A baby is born into the world...

So.. picture it, Sicily (ok, that is Golden Girls)

Tuesday night, my mom calls me about 10 after ten... she says that Larry called. He and Sarah are going to the hospital, contractions every 6 minutes. My mom asks him to give a call back once they are checked in at the hospital, so that we know for sure "it's time" - and not "first time mom's false alarm" -- so I am elated. She asks " are you going to ride with us and go to see Sarah?" ------ DUH MOM --------- Hello!!!!!! It's ME!!!

So I get dressed, probably smile plastered from ear to ear :) - Jim reminds me that I might have wanted to wait to put jeans and etc on, it may be a false alarm. I was hot in the apt, yes, but I knew that it would be cold at the hospital. So I am dressed, excited, and ready to go :) --- Then, I wait... and wait, and wait.. and finally it's midnight, and no call back, and I can't get ahold of sarah.. so I call my mom and dad... now.. in our family we don't make late night phone calls.. my parents work early in the morning, so they go to bed early.. anyway, I call and my dad picks up on the first ring.. strange ... but he says he hasn't heard anything.. and asks if I have called Sarah's cell... DUH again.. yah, I called about 6 times :) -- so finally I get the main # to the hospital up there, and the nurse gives me the room # ... I call.. no answer... -- finally I get the RIGHT room # and Sarah's mom picks up, says she is in some pain, and is getting medicine, and that the Dr said "the baby will be here today, but I can't say what time" - she thinks we could wait until morning to make the trip.... I call my dad, relay that info, and hang up... then I go to bed, with the phone on my nightstand.. about 20 mins later, Larry calls, said he didn't want to forget to call me, and that he just talked to my dad, and that he got the impression we were going to be on our way... I wish him luck :):) -- hang up with him and call my dad back, they are indeed coming to pick me up - mom's already on her way... I kiss Jimbo goodbye, and run off to catch my ride.. we stop to get some coffee (as it is about 1:20 am :) -- and I tell the convienience store clerk that we are on "baby patrol" and that I am going to be an aunt :) -- he looks unimpressed, but he plays along, wishing us a good safe trip. -- so we get on the road, and start seeing lightning almost the instant we get on the interstate.. It's 85 miles, all interstate, all 75 mph speed limit from Sioux City *where I live now* to Sioux Falls *where Sarah lives* -- so we get going, and about 30 mins into the drive the lightning gives way to rain, hard hard flooding type rain, and then some stiff wind to go along with it. We slow down dramatically, and mom manages to keep us on the road and get us there safely :) -- I on the other hand, almost didn't make it to the hospital, per I drank my entire 20oz of coffee on the trip, and desparately needed a bathroom... its almost 3am and nothing is open.. so they drop me off in front of the hospital, I find a bathroom, and they park... Its a big maze to get to Sarah's room, but we finally get in there about 3am or so....

Sarah is sore, having "back labor" and is just trying to rest (ya right) When we got there, she had just finished trying the whirlpool to see if it would help.. it didn't -- Larry and the nurses are doing their best to rub her back and keep her comfortable. We just visited with Sarah and her mom, and chatted for about an hour, then they said that Sarah could have an epidural, so we went to the waiting room. When we got to the waiting room, another storm must have been coming through, really pounding those raindrops into the glass of the windows... I think everyone tried to just get some rest in the chairs while we were waiting.. I was a little to excited to think of sleeping though.. so I just sat and talked with mom off and on, and watched the hubbub that is a busy maternity ward (the nurse told us that all rooms were full that night on labor and delivery) -- finally about 7am we went back into the room with Sarah. Larry explained that they had done one epidural, it didn't work, so they did a second, and between, they tried to keep the room empty so Sarah could rest.. turns out she didn't get much rest, but maybe an hour she said.

So about 8:15 they say it is time that she can start pushing, but they want to do a trial push first to see if she has the hang of what to do etc... My mom and her mom and Larry all there to help her, and she pushes - does great, just what they want to see .. uh oh, she feels very nauseous now, and needs to throw up... the nurses tell her to go ahead .. they say something to her that is funny to me.. I keep thinking about it .. they say " puking is worth about 20 pushes anyway dear" -- lol -- ok, I had never heard of this.. it must be what they DON'T tell you on the baby shows on tv :) --- well, anyway, she gets sick for a few minutes... then her dr comes in and the nurse and the dr are kind of talking and they ask Sarah to lay on her side.. they are looking at something, but we all are not sure what... then they tell her that " the baby didn't like you sitting up like that for so long when you were sick, and her heartrate is down.." so they move her a bit from side to side, and finally find a side that normalizes baby.. they also put oxygen on Sarah... she got mad that the oxygen smelled like plastic, she said it was making her more nauseous.... when the nurse told her that the oxygen is for the baby and not for her, I never heard her complain again about it.. Maybe they should have told her about that from the start.... so now it's about 9:30 and baby is doing better, and they want to try some more pushing... there were a lot more pushes, but not a lot of progress, so they let Sarah rest again. I don't remember much from this time until about 12noon but basically it went... push until you can't handle it anymore, and then take a break cuz baby doesn't like the pushing, and then check again to see if the baby is down far enough, (it wasn't) and then try some more pushing... About noon Sarah's Dr came in and said that she was bringing a specialist in, because the baby keeps having times of stress, and is not down far enough for her regular doctor to just try to help get her out.. they would need a vaccuum to help, or forceps... we were all very worried at this point, as we could see that Sarah had been pushing at this point for 4 hours, probably 3 of it actually hard hard work, and some rest time in there... she was tired, but never really got short with anyone, and didn't show any signs of giving up... she knew the baby needed to come out now, and she was determined to make that happen... so about 12:40 the specialist comes in, and brings with her a team of people.. they all set up, and let Sarah know it is going to be forceps, and it's going to go like this... You push as hard as you ever will in your entire life, and I will pull at the same time, just as hard....
Now, this is the part where I think things were most intense... I knew forceps were used frequently, it wasn't a rare thing, but basically the Dr told Sarah, "I'm either getting her out with this pull, or you are going to have to have a c section.... " -- so we knew the time for "wait and see" was up now.... Once that team was in place and sterile, Sarah gave a huge push, the Dr braced herself against the bed and pulled like it looked like she was going to fly back across the room. At the same time, the dr yelled to the nurse haunched below her to "cut now" -- yup.. not only did Sarah give birth, but she go to get a ton of stitches afterward, while everyone else was getting to enjoy Payton. Payton was born at 12:49 PM Wednesday July 20th 2005 - She weighed 6lbs 7 ozs

I haven't ever been in the room when a baby was being born before. I think I felt things I have never felt before, and this was just my niece, not even my own baby... I have watched a ton of shows where they show you the mom giving birth, but until you are there, and actually see how warn out they are, and how they just keep going, and how Sarah hardly complained.. it was truly miraculous to me to be in that room, sometimes just watching, sometimes holding a leg while she pushed, trying to encourage to push harder keep going.. you can do it... -- I don't know how much of this experience minute by minute Sarah will remember, because she is in a whirlwind, now with a new baby to feed and care for and love at home, but I think I will remember it for the rest of my life. I really feel like I should thank Sarah for letting me be a part of such a personal, wonderful experience... I probably won't tell her though, cuz I'm the emotional gushy one, and she isn't -- so she'd prolly say I was being lame :) :) Gotta love sisters :)


For those playing at home, here are the characters in this story
The people who live in Sioux Falls,
Sarah S - My step sister ( Her mom is Cindy, and her dad is Steve (my step dad) )
Larry C - Sarah's boyfriend, Payton's Dad
Cindy S - Sarah's Mom

People that live in Sioux City,
Steve S - Sarah's Dad ( My step dad)
Gayla S - My mom (Sarah's step mom)
Me - New aunt to Payton :)