Tuesday, August 21st began like most Tuesdays with me driving Harrison to preschool in the morning. I was miserably large, still having mild contractions and upset that my C-Section was scheduled for September 14th (3.5 weeks away). As we made the five minute drive, I was turning over possible middle names for the baby in my head.
We had been completely stymied on a middle name with really no prospects until I suddenly had an epiphany in the car. Harrison Jay was named after his father Michael Jay, who was named after his father Earl Jay Fein and so we had agreed that I would try to find a middle name that honored my side of our family. If baby had been a girl, her middle name would likely have been some form of "Lea" since I am Raina Leah and my mother's Chinese name is Wai-Li but we weren't crazy about "Lee" for a boy. We had considered "Mapel" but didn't think it fit with the possible first names we liked. Then it suddenly dawned on me that if you mashed-up Lee and Mapel you get "Liam".
After school, Michael met us at the soccer field where Harrison enjoys a soccer skills class and I ran the idea of "Liam" passed him. Yes, it was likely a keeper, certainly the best idea we had come up with thus far. A short time later we drove home for dinner.
In the middle of dinner, I suddenly felt a sharp pang which was odd but not totally uncommon as I was constantly uncomfortable and with the baby in a breech position (practically standing up inside me!) I often hurt in one way or another. Then it happened again a few minutes later. When it happened a third time, Michael and I both looked at each other and had the same thought: these could be real labor contractions. Michael turned to me and asked, "do we have hospital bags packed yet" to which I replied we did not. We faked calmness for the rest of dinner for Harrison's sake and then made a call to the hospital's Triage. Since I could not definitely say the contractions were less than five minutes apart, they said I needed to "wait and see."
At this point it was near 8pm so I decided despite the discomfort, I would record the time and length of each contraction while Michael packed bags for us and Harrison just in case we had to go to the hospital. I pulled out Harrison's baby photo book and showed him pictures of the day he was born and talked about how when baby was ready we would go to the hospital while grandma stayed with Harrison. Meanwhile Michael texted his parents to put them on alert and then the three of us read books in bed with Harrison and put him to bed. This was really important to me to "give" this to him since it was starting to look like Harrison would no longer be the baby of the family very soon.
Once bedtime was completed, it was very obvious that I was having full blown contractions and they had gone from 6 -7 minutes apart to 4-5 minutes apart and lasted 60-90 seconds each. Our neighbor Jared came over and stayed in the living room while Harrison slept since grandmama needed another hour or so to get to our house. Then we made the 15 minute drive to Providence Regional Hospital in Everett.
While there was still a possibility of a false alarm or perhaps more of that awful medication to stop contractions, we thought we should have a baby name ready, just in case. For months we had been down to just two or three names but we needed to agree quick. Between contractions we agreed that we liked "Tucker Liam" however we had one more hurdle. One of our best friends, Aaron, has a father who goes by the name Tucker, and Aaron and his wife are pregnant with a little boy. Mid drive Michael dials up Aaron and says something to this effect:
Dude, we are driving to the hospital, we think we might have this baby tonight. Speaking of, are you naming your kid Tucker? If not, do you care if we use it? Great, thanks, bye.
After checking into Triage they strapped on fetal monitors and checked my progress. It turned out I was about 4 cm dialated and 100% effaced, in other words this baby was coming! No false contractions, no meds to stop them even though I was only 36.5 weeks, this baby was on the way. After a quick ultrasound to check the position of the baby, they confirmed they would prep me for a C-section.
At this point Michael asked if it would be a good time to the move the car and the nurse replied yes, he should do that while they started to make arrangements. He grabbed the car keys and went down stairs then, as he tells it, he spent the next ten minutes driving around the parking garage, looking for the *perfect* space, then another five minutes getting our bags and walking back to the building. When he finally pulled back the curtain at my bedside, they shoved scrubs into his arms and I told him I had already met and spoken to the doctor and anesthesiologist! Neither of us had anticipated that this would move so quickly.
As they wheeled me into the operating room, I must have moved into the next stage of labor because I got the "labor shakes" which I also experienced with Harrison at about 5cm. Basically I began shaking uncontrollably, kind of like getting the shivers but amplified almost to epileptic proportions (at least that's what it feels like to me). It messes with my mind emotionally as I don't like the feeling of being out of control and when the anesthesiologist needs to insert a giant needle that could potentially paralyze me, it freaks me out and I start crying which makes the shaking worse. At this point I am by myself as they don't let Michael in until my spinal block is in place so he isn't there to help calm me down. I did have some wonderful nurses that helped me through it.
Once Michael was in the room and I was strapped to the table with the anesthesiologist behind my head, she also said some really nice things to help calm me down. My favorite was "I can give you something to relax you, but you may find it hard to remember some of what is happening." Um, YES, I definitely want some of that! And for the record, I don't think I have forgotten anything important (Michael says I asked what floor we were on, twice, but who cares?).
Once calm I was able to fully appreciate the sensation of about five minutes pulling and pressure as they cut and stretched open my abdomen; I hadn't anticipated that I would be able to feel that much and that freaked me out a bit too, but at that point the sweet, sweet medicine had kicked in.
Since Michael and I could not see past the surgical curtain draped over my chest, the birth moment was less dramatic then when Harrison was born as we didn't know when it was happening. Without warning we suddenly heard the sweet cry of our little boy.
Tucker Liam Fein was born on Tuesday, August 21, 2012 at 11:17pm, 6 pounds 13 ounces, 19 inches long. Blue eyes and his hair is a bit blonde!
After a quick cleaning, he was handed to Michael who promptly placed Tucker next to my face so we could somewhat nuzzle. It was a little frustrating that my arms were strapped down to the table in a crucifiction type pose because I really wanted to hold my baby boy; it was probably the worst part of the surgery (in terms of the birth), touching cheeks isn't the same thing.
Well Tucker, that's the story of the night you were born. From the first pangs of pain around 6:15pm you were born just five hours later. I won't be one of those moms that gives you guilt by telling you about the terrible pain and scar the c-section left (let's just say it was a full four weeks before I could walk to our park and back without any pain at all), because in the end you were definitely worth it.
