Godot was the right in-utero name for this guy. But he's finally here!
Tyler Renton Keith was born at 6:53am on Tuesday, March 30th, 2010.
It turns out Vader IS a labor dog. I know some folks like reading birth stories, so I'll go ahead and tell it. If you don’t like reading this type of thing, then please just enjoy the pictures!
I woke up Monday morning with steady low back pain, took a couple of Tylenol, and headed to the Birth Center for my appointment. Tyson, wishing to maximize his time off from work for after the baby was born, went to work, so rather than attend the dreaded appointment by myself, I asked my friend Lina to come with me. When the midwife examined me, there was still no indication that Godot was interested in vacating the premises on his own. The midwife again explained the policy regarding inducing at 41.5 weeks, and wanted me to head over to the hospital for an induction immediately. I thought they'd give me the cytotech or cervadil and send me home, then have me return the next day for pitocin, but the midwife said I'd have to stay at the hospital the whole time. So I begged to be allowed to go home and pack first, then come back. She agreed, and told me I needed to be at TMC at 6pm. Lina was kind enough to offer to drive me to the hospital at 6 so Tyson could finish his shift. Lina and I then went out for coffee (my last pregnancy decaf!) and while sitting enjoying ourselves, I mentioned that the Tylenol didn't help my back pain at all. Lina said, "Maybe you'll just go into labor by yourself today then."
Sometime around noon, I was on the phone with my sister, and said out loud, "My back pain's coming in waves now. I wonder if I'm actually in labor." She thought so, but I was still thinking I'd have to be induced due to the 41.5 week rule. So although I spoke to Tyson several times that day, I just kept telling him I had back pain, but it wasn’t until around 3:30 that I let him know these were labor pains. I just didn’t want to get any false hopes, and feared somehow these pains were a figment of my imagination. I finished packing, laundry, vacuuming and mopping the floors, and noticed it was taking me much longer to do these basic tasks than normal - suddenly it was 4:30 and Lina was already there to take me to TMC. She helped me make the bed, then we went to grab a bite at Chipotle. While eating, she said she could tell I was having contractions. By the time we checked into the hospital, the nurse asked how long I’d been having regular contractions. I said, "My contractions aren't regular." She responded, "Yes, they are - they're coming at 2-3 minutes apart. You should've come in sooner." I suddenly had hope that we could skip the induction.
Sure enough, when the midwife arrived, she determined I was already 5cm dilated and definitely didn't need to be induced. Tyson arrived sometime around 8pm. I paced the room for a long time, then labored in the bathtub for a couple of hours, then back to pacing, or hugging the back of an arm chair. My feet even paced in the bathtub. I felt like I walked to Phoenix and back that night....In the early hours of the morning, sometimes I’d ask for the midwife to get advice on new laboring positions, and the nurse would tell me she was taking a nap in the doctor’s lounge. At one point, I saw the nurse was asleep, resting her head against the bedrail next to me. But Tyson stayed awake the entire night, pacing with me and rubbing my back at every contraction, though his thumbs and the plate in his wrist were killing him.
Finally around 4:00am I reached the pushing phase. I was still having all back labor, so really appreciated being able to stay off the monitors and off my back as much as possible. Around that time, whenever the midwife was out of the room, the nurse would tell me that “there are things we can give you to take the edge off.” I’d always heard that every laboring woman reaches a point where they start looking for a way out of the pain. I’m proud to say that I resisted the temptation, reminding myself - I’ve made it this far, and this is better for both me and the baby.
The most surreal moment was sometime around 6:00am when a nurse came in during the midst of a contraction, saying, “I realize this probably isn’t the best time, but would you mind if a nursing student comes in and watches you deliver?” I later had to ask Tyson if that REALLY happened, and he confirmed that it did. I’m amazed I didn’t scratch out her eyeballs.
Around that time, the midwife noticed my contractions were petering out – spaced to every 7 minutes, and I was getting frustrated at working so hard without any progress. She suggested a small amount of pitocin to increase the frequency to every 3 minutes. I declined at first, because I feared pitocin could cause complications leading to a c-section or at the very least, an epidural. I asked about the risks, and she tried to assure me I was too far along for it to harm the baby. Tyson sensed my continued concern, and asked if I would need an epidural. The midwife said “Her pain can’t get any worse than it is right now. It will just come more often. She’s made it all this time without any pain medication. She won’t want an epidural now.” That was exactly what I needed to hear. The pain couldn’t get any worse. And it turned out she was right – I had no difficulty tolerating the increased frequency of contractions.
Finally, finally, at 6:53am, Tyler was born, weighing in at 9 lbs, 5.5 oz, and with a full head of hair.
Tyson's initial reaction was "Cool, he has a 'fro-hawk'!" Sure enough, his hair was spiked up very similarly to how Tyson wears his (but much longer than Tyson's.) Tyson made certain to be the first face Tyler saw up close, and says he fell in love at first sight.
Tyson tried to stay with him at first, but there were too many nurses in his way, so he came back to be with me while the midwife worked on me. My first reaction was “How sad that he’s over there on that table instead of here with us.” All I wanted was for him to be held and soothed by one of us. Finally they finished fixing me up and brought him to me. It seemed so strange that this was the “roommate” who’d been living with me all these months.
Because I'd tested positive for GBS, hospital policy dictated that Tyler remain in the hospital for 48 hours post-birth for observation to ensure he didn’t get sick. I asked to feed him, and then we were moved into our new room at 8:00am.
After a restless day and night with far too many nurses visiting us, we were really wanting to go home. Our midwife agreed, but said it wasn’t up to her, it was the pediatrician’s call. So we embarked upon Operation Freedom – every time ANY member of the hospital staff entered our room, we asked if we could go home yet. Our persistence paid off - they finally agreed to release us at 36 hours, provided we'd follow up with a pediatrician the next day. Mission accomplished!
Vader’s always been quite the neurotic freak, as he was abused before I got him. He’s especially clingy with me and skittish towards others. His vet said things could go one of two ways if we weren’t careful – the baby could bring out the predator instinct in him, or he’d treat the baby as MY baby and try to “protect” him from Tyson. So we followed the vet’s recommendations – played sounds of crying babies for a couple of weeks and praised him for ignoring the sounds, and then at homecoming, I came in first and greeted him, then Tyson was the one to bring in Tyler and make the introductions.
Vader was very curious but gentle. The vet’s technique seems to have worked. Vader wakes us to tell us Tyler’s crying, and runs to be with him when he hears his cries, but otherwise leaves him alone.
We’re so happy that Godot’s finally here! Now the real work begins...
-C
