Samuel Craig's Life Blog

This is a rather lengthy description of the day leading up to Sammy's birth. It's probably going to bore the heck out of most of you. However, throughout the pregnancy, I was never able to find narratives of this hectic time in the pregnancy. So, here it is.

For those of you who just want pictures, go to Sammy's Gallery at http://www.danielcraig.com/gallery/v/SammysAlbum
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As you all know, if you have been following Sammy’s blog, this has been a nerve-wracking few weeks. Ever since the OB said that Moon was 2cm, we have thought that Sammy’s arrival was just around the corner. By the beginning of this week, we had given up. “He’s never coming,” Moon would say and I would agree with her.

Last night (Tuesday, April 4, 2006), things finally started to get interesting. Moon was beginning to feel contractions. They were irregular, but unmistakable. Throughout the day, she was recording the times to see if there was any consistency. There was none. By 1:00 am, she was asleep and I though, “just another false alarm.” Of course thinking that, should have been my sign.

I was up for a few more hours. I had a bunch of assignments to grade and I knew that I had to get them out ASAP. Even if labor wasn’t immediate, it was surely around the corner. I got to sleep around 3:30 am.

At 7:30 am Moon woke me up. She’d been really nice about letting sleep in after my late nights these days, so I knew something was up right away. She’s in the bathroom looking worried. She says, “I think my water broke.” There was no questioning that. A puddle had formed at her feet and she was rather nervous. That fear that she would even know that she was in labor was quickly dissipating.

I suppose we both should have been more nervous, but we took our time getting ready as we would just about any morning. Then I gave a call to the OB’s office and they talked to Moon. I think that they wanted to confirm that she had all the required symptoms or something. I guess that they were satisfied. They told us to head to the hospital. After some last minute packing, we were off.

We got situated in our room and began with all the paperwork. I can’t believe how many papers Moon had to sign. The privacy laws have seriously gone awry, but that’s a topic for another blog.

Moon was checked soon after and she was already 8.5cm. Not too surprising considering she was 4cm at our OB appointment a week before. At this point, there was very little pain and she was likely thinking that this birthing thing was going to be a snap. That didn’t last long.

After about 30 minutes she was 9 cm , then 9.5 cm. The pain was getting terrible and she had had enough. She finally asked for the epidural. She had this idea of doing it drug free, so she was rather depressed about giving into the pain. I told her to do it right when we walked in. Why suffer?

The pushing then began around 10:30. It took her a while to get the hang of it, but nature took over. Even with the drugs this was a difficult process and she was getting really tired. She then became really brave and told them to turn the drugs off. I was standing there thinking, “did you forget what was happening before the drugs”? She obviously had.

So, the drugs went off and things were good for a while. She was pushing away and Sammy was moving further and further along. However, she just couldn’t get him past the pelvis.

Then the pain came in again. If the previous pain was a 10 (on a 1 to 10 scale), this time was a 15. It really pained me to see her like this. I’ve never been in the situation when a person you love is begging you to help them and there’s nothing that you can do. Finally, she agreed to kick the drugs on again. They took a while to get hold and never really dulled the pain as much as the first round.

By this time, she had been pushing for 3 hours and she was exhausted. She didn’t feel that she could go on, yet with every contraction, she pushed a few more times. This couldn’t go on forever. For the last hour, there was little progress and she was wearing down. The doctor suggested that there were basically two options at this point: forceps and C-section.

A C-section was out of the question (at least at this point) so Moon told him to go ahead with the forceps. It took about 30 minutes for more drugs to kick in and get everyone in the room who needed to be there. The forceps process probably began around 2:15. I won’t describe this part, but needless to say, it doesn’t look comfortable.

After a couple minutes of maneuvering, you could tell that the doctor was in place and Moon was pushing. At first I could see the tip of the head. I was thinking, “damn, that’s a small head!” Little did I know that the cone-headed little baby had a bit more coming. As he started sliding, it was a quick process to pull the whole baby out. I was amazed. That was a BIG baby that came out of a little woman.

They whisked him away to the heater. They cleaned him up, poked and prodded, and weighed him. The whole time the nurses were marveling over the “moose” that just came out of this little thing in the bed next to them.

They wrapped Sammy up and threw him in my arms. I suppose everyone who has shared a moment like this will understand. For me, it was a first and it was marvelous. He was crying for everyone else and just shut up when he hit my arms. It’s pure magic.

This lasted for quite a while, since the doctor had a lot left to do with Moon. Once he was done however, she was ready for Sammy. I have to assume that it doesn’t matter how exhausted you are, a mother wants to hold her baby. Moon was no exception. It didn’t take long before they were both asleep, but it was nice while it lasted.

There’s obviously a lot that goes on after this, but I’m done writing for now.

Until next time.

Dan, Moon, and Sammy