Pair-o-Doxies: Rewind

For fear of forgetting the details, I want to record the story of Nolan's birth as I recall it. What a blessed day it was.

November 30, 2012

I woke up at about 8:30 Friday morning - the day after my due date - went into the restroom and was greeted by my water breaking. Denial, however, is a powerful thing, and I remember thinking, "Hm. That's new..."

My parents were visiting for the week, and Dad was always good to have a pot of coffee going first thing. Sooo out into the kitchen I ventured (read: waddled) in search of that morning's glorious cup, and - WHOA! Pretty sure my dad knew something was up when I abruptly put down the carafe and ran (okayfine: waddled) back to the bathroom. Mom was asleep, Mikel was at work, and I wasn't about to call my dad into the bathroom, so I opted to phone-a-friend: dear Julia was the lucky soul - the only person I knew whose water had broken spontaneously. You know you've found a good friend indeed when you can call her from the toilet seat, asking her to recall and describe her amniotic fluid and contrast it to your description of your own.....

Julia, in her vast wisdom and grand ability not to insult my intelligence despite the obviousness of the situation, recommended I call triage, notify Mikel and go get checked out. I, in my intense denial and even more intense desire to return to my rapidly cooling cup of coffee, overrode her prescription. I put on my big girl panties (pardon the pun) and return to the living room. My plan was simple: Watch and Wait. oh, and Drink Coffee.

Mom was up by this point (9:30ish), so I said hello and casually sat down on the couch. Cool as a cucumber. Picking up my cup, I pretended to engage in the morning's conversation, but very soon, all I could think was OW OW OW OW MY BACK. I remember my mom knowingly looking up at me from her seat on the sofa - for I had been driven to my feet by this annoying, circumferential cramping - and all I could manage was, "I should probably tell you guys: Either my water has broken, or I've been progressively peeing myself all morning."

Reason #1 Why You Want Your Water to Break at Home: You get to take your time a bit. I called triage who psychically agreed with Julia. Then I paged Mikel who was thankfully on a research day and readily reached. After listening to me describe my symptoms with the same finesse I had used with my parents, Mikel calmly replied, "I think that all sounds worth investigating." Heaven bless my wonderful, level-headed husband. More on that later.

While waiting for Mikel to get home, I took a shower, ate breakfast, drank some more coffee in perfect keeping with my plan, and gathered up the last of our things. Of note, I am among the last of my close friends to have a baby and was sure beyond sure that triage would to send us home. That's just what they do. Practically everyone presents to triage in terrible pain and they send you home at least once no matter how much you beg and plead and writhe around on the floor. Or so I'm told. Being that my pain was not yet too terrible (i.e., I was upright and independently mobile), I had no expectation that we would actually get admitted. Worse yet: I was petrified that they were going to tell me, "Congratulations, Mrs. Hubanks. You are full of gas and you've developed late pregnancy incontinence." I was bolstering my pride in anticipation....

What I didn't know was Reason #2 Why You Want Your Water to Break at Home: It's the proverbial golden ticket through triage.

After a quick car ride punctuated by a few more of those pesky contractions, we showed up, they slapped on the monitor, confirmed what they needed to, and the next thing I knew I was donning one of those horrid maternity gowns, heading (waddling, geez) to L&D and hazily answering admission questions. At every turn, someone seemed to offer me an epidural. I am the daughter of an anesthesiologist. Practically the poster child of epidurals. I knew I wanted one. And yet? I didn't feel like I could accept it. Not yet. Maybe it was my denial working hard to hang on by a thread or maybe I thought I had to reach the point of no return before it was okay to say Yes, but as I gritted my teeth and sweated through another contraction, the nurse headed out to get the dreaded bag of pitocin and my Dearly Beloved looked at me and so gently inquired, "It's totally your decision and whatever you want is fine, but just so I know -- what exactly are we waiting for?" Recognizing that the answer to that was essentially "More PAIN" helped me to clear the cobwebs and get my personal priorities straight: i.e., drugs > pain.

The rest was downhill from there. Epidurals are (opera voice) AAAAMMAAAAAZZINNNGGG. My parents arrived to hang out with us while we waited. I texted my sisters and girlfriends, read a magazine, watched the fetal strip, and debated baby girl middle names with Mikel, upon which we never did agree.

8:30am -- water broke
1:15pm -- Arrived to triage
3:00 -- Admitted
4:00 -- Epidural, IV fluid bolus and pitocin
6:00 -- Dilated to 5
8:00 -- Complete (but with major baby shakes!)
9:33 -- Started pushing
9:51pm -- Nolan Mikel arrived. 8 lb, 8 oz, 21 inches long -- and after Mikel took a second to gather his thoughts, he managed to exclaim: "It's a Boy!" I'll never forget that moment. I dreamed of having a boy, and while it was wonderful not knowing the sex of the baby prior to delivery, we were so happy to meet him and announce his beautiful name aloud. No longer a name we'd carry in our back pocket just in case we needed it -- it suddenly had a face, an assignment, an identity. Nolan Mikel. Our precious son.

The team had Nolan's and my after-birth care so well under control that the attending staff MD was willing to swoop in with our camera and snap some great photos. We are indebted to her, for without her, we would not have many pictures at all to help us remember this treasured event. And because of her, Mikel and my parents got to live it all in front of the camera instead of behind it.

We love you beyond meaure, Nolan, and we thank our divine Maker every day for lending you to us. We are indeed honored to be your mom and dad.