My Athena Birthing Experience

 

           I have given birth to four beautiful children so when asked to give one example of a childbirth experience was difficult.  However, I chose to tell about when my second child, Athena, was born because she was one of my children that really knew when it was time to be born.  When I was pregnant with Athena, I had a great OBGYN which was not the case with my first child.  And having a great doctor makes a huge amount of difference!  When he told me my due date for Athena, he told me October 31, 1999.  I told him there was no way I was going into the hospital on Halloween- Halloween is usually a busy night for people doing not so intellingent things and ending up in the hospital.  Of course, he thought this was funny and I was ok with it because he had a good sense of humor.  He liked to tease me that I was going to have a baby on Halloween but I usually came back telling him that it wasn't going to happen.  About a month before Athena was due, I started experiencing a great deal of shoulder pain in my left shoulder and couldn't shake it.  About a couple of weeks before her due date, my doctor was concerned that the shoulder pain might impede my efforts to push so he suggested a cortizone shot.  He explained any risks but was confident that it would help with the pain and me being able to push at childbirth.  So I went ahead with it.  About a week before the due date, he checked the weight of Athena and noticed Athena's weight was already at 8 lbs and again became concerned.  He told me that if I didn't go into labor by October 26, come into the hospital that evening and I would get induced the next morning.  Of course, I did the "I told you so" about Athena being born on Halloween.  Sure enough, my husband was driving me to the hospital that evening on the 26th. My mom met us at the hospital to pick up my oldest daughter who was almost 3 and my sister met us at the hospital to help keep me company.  My sister had been with me for the birth of my first child and I was looking forward to having her with me again. I was in a warm, home like birthing room in a bed that could be upright if I wanted.  I was encouraged to walk around, stand up, sit up, or lay over the huge pilates ball if I wanted.  This was very different from my first child because I was not allowed to get up once they put all of the needles and machinery on me and I do think it made a huge difference in my second child's birth.  Since I wasn't getting induced the next morning, I was just expected to relax and not worry about anything until the next morning.  Well apparently, that is not what Athena had in mind.  She was ready to come out that evening/early morning.  My husband, sister and I were playing cards and around 10:00 pm, I started getting contractions that were about 5 minutes apart.  We called the nurse and she called my doctor; he had just left the hospital to go home.  The nurse called for the anethesiologist to give me an epidural.  My husband and sister had to leave the room for the epidural so it was just the nurse and I and she was awesome!  And that makes a huge difference as well!  As I was sitting up waiting for the epidural, I told the nurse that they needed to hurry because the baby is coming.  She quickly relayed the message to the anethesiologist and intern learning how to give an epidural.  The nurse laid me down and called my husband and sister back in.  My contractions were now coming every minute and I was having trouble breathing in between so the doctor on called ordered an oxygen mask for me.  My doctor called me from his car and said "What the heck are you doing, I thought we were having the baby tomorrow."  Of course I had to laugh and he got there in time to deliver Athena.  I only had to push 3 times and Athena was born.  The nurse put her in a bassinet on the other side of the room and I could hear her sucking reflexes from across the room.  Needless to say, she was my baracuda breastfeeder:)!  And needless to say, Athena is very strong minded to this day and knows what she wants to do:)!