For this assignment I had to find out about my birth from my mother. She had kept a journal during her pregnancy, so I learned many details about my birth. I think it is important for everyone to know where they came from and understand that all babies are miracles.
My Birth Story
My mother knew she was pregnant for sure January 1986, but did not receive confirmation by a doctor until the middle of February. Her due date was scheduled for September 3, 1986. She was hoping that this time she would have a girl since she already had a boy. My mom slept a lot during this pregnancy. Whenever, Brian (my brother) took a nap, my mom would too. On March 1, 1986 my mom felt me move for the very first time. She had an ultra sound done on Thursday, March 6th. Her doctor said that they now do ultra sounds at about 3 - 4 months to see if the baby is developing okay. On April 18th, my mom started “to show.” Her back hurt a little bit, but when it hurt she would lie down for a few minutes and the pain would go away. My mom’s doctor predicted by the sound of how fast the heart was beating that I would be a girl. He says he was right 80% of the time. At 6 months of pregnancy, my mom had only gained 12 pounds. She gained 4 more pounds during the 7th month of pregnancy. Her energy had slowed down a lot and she was always tired and very irritable. On July 3rd my mom started to retain water in her feet because they were swelling. Then on July 27th I seemed to be pushing on her ribs a lot especially when it is time for bed. I thought it was still time for her to be awake. She started having Braxton Hicks contractions the end of July. A few of them hurt, but for the most part she knows it was just her body preparing to deliver.
On August 21st for some reason my mother had a bored feeling all morning. She had an unusually huge lunch at 11:30 am. She usually never ate a lot because of extra weight gain, but she just could not help herself. At about 6 p.m. contractions started and were about 9 minutes apart. She kept contemplating about taking a shower and curling her hair just in case she did give birth that night. Kevin (my dad) tried to discourage her since all the past contractions would last for about 1 hour of 1 ½ hours then quit, but she went ahead and took a shower and curled her hair.
Something different about these contractions was that no matter what my mom did when one came, she had to stop, and use controlled breathing. I guess that is when she became serious about these contractions. Her contractions were never really regular. They went from 9 to 6 to 5 to 4 ½ back to 5 then 3 to 5 to 2 ½. When they hit 2 ½ Kevin said “let’s go.” She had already packed her bag. Unfortunately she was not too relaxed in the car ride to the hospital.
My parents went to the 4th floor of the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, UT. They got to the counter at 9:50 p.m. A nurse took them to room 410. At about 10:05 p.m., a nurse came in and checked her dilation and found my mom to be 4 centimeters and 90% effaced. My mom had more hard contractions and a nurse asked her several questions about her previous birth, then an intern who had just started working there asked for permission to observe the birth process and since she said okay, he said my mom would be his first patient to see give birth. My mom’s regular doctor was out of town, so his associate Dr. Langeland would be there for the delivery. When the nurses told Dr. Langeland that my brother had came really fast and that when they broke her water, I jumped to 6 centimeters, he said he would come quickly. Within 10 minutes he had arrived and when he checked my mom, she was dilated to 8 centimeters and was 100% effaced. He left for maybe two minutes and when he got back my mom was ready to push.
The doctor said that I was high and was trying to come through the birth canal, but had not dropped to where I was supposed too. He told her to go ahead and push, but my head started to go out sideways. The doctor had to turn the head the correct way. My mom does not remember this hurting. The doctor also numbed the area and then he gave her an episiotomy. My mom only pushed maybe 10 more times and then I was born.
I was born at 11:19 p.m. and weighed exactly 7 pounds and measured 19 ½ inches long. I had a lot of dark hair and I was covered with a thick amount of Vernix. My mom looked at the umbilical cord and saw that it was blue, but the doctor cut the cord even though it was supposed to be done by my dad. The doctor gave her another numbing shot, so he could sew her up. Every time he touched my mom, she would jump, and she felt the stitching, so he gave her another shot, this time the sewing did not bother her. When Brian was born, my mom had laid in bed completely still for a long time, that when she got up, she had bad leg cramps. This time, as soon as the doctor was finished, she remembered to stretch her legs every few minutes, so that she would not have that problem again.
*Graphics
Baby with Family graphic from Big Box of Art CD
All other graphics from ClickArt! CD
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