Hale Kilinahe: The Journal

MARCH 15, 1998 Whew. Where do I start? My daughter was born on January 26 at 11:38 pm. She's seven weeks old tomorrow. It feels like it's been a lot longer. Nothing in our life is the same. I can't imagine not having her, though. I love her so much. Still, I look back on my pregnancy with a great deal of fondness. Someone told me that that's a sign of postpartum depression, but it's not--I just realize that it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I may get pregnant again, but I'll never be pregnant for the first time again. Everything about it was new and exciting. Katie was born on the 26th at 11:38 pm. Here are the boring details. I was indeed in labor when I wrote that last entry. The contractions as I felt them never returned; they stalled out again that evening. We sat in front of the TV for most of that night; I helped Ryan study for a little while. We went to bed around midnight. At 1:30, I felt a weird trickle, so I dove into the bathroom. I had sprung a tiny little leak in my baby water. I roused Ryan. He was much too calm. "Are you sure", he asked. I knew for a fact that it was my water, but it didn't gush; in fact, Ryan told me that it wasn't water, I probably just peed a little. I knew it was time, so I called my doc and he said I could sleep a little while longer and come in around 6:30, but no later. I opted for the sleep. The contractions started for real around 4:30. After that, sleep seemed pretty pointless so we got up and quietly prepared for our trip to the hospital. Ryan continuously fed me popsicles. When I remember labor, I still think about popsicles. We arrived at the hospital a little after 6. I was expecting a major production of paperwork and questions, but I was shown right to my room. Still no sign of my water, though. They gave me an exam and said they would look to see if there were any "ferns" under the microscope. No such luck. I was feeling really stupid. The nurse made me walk around the ward for an hour and said that if they couldn't see any amniotic fluid when they checked a second time, I'd have to go home until my contractions were stronger. When I think about that now, I feel really mad, because my water had broken and I could have gotten an infection if I had to go home. So this time, it did show up and I was hooked up to an IV with antibiotics and glucose. No sweat, except going to the bathroom took forever, with the fetal monitors and the huge IV get-up. To make a long story short, I had drugs. Around 4:30 in the afternoon, I got a shot, but it wore off pretty fast, so by 7, I had the epidural. I've never been so happy to see someone in scrubs in my whole life. I progressed pretty slowly because there was just a small leak near the top and the baby's head was in the way. When my doctor finally came in, he popped it down below and I dialated six centimeters in under an hour. And then she was born. < BACK | TOP | NEXT >