Birth Story of Me

For Mother's Day, I asked my mom to write out her birth story of having me.  So here she goes...

I was wanting to have another child, so I went off birth control pills in December so I could start planning.  I discovered I was pregnant within the next month.  (My sister found out she was pregnant two months after me.) 

Throughout my pregnancy, I did not have any morning sickness and no gestational diabetes.  I gained approximately 13 pounds my entire pregnancy, but I may have lost some “baby weight” from my first daughter, Kimberly, who would only be two years and two months old when Kristina was born.  My due date was September 12th.  When I started my “weekly visits” in the middle of August, I was dilated 1 cm.  My second weekly visit, I was dilated 2 cm.  Before my third weekly visit, I was awakened in the middle of the night with a contraction.  On my third weekly visit, I was dilated 3 cm.

My sister and I arranged our doctor appointments so we could travel together.   On September 9th, 1987, it was my turn to drive to the afternoon doctor’s appointment.  We did not have a vehicle with cruise control and I was just driving along and met a cop.  I didn’t think anything about it until I saw flashing red and blue lights in my rearview mirror.  I was pulled over.  The officer asked me if I knew why he pulled me over.  I said, “No.”  He said I was speeding.  I was on a 55 mph highway and I do not think I was going more than 10 mph over.  I know he saw my sister’s and my big bellies.  I told him we had a doctor’s appointment.  He gave me a speeding ticket anyway.

I was awakened during the night with another contraction a couple of days before.  So, when I was checked, I was dilated 4 cm.  The doctor said, “I don’t know what’s keeping her in there, but I am going to ‘strip your membranes.’”  I returned home and around 5:00 pm, I started feeling achy with lower back discomfort.  I never really had contractions, just mild tightening.  We made arrangements for Kimberly to stay with my sister and Gale and I headed up to the hospital around 7:00 pm just to get checked out.

I was checked and I had dilated a little more.  They had me walk the halls and put me on the monitor.  I did not dilate past 7 cm on my own; they had to break my water.  Around 6:30 am, they started a Pitocin drip and things started happening.

Gale and I took Child Birth Classes when I was pregnant with Kimberly.  Her delivery was complicated and we did not use anything we had learned with her.  But, Gale and I did remember enough and used what we had learned with Kristina.  I would focus on a spot on the wall when a contraction would start.  I would make my body relax, but was very aware of the tightness in my abdomen.  Gale was a great coach.  He would watch the monitor and when it was near the peak, he would tell me the contraction was almost over.  I knew I only had to endure the discomfort for less than a minute more.   There were times that the nurse would “check me” during a contraction.  She would have to hold my leg up and when she let go, my leg would just fall.  That’s how relaxed I would become.  She was very impressed with Gale’s coaching and my ability to relax.  She made a comment that she wished they could have videotaped our technique.

Kristina Kaye made her appearance at 7:53 am on Thursday, September 10th, and had a head full of beautiful dark hair.