Henry Abbott Bloch Born 4.17.05

The wait is over, Henry Abbott Bloch made his arrival at 3:07 am on Sunday the 17th of April. He weighed 6 lbs. 4 oz and came after a very speedy labor and delivery. My 40th week of pregnancy i had been feeling slight menstrual cramping and maybe some very, very mild contractions off and on all week. By Friday the cramping had definitely gotten worse and i thought that it was highly possible i was in early labor. I gave our doula, Pam a heads-up. Then Saturday i woke up and nothing-- just nothing. I decided to clean the garage, weed the little plots in front of our house, and still nothing. So, then i went to a movie, went on a walk with JT, and the two of us went out to dinner at a nice restaurant.

That night at 11:02 pm i was laying in bed and had what i knew was my first contraction. I started timing them, and until about 11:49 they were every nine minutes and okay enough that i was able to stay in bed just timing them and focusing on them. Then, suddenly the next contraction was stronger and i couldn't be laying down anymore. I told JT to get some sleep because i thought this was really it and i went to the guest room. I would lay down in between them and then lean over the desk in the office and breathe through them once the contractions came on. I went ahead and called Pam because they were coming every 4-5 minutes and were stronger than i thought they would be so quickly.

She listened to me breathe through them and said i was doing a great job and it sounded like early labor. She suggested i go ahead and fill the bath as that could be a great way to labor through the contractions as they got stronger. She said the bath might slow things down a bit but that would be okay since it was so early yet. She also said to call when i needed her. After laboring on my own and talking to Pam about an hour had passed and i woke JT up. I filled the tub and by then the contractions were extremely painful and coming unbelievably every minute or minute and a half.

I'm not positive how long i was in there with JT talking me through them but i think around 1:30 i told him to call Pam and tell her i really needed her. I was already starting to think that i might ask for the epidural when i got to the hospital. I knew having contractions a minute apart seemed strange and like fast progress but i just couldn't believe my labor was going this quickly. The 30 minutes it took Pam to get there were the hardest. The contractions hurt very much and it's extremely difficult trying to relax everything in the face of great contracting pain. JT was very helpful in talking me through them, but they were just coming so fast that it was hard to cope. Plus, the whole time i was thinking that i would get to the hospital and would only be dilated to 4 cm or something and have hours more.

Pam arrived around 2 am, talked me through about 2 contractions and decided we needed to get to the hospital and quickly. Getting out of the tub, into some clothes, down the stairs and into the car was almost the hardest part. The minute in-between contractions was just not enough to make much progress on those tasks. I even told Pam i didn't need pants, but thankfully she politely suggested it would be a good idea.

Somehow i got into the back seat of her car and labored on all fours on the crazy ride to the hospital. There wasn't too much traffic but enough that we couldn't just run red lights like i kept telling Pam she needed to do. By this time i was really fighting the urge to push and was so scared we weren't going to make it to the hospital on time.

When we finally did get there i jumped out of the car and banged on the emergency room door and started yelling at them to get me a wheelchair for Labor and Delivery. Just as the nurse brought a wheelchair up a contraction hit and i just instinctively fell on all fours in the ER entryway. The nurse was freaking out, clearly a bit ruffled, saying that i couldn't have the baby there and i would have to get up. As soon as it was over i got into the wheelchair and was just yelling at them to get me up there quickly, quickly, quickly.

They did, wheeled me to a L&D room and told me i had to lie down on my back to get checked. I didn't have a problem with this except that right when they wanted me to do it another contraction hit so i was just yelling "no" at them while i was trying to get through the contraction. This scared the resident out who thought i wanted to have the baby standing up. Finally the contraction was over, i got on the bed and she declared that i was completely dilated and ready to start pushing.

They got the doctor in (the one doctor in my practice i hadn't met) and after breaking my bag of waters we started pushing. I don't know how many it took but everyone told me i did a great job bringing the baby down quickly. At the very end his heart-rate was really decelerating and they turned me on my side in between contractions and gave me an oxygen mask-- then with the next push i brought him out. He was born at 3:07 am after we had arrived at the hospital at 2:45 am.

Obviously a speedy and incredibly intense labor and delivery. Recovery has been a little slow but by the end of the week i'm feeling much better. More to come on experiences from our first week with Henry.