Mommy Brain

In honor of Labor Day, Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer posted a meme about - what else? - labor, of course! Here are my answers.

How long were your labors?

Natalie - 9 hours
Noah - 11 hours
Jonathan - I can’t remember. I was induced in the morning, went in for an emergency c-section in the afternoon. I’d have to look in his babybook for the exact time.
Josiah - 0 hours - C-section

How did you know you were in labor?

Natalie: When the nurse had cranked the pitocin up high enough that I started having contractions. I went from no contractions to minute-long transition labor contractions every two minutes. Not fun.

Noah: When I woke up with contractions. I was able to sleep in between them for a couple hours, then I was up.

Jonathan: When the pitocin kicked in - pretty much same deal as with Natalie. Only I knew what to expect. Shudder.

Josiah: Scheduled c-section.

Where did you deliver?

At the hospital. Natalie was in Vancouver, Washington, the rest here in Colville.

Drugs?

Oh, yeah. As much as they would give me.

C-section?

Two. Jonathan was an emergency c-section. He had the cord wrapped around his neck twice. I labored all the way to 10 centimeters, then when I started pushing, his heartbeat disappeared. Very scary. Josiah was a repeat c-section. Since I had a history of pre-eclampsia, my doctor didn’t want to try a VBAC.

Who delivered?

Dr. Ahern, an OB/GYN in Vancouver delivered Natalie. Dr. Bacon, our doctor here in Colville - and pretty much the best doctor in the world - delivered the other three.