Kai's Birth Story

I woke up for my usual 3:30am potty trip and returned to bed. My cousin, Morgan, had written to me on Facebook, so I went to write her back when I felt something painful. I kind of cocked my head like a puppy to the pain, and decided to stay up a little bit to see if it was anything relevant. I went to get the laptop when the pain happened again...three and a half minutes later. I signed on to Facebook, asked some mommies for advice, and started tracking the pains. I timed for half an hour - they were coming every 2.5-5 minutes and were lasting about 30 seconds so I tried to wake up Paula. Paula was not interested in waking up :) I waited another half an hour and tried to wake Paula again, and was more successful. We packed some last minute things for us and for Brennan, I emailed my Dad to make sure that he was up and ready to receive Brennan, and we all packed into the car. Paula and I made a stop at A-Plus and headed to the hospital. Not remembering that I couldn't eat while I was in the hospital, I unfortunately had only eaten one (not one package, just one single) pop tart during all of this. This probably made my exhausting day ahead that much more exhausting for myself and those around me.

We parked, and waddled me up to the PETU (Perinatal Evaluation and Treatment Unit) where they put me in my usual room (we've made a few trips here...) and hooked Kai and me up to monitors. We were both looking really good but we needed to be monitored for 20 minutes straight in order to move on with things (get a birthing room, get an epidural...etc...) and Kai jumped around in there if I wasn't laying down, and the contractions hurt much worse if I wasn't sitting up. It took about an hour to get a good enough reading. In that hour our doula, Rea, arrived, and Paula and I were in reasonable spirits...except in communications with one of the nurses - who was talking to me like I was a moron. It was good news for everyone that I was moving - I was definitely itching to go off on her.

They moved me to a birthing room. Rea was super excited, I was pretty nervous, and Paula was being a rock star updating everyone on our progress and checking in with me and just being overall sweet. Some time passed...I was antsy and ready for the epidural but there were 14 other babies working on being birthed at that moment, so there was also quite a line-up for the epidurals. It was over an hour before I actually got the meds - and again, my sense of humor was waning a bit. I was kind of freaking out in between each of the contractions because another was going to come. The entire birthing process was much worse during anticipatory moments than the actually painful ones. (not that the pain wasn't it's own special kind of intense.) Once the epidural was on board, things got much easier, and relaxed. Rea, Paula and I did celebrity crosswords (I only filled in three words, one of them was right...worse than usual) and I apologized a bunch that they had to sit around for so long while nothing was really happening.

Dr. Mehta (who actually was my doctor and was working that day...I was actually scheduled to go in for an induction hours before I went into labor so that I could be with my doctor. I decided to let Kai choose for himself when he wanted to come) broke my water because it had been hours since I got epidural and it had slowed my contractions, When she broke it, she found that there was meconium in it, which meant that when he came out we couldn't encourage Kai to breathe until he had been suctioned out. I'm not sure how this didn't freak me out...and if it freaked anyone else out they did a great job hiding it.

Hours went by, I wasn't progressing, and Kai's heartbeat was reacting to contractions so I got pitocin to speed things along...and they did. The contractions were even intense through the epidural, so I kept pushing the self administer button, hoping that the necessary 20 minutes had passed. Usually they hadn't.

I was pretty sure I needed to push, but I still had a "tiny lip" left ("tiny lip" was said a number of times, and the words started making me uber agitated...). Chris and my mom came in, I'd definitely lost my sense of humor by that point - I was barely able to be reasonable towards them...

Shift change happened, and right around then it was time to push. I swear Kai has a sense of humor and a sense of timing... the previous nurse and I had been joking about her not wanting to be there for his birth, and how he was going to come right after she left... I started pushing about half an hour after she left.

(I apologize in advance to all who read this who don't feel close enough to know details, but right...you chose to read a birth story so really it's on you)

Since seventh grade, when my health class watched a birthing video, I have been scared, not of the pain of birth - that was inevitable and it's own kind of scary, but of pooping while giving birth. This fear slowed the pushing process. Rea even said something about my having to let it go. Everyone in the room was telling me that he had hair, and then that he had a lot of hair, and then that this one tuft of hair kept threatening to come out. Paula touched his head, and I (reluctantly - though I'm not sure why) touched his head. Again the anticipation was worse than the actuality... 45-60 minutes of pushing and I wouldn't say it was painful, so much as mind-blowingly exhausting. I think it was my belief that I didn't have the energy left and my rebellion against that fact that ultimately got Kai out...I always assumed a baby coming out would be horribly painful, it actually felt kind of cool - once the head was through. It's almost a shame that part happens so quickly (although I also kind of wonder if it IS actually painful, but that's when the hormones kick in) because it'd be nice to be able to explain it better.

Paula cut the cord, Kai was shown to me, and then taken to get suctioned. I delivered the placenta and by the time it was out I heard his little cry...it didn't even last :) He was perfectly pleasant, even in the first few moments.

At 8:54pm on May 28, 2011 Kai Alexander Schulman was born to mothers Carly  and Paula ...brother of Brennan. 7 pounds 3 ounces, 20.5 inches and beautiful.