3-2-10 – Part 1 – Green Means Go
Finn Davies (pronounced Davis) Fincher has lived with us for over 2 weeks, but he’s nearly 4 weeks old. He spent his first 2 weeks in the hospital, but more on that later.
Right now I want to tell you the story of how Finn came into the world on March 2, 2010. I’ll try to be tactful about the messier details, but keep in mind that birthing is essentially messy. If these details bother you just keep an eye out for the asterisks bracketing the: “Warning: Real Life Details” and skip the asterisk marking the end of those details to keep reading.
The night of March 1st was typical. A two am rise to visit the Little Princess Room. I woke up at 7:50 am, climbed down the ladder as fast as I could. Here’s a nice picture of what I look like next to that ladder at 9 months pregnant.
That bathroom trip was not a moment too soon, because as I sat down, my water broke. I gasped both with the force of it leaving my body and with the realization that yes, today would be the day that our son was born.
I also felt enormously grateful that my body had waited until I was seated on a handy receptacle such as a porcelain bowl and not awoken me in bed.
** Warning: Real Life Details**
When I looked into the porcelain bowl I felt instantly nervous. My water was not clear, it was green. I couldn’t believe HOW green, like dark pea soup. It startled and concerned me. This was meconium, or baby poop, in my water and it meant something specific—either the baby had been in my body long enough he was starting to empty his bowels, OR it meant that the baby was undergoing stress.
Either way Green means GO to the hospital. As soon as I saw the green color, my adrenalin began to pump.
***
I felt like I had a hundred things to do before leaving. I was worried already about how the hospital would have to monitor me and how this might endanger my heart’s deepest wish: to have the baby naturally. (Some might be curious as to why I longed to have a baby without any pain medication or intervention… the short answer being fivefold
- I wanted to be fully present and aware for the entire birth to understand what other women for most of history have been through
- I wanted to be able to write about all the details as I had remembered them
- I wanted to not have the recovery time or scars from a C-section
- I wanted the freedom to move in water or walk around at the hospital floor as I entered labor
- I wanted to have the nearness of Dale’s presence without needles sending him into an anxiety attack.
I double checked my childbirth class notes, synced my Nano with my pre-prepared list of Labor mixes (Labor- Peace, Labor- Celebration, Labor- Strength… yes, I love preparing for things!), climbed the ladder to finish packing for the hospital. I bustled around the bedroom to find some comfy clothes for the day. This took about 15 minutes. Minutes that I would look back on as prime time to have attempted to eat or drink something. I did not take time to eat or drink anything, except water.
From my childbirth class I was certain that I had lots of time, good hours ahead to time my contractions before heading to the hospital. But there was the added complication of meconium in my water.
I had my bags all packed, but before waking Dale (He’s going to need all the sleep he can get, I thought), I brushed off an email to my pre-prepared list of friends and family to let them know today was the day. While sitting at my desk, I felt a contraction. It was light-ish. This was five minutes after my water broke. So I clambered up the ladder to find the iPhone that held the Labor Mate application to time my contractions. I thought I had a few more minutes.
I didn’t.
Stay tuned for Part 2.
March 29th, 2010 at 11:41 am
Can’t wait to read the rest!
March 29th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
love love love it… ready for installment two!!
March 29th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Way to leave us with a cliffhanger, Jonalyn! I can’t believe you were climbing up and down ladders after your water broke.
March 29th, 2010 at 11:24 pm
HEY. Don’t leave me hanging like that, woman! YEESH!
March 30th, 2010 at 8:59 am
Ahhh so need the next part!!! I can’t believe there was so much meconium!! So scary! Love reading and can’t wait for the rest! ;0)
April 1st, 2010 at 1:28 am
This takes me back to the birth of my first daughter. I will never forget going in for what I thought would be just a routine appointment and hearing the doc say they wanted to induce that day. Boy was I so not ready for that. I also wasn’t ready for the 30 hour labor that would then follow but at almost 9 years later now I look back and can barely even remember the pain and yet fully remember how happy I was when I held my baby girl for the very first time.