What can I say?!?

As we were getting ready to leave, Dan grabbed a stack of towels for me to sit on while he drove me to the hospital in his baby Iroc Z-28. WHATEVER. I guess he was afraid I'd get amniotic fluid on his seat. So he drove about 90 miles an hour to the hospital because he was afraid I'd have the baby IN the car. I wasn't even having contractions yet...

We got to the hospital by about 6:00am. I was feeling pretty good, and the doctor told me to walk around because I wasn't dilated very far (about a 1). I walked for what seemed like FOREVER, and came back to be told I was still at a 1. Sigh. More walking. It was cool, because at the time the hospital I was in allowed people in the maternity ward to walk the NICU. I was just amazed at those tiny little babies. After about 6 hours of nothing much happening, my back started to hurt. REALLY, REALLY bad. I threw up a couple of times in a bedpan. Okay, this was about the time I started to realize that this was not going to be easy. The doctor put me on a pitocin drip because I wasn't progressing very fast. (So slow, in fact, that at one point my family saw my doctor walking by eating a bag of popcorn.)

It was pretty cool, because not only were my parents and Dan's parents at the hospital, but my sister, her husband, and his little brother from Big Brothers/Big Sisters drove up from Detroit (they had been there for a Lions game that afternoon). I think my mom was the first one there. She nearly beat us to the hospital. (Bubber was her first grandchild, so she was pretty excited)

For those of you who are all about natural birth and all that - good for you! I, however, am a HUGE wimp when it comes to pain. Pretty much immediately after they started the drip, I started asking for drugs. They didn't want to give me an epidural because I still had a long way to go, so I got a shot of Demerol (sp?) instead. That didn't even touch what I was feeling, so they gave me something else (I can't remember the name of it). Still, did not really help too much. Fortunately, I had finally progressed in my labor enough to where they felt comfortable giving me the epidural. Instantly I felt relief!! What a strange feeling, however, to watch something touch my legs and not be able to feel it.

Because I was on the pitocin, I was also hooked up to the monitors so the nurses could keep an eye on my contractions. At one point, my doctor told Dan to read off the numbers to me when there was a contraction. Our families were in the hall, and they kept hearing Dan yelling out numbers. They asked the doctor what Dan was doing, and he said, "He looked a little bored, so I gave him something to do. It's gonna be a while". I really liked Dr. Rinehart, he had a great sense of humor!!

Finally, at about 7:30PM, the doctor told me I could start pushing. I told the nurses that I had to go to the bathroom. They insisted that it was just the baby. I told them I REALLY needed to go. They said it was the baby, and to go ahead and push. I pushed, and much to my horror, had a bowel movement. (I have a hard time peeing in public restrooms, so you can imagine my embarassment) I REALLY wanted to tell the nurses "I told you so" but thought better of it.

After nearly 2 hours of pushing, at 9:23PM my son was born. All 8lbs, 6oz and 22 inches of him. I thought Dan was going to throw up or pass out (or both!?!). I looked at my precious newborn son and thought "I've given birth to a CONEHEAD!" Poor little Bubber's head was pretty pointy when he was born. Fortunately it rounded out in a few days...then he started to look a little like Charlie Brown (which is not a bad thing, I LIKE Charlie Brown)