I hope you are all enjoying this site. Bobby is doing an awesome job keeping you all informed... i, on the otherhand, am busy doing other "stuff." I promise to get a story posted here soon.
mich
ps bobby is such a great daddy already. he is my sanity in these trying times.
(I love you so much, baby. Thank you for everything, especially our son. Now, I have everything I need. mwah xo)
edited 4-4-05 to add:
Birth Story – Robert Anthony Trifiletti III
Our induction was scheduled for Monday, March 28th at
I jumped in the shower at about
We parked the car in “stork parking” and entered the hospital as a couple – hard to believe that when we would exit those doors, we would be a “family”.
When we got to the Labor and Delivery floor to check in, the receptionist asked us who told us to be there at
We immediately met our L&D nurse, Judy. She took me to L&D room 309 and prepped me. I was hooked up to a monitor and asked tons of questions. I was very surprised that the monitor was showing that I was having contractions every five minutes. I wasn’t feeling anything. We determined that I was probably dehydrated since I had hardly any liquids in the past 12 hours. Once my IV was started, the contractions started to spread out.
Dr. Ricardo Alverez came in to introduce himself. He explained that he would be working with Dr. Kriner (whom I was hoping would be on call - he was my favorite doctor in the practice) Dr. Alverez was a first year resident at the hospital and he seemed to ask me the same questions over and over… (in a think Spanish accent) “is this your first child? Do you have any allergies? How old are you?” He was obviously a nervous first year resident and he seemed to be thinking more than listening to my answers. He was very nice, nonetheless.
Dr. Patel came in next. He was also a resident, but seemed much more confident. He worked with Dr. Alverez, prepping me and the room for my delivery.
It was
I began to feel contractions within 20 minutes. (so… that’s what it’s supposed to feel like!) I was constantly asked to rate my pain on a scale of 1-10. My pain level remained below 5 for about an hour.
My cervix was checked at
I felt a bit nauseous after getting it. The doctors had me lay on my right side, and my blood pressure dropped considerably. (apparently very common after an epi) I was turned to my left side, and then given 2 doses of Effrin (sp) to pump up my blood pressure and an oxygen mask. I was so out of it at this point, I don’t remember much. I remember Dr. Alverez picking up my legs and resting them on his shoulder. I commented “I think this is how I got pregnant in the first place.” Everyone laughed.
By
My new nurse’s name was Vicki. I really liked her, too. She and the doctors thought that maybe I should “labor down” for an hour before starting to push. I understand that to mean that we would let the baby move on its own so that I wouldn’t waste my energy pushing… especially since it was my first baby and I was expected to push for 2 hours.
Vicki said I could push right then if I wanted to. I told her I would try. They put up the stirrups and got everything ready. My parents left the room, and just then Bobby’s mom and sister arrived. They barely had a chance to poke their heads in to say hi. It was
I was feeling pressure with each contraction, and was able to push three or four times through each one, only resting through one. Pushing wasn’t the really hard part… it was holding my breath through the s-l-o-w counts of ten. At one point, I motioned to Bobby to speed up his counting. I still had that dumb oxygen mask on my face, and I pulled it off each time I finished pushing.
As the baby’s head began to crown, I felt more and more pressure. I began to grunt and make noises as I pushed. At one point, I said what is typically heard in a delivery room, “I can’t do it anymore.” With Vicki and Bobby cheering me on, I had a surge of energy. I saw Drs. Alverez and Patel quickly get suited up, and Dr. Rao stood by to instruct the residents. I took control of the whole situation… I was announcing each contraction, and pushing like a mad woman.
Within minutes, Dr. Rao said the head was almost out and we were going to have a baby with another push or two. She insisted it was going to be a girl when she saw the hair on the baby’s head.
As the head popped out, the umbilical cord was wrapped tightly around the baby’s neck. The doctor’s quickly clamped it and cut it. Bobby was relieved; he didn’t want to cut it anyway.
I always thought that once the baby’s head was out, the rest of the baby just kind of slithered out… well, the hardest part was pushing out the shoulders. This lasted only a few minutes. The doctors put lots of pressure on my belly, pushing the baby’s feet, downward towards the birth canal.
Within minutes the baby was entirely out, and Bobby shouted “IT’S A BOY!” Our families waited patiently outside the room, and we heard them cheer. (Later I saw pictures of their ears pressed against the door!) It was
The baby was immediately taken to the “baby station” where he was to be cleaned up… I knew something had to be wrong, because Vicki had told me earlier that they would place him right on my chest when he came out. I looked over at him in a panic and asked if he was okay. I saw the nurses whispering and then make a phone call. The baby wasn’t breathing. Within seconds someone from the Neonatal Infant Care Unit arrived, but little Robert had already let out a good cry and we were all reassured that he was going to be okay. His Apgar scores were 5 and 9. I delivered the afterbirth (which was a blur). Bobby saw it… he said it was pretty gross.
Robert was bundled and bought to me, as I was stitched (10 stitches from a tear). Our families joined us, and we were all ecstatic as little Robert stayed very alert… looking all around and finding comfort by sucking on his fingers.
Vicki brought me dinner and helped me get cleaned up before I was moved to a recovery room, where we made some phone calls and had some visitors.
Robert Anthony Trifiletti III
21.5 inches long
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