Inspired by all the ladies participating in Flashback Fridays…..
Yesterday we hit the tiny local mall to run a few errands, banking and so on.
Dh suggested we check out the ‘Great Clips’ hair place to see if we could get the kids hair fixed up for their holiday.
I decided for a change to go quite short for Adam..I showed him a photo of a kid with spikey hair and he liked it. So we came home with a bang trimmed princess and a very grown up looking little man with short hair.
He has a LOT of hair.
What I did notice though, was the shortness exposed the rather er bumpy road map of his short life as spelled out on his cranium.
Two white scars shine through the short hair. One I remember, the other I do not.
The other noticeable thing about his head is its er….bumpiness. He has very lumpy head.
Adam was a rather difficult birth. He should not have. But I was new at this birth thing. My Ob/Gyn was with BC Women’s Hospital..one of the best and connected to the BC Children’s Hospital…also one of the best out there. I put my faith in him. I should have realized that his and the hospitals eagerness to offer me as many drugs as possible was probably not really good midwifery.
I should have had a midwife.
I should have been more confident in my birthing abilities.
Honestly, that may not have made a difference.
The pain was amazing. Now that I have other births to compare it too…it was insane. There was no break between contractions…I couldn’t catch my breath….my whole body was tense…nothing could bring me down and it was going on and on and getting nowhere.
Throughout all this, my husband, mom and best friend, stoically tried to help me and each other.
Mom had a giant cooler of ‘snacks’ for everyone. It included juice boxes, water and jello fruit cups.
The epidural was an amazing blessing.
Everyone could finally get some rest and I managed to continue to dilate in a far more peaceful way.
Then the pushing had to start.
This was a problem. I could hardly feel anything due to the epidural…but felt I had to try every position I could to get this ‘thing’ out of me.
I even managed to squat hanging onto that bar…nothing.
Pushed and pushed.
Nothing.
People started to look worried. People were starting to sweat.
I was getting tired.
They brought out the suction.
We had seen this thing for the first time at the Childbirth classes. It horrified us then.
Basically a cup ….like those disposable one’s you get in cafeterias. A cup with some sort of vacuum pump and a strong er….rope to er…tug on.
The Ob/gyn attached this to the baby’s (Adam) head. Pumped to create a vacuum and then started pulling.
The sound it made when it POPPED off sent my mom and best friend scurrying to the farthest wall in the room.
I can still see them. Practically clutching each other, eyes like saucers, watching in pure horror.
My best friend was convinced she could see brains.
The doctor tried this a few times, with the help of the really TOO enthusiastic male nurse hollering encouragements at me and him.
I didn’t work.
The doctor called in a specialist. They wanted to prep me for an emergency c-section. It had been over 30 hours now and I could NOT get this kids head out.
So away CH and I go the OR.
Doped up even more on a total body numbing epidural.
Specialist introduced me to large number of people in surgical masks. Like I cared by this time.
So many people had had serious conversations around my foo foo by this time….did they NEED to be formaly introduced?
Specialists decides to try manually hauling this kid out one more time. She gets the salad tongs….I mean forceps.
In she goes…yanking and tugging.
Me pushing as much as I can imagine I am pushing since I cannot feel anything from the neck down.
FINALLY.
Out he comes.
Quietly.
Panic.
Well, CH panics…I am too woozy to really panic.
I lost sooo much blood.
Some oxygen and HE….yes we are told..it’s a boy…is fine.
Fine but with a freaking lumpy head.
We THOUGHT the bumps would go down as his head grew. They haven’t.
He is a handsome boy. But you can feel those bumps.
He can never shave his head.
Sorry dude
ouch, painful story!!!
my husband adam was pulled out with the forceps he has a big head but he can shave it. they also thought he was retarded for a month. those bloody forceps.
glad you were ok after all the blood loss.
“He can never shave his head. Sorry dude.”
And that, right there, is exactly why he’ll end up totally fine. If only all moms could be that grounded.
I love birth stories. Especialy ones that end with “He can never shave his head”. That’s awesome.
too many doctors lumped up his head?
Aw buddy! he’s a good boy, and it’s not like he’ll need a shaved head alot of the time here in Wetcoast land.
oh man…that sounds like a doozy of a delivery. My daughter required a vacuum cuz her heartbeat was dropping and not coming back up when I stopped pushing. Same situation with the epi, though, was like HEAVEN and then I was supposed to push but felt nothing. needed her dad to tell me when contractions were coming while he held up my (dead) leg!
What a story….wow….you know there are guys out there who didn’t have the delivery that your Adam had…and still shouldn’t shave their heads…..as long as he has a good head of hair on that noggin of his..he’ll do just fine….
I haven’t written out any of my children’s birth stories. I probably should, huh?