My Side of the Story

Although I am totally impressed by the loquacity of Taki's birth story post (and by the way, that short "She's Here" title blurb was actually Vernie and I trying to update the blog from his iPhone at the hospital!), I thought I would add my own version of things as well. Because, as we all know, I do love to talk.

First of all, I want to dispute the fact that 8/8:15 was when food first entered Taki's mind. In fact, here is a little play-by-play of the action at our house before we left for the hospital.

At Home Around 5pm
Taki (home from work early to prepare for the induction): Uuuh, I'm soooooo tired.
Heather: Oh no (flashbacks to first pregnancy), why?
Taki : I just haven't been sleeping well. (I, of course, want to argue this point, unless he has suddenly started snoring LIKE A MAC TRUCK while he is awake - but I digress.)
Heather: Well, why don't you run up to Starbucks and get yourself something, it's probably going to be a long night and I don't want you to be moping because you are tired. I need you to be peppy! (Yes, I did just actually refer to Taki and the word peppy in the same sentence.)
Taki: Why, isn't Melanie going to be there?

In Car
Taki: I'm hungry. When your mom and sister get there I think I am going to go get something to eat at Subway.
Heather: What? You are going to leave while I am in labor?
Taki: Heather, I left like three times when you were having Nikos. Remember, once I went to get Mel and I milkshakes? (Note, I have no memory of this.)
Heather: Huh, no.
Taki: In fact, I am pissed that the Taxi's placed closed. I liked their milkshakes.
(Hello, is this guy kidding me here?)
Heather: Yeah, sucks. I'm hungry too though, maybe we can split one of the nurse's cupcakes. Hee!

After discussing the different food options for Taki's dinner, we arrive at the hospital and go to get settled. I meet my nurse (Katharine) who informs me that she is only going to be my nurse for a short time as she is waiting for my nurse to arrive. Mel and my Mom still haven't gotten to the hospital yet so we fill out some forms with Katharine and she hooks me up to the monitor to view my contractions and the baby's heartbeat. She attempts an iv in two places but has problems getting it started (possible foreshadowing here?), she apologizes profusely and says that she will have my nurse start it when she gets here. I secretly think I will just have Mel do it.

My family arrives and Mel and Katharine say hi and then Katharine leaves to go update the other nurse that is relieving her (for another patient - not me.) I am a little fuzzy on the timing of all this but pretty much after Katharine leaves Taki leaves to go to the bathroom and get something to eat. Mel notices the baby's heartbeat is low (in 60s) and has me flip to each side and go on my hands and knees (better positioning in case I am putting stress on baby) and she uses the phone to call nurses and say we need help in the room. To which I say "Mel, I don't want them to think I am high maintenance!" Yes, Mel is very good at not showing panic (I should have remembered this from the Nikos-Born-Blue-and-Not-Breathing-and-I-Had-No-Clue-Incident. I had no idea the situation was this dire. After this it is more of a blur. Mel gives me oxygen, a doctor comes into the room explaining that the baby's heartbeat is low and that they might have to do an emergency c-section to get her out safely. Taki walks back into my room, I'm on my hands and knees on the bed where they are checking my cervix (I've gone from 3-4) and breaking my water (OWWW.) They decide that they can't wait so they roll my bed down the hall to the operating room. I ask Mel why Taki isn't coming with me and she said it is too fast. WHAT? Yeah, I really started to panic at this point. I also kept thinking that I was pretty much naked when they were rolling me down the hall and I was hoping that no new daddies were hanging out in the hallway. I was pretty much confused from here on, even though they tried to explain things to me. At one point I thought they were going to give me the c-section without any kind of pain killer, since no one had discussed one with me. I asked one of the nurses if I was going to feel it and then she assured me that I wasn't going to feel anything since they were going to knock me out. Luckily the baby's heartbeat stabilized for a little while so they were able to give me a spinal epidural and Taki and Mel were able to come in for the procedure. Yikes. Now Taki's story pretty much picks up from here. The sound of her cry was absolutely wonderful, especially since we didn't get to hear one (right away) from Nikos.

My first question to Mel was "is it really a girl?" followed quickly by "with only girl parts and no boy parts?" Yeah, long story, but the moral is don't watch Private Practice or House when you are pregnant.

After recovery they moved me into my maternity room (single room - wahoo!) It happened to be the same room that I was in with Nikos. One of the first things I had my mom do was check to see if the grammatically incorrect sign was still in the bathroom. Turns out - ha! Yes.