Enrique's Birth

As I look down at Moises sleeping, I realize that I have yet to tell the story of the birth of big brother, Enrique. Now, it has been 2 1/2 years, so some of the details may not be quite as crisp, but I think the important ones have lasted :-)

The day that Enrique was born was a special day. My co-residents and I had been working hard on presentations all that week that we would give at a weekly conference we called "Grand Rounds." We had even made a short, catchy video to go with our presentation just to reinforce the concepts of the material. A few minutes before my group was to give our presentation, one of my group members joked, "If we start tanking, just fake labor." hahahaha famous last words!
Well, we didn't tank, and I didn't have to fake labor, but...we were to all go out and celebrate that afternoon. Everyone was tidying up loose ends to be able to leave--returning messages to patients, writing prescriptions, the usual. I remember being in our resident work area and suddenly feeling like I had to go to the bathroom (#1). The first bathroom I tried was locked, and so I tried to hurry to the second bathroom. I didn't quite make it. As I turned in the hallway to go to the second bathroom, I felt that I was already all wet. I stood there in the hallway (which was empty at the time) wondering, "Did I just pee on myself?" But it felt different--I mean, it didn't smell like urine, and it was continuing to come out. Surely, my water had not broken because I was only 36 weeks! I finally made it to the bathroom, and as I was sitting on the commode trying to compose myself and figure out what to do, one of my attendings (supervising doctors) walked in on me. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said. I couldn't even muster the words to tell her that I thought my water had broken. After what seemed like an eternity, but surely was only a minute or two, I waddled my way back to the resident room.

As I entered the resident room, I was greeted with faces of my co-residents. In an instant, I said, "I think my water just broke," and all of a sudden, I got scared and started to cry. One of the other residents, bless her heart (Marsha Taylor) grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eyes:" It is going to be okay. We are going to take you to labor and delivery. Don't panic" and somehow, looking into her eyes really calmed me. Perhaps it was the fact that she herself had had her baby boy just a few months before. Anyhow, at that point, the lady co-residents of my resident class (Catherine, Abby, Jennifer, Sarah) all walked me up to labor and delivery (the 8th floor of the hospital). The boys stayed behind, but don't worry, they made an appearance later in my room to wish me luck once I was settled in. Anyhow, I decided that I wanted to walk up there and not be whisked up there in a wheelchair as the nurses were trying to insist to me. For some reason, I didn't want to draw attention to myself, and yet, as I arrived on the 8th floor with my entourage, and announced, "I think my water broke," I'm sure I raised more than one or two eyebrows. hahahahaha

An OB resident that I knew (although not well) came into triage and announced that to confirm that my water had broken, she would need to do a speculum exam. How many times had I made the same announcement to a woman I had seen up in triage, but this time, I was dreading it! The nurse, thankfully, chimed in: "She is very obviously ruptured. She is still leaking fluid all over the table" and she lifted the sheet so that the resident could see. The resident took a small sample of that fluid, checked it to make sure it was amniotic fluid by checking the pH, and announced, "well, let's get you in a room." I have to say, I can't remember that nurse's name for the life of me (and I'm sure we must have worked together several times), but I thank her so much for sparing me a full speculum exam!

Meanwhile, my friends are waiting outside of the room to see what is going to happen. Jennifer, bless her heart, called Jose and my mom to let them know what was going on. Unfortunately, she could not reach Jose, neither on the house phone or the cell phone, and she tried to leave as calm a message as possible. As you can imagine, once she got a hold of my mother, she activated the sister network, and Valerie was on the road from Ohio, Nora from Harrisonburg, all headed to UVA hospital in Charlottesville, VA.

After dressing in my oh so sexy hospital gown and settling in my room, my friends rejoined me. I don't remember exactly what was said, but I do remember that they were a huge comfort to me with their presence, especially since we still could not get a hold of Jose. A few hours passed, and finally, about 2 1/2 hours after my water had broken (and just as I was starting to get contractions), Jose ran in the room, winded and very obviously nervous. It was such a funny scene that all of us started to laugh. Of course, he had gone home, heard the message, and frantically gotten back in the car to speed the 2-3 miles from our house to the hospital, zoom up the elevator, and run into my room--convinced that surely, Enrique was about to be born. Little did he know that really, my contractions had only started, and it would be hours before Enrique would be in our arms.

My parents made it shortly after, as did Nora. Even Valerie, after her 6-7 hr drive from Ohio, made it in time. At about 10 PM, the resident came in and checked me "You are fully dilated, but the baby is still high in your pelvis." I had started to feel some pressure, but I wasn't very uncomfortable (thanks to a very wonderful epidural), so I was surprised to hear this. They called my friend Cara, who had changed her call schedule to be able to deliver Enrique, and whom I had seen for all of my prenatal appointments (she and I are good friends from med school who both stayed on at UVA for residency). Unfortunately, Enrique stayed "high" in my pelvis for quite some time. I ended up pushing off and on for about 3 1/2 hrs, and toward the end of my labor, Enrique started showing some signs of distress from the process. Trust me, it wasn't that I wasn't trying!!!! I felt like I was pushing with everything I had, but I wasn't making the progress that we were all hoping for. As the attending and Cara discussed the possibility of using forceps to deliver Enrique, and the forceps were brought into the room, I just thought to myself: "God, please, just let me do it!". I meant business. I did all the things they said to do: held my breath, put my chin to my chest, tried to hold my legs, and pushed with all of my might, and I could feel it: THE RING OF FIRE! I had often talked to laboring women about the ring of fire--that feeling as the head is crowning. Some fear it, others welcome it. I have to say that once it was there, I wanted to do everything in my power to make it go away, and I felt the most insatiable desire to just keep pushing. Shortly after, Cara was placing my sweet Enrique on my chest. Overcome with emotions and fatigure (as it was 3:48 AM), Jose and I both started crying. I have to say, it was one of the best moments of my life, as were my wedding day, and the birth of Moises.

And that is how Enrique came to be a part of our world. My labor from water breaking to meeting my baby lasted about 15 hrs total, which is why this may seem much longer than the story of Moises' labor, which lasted only about 4 hrs! hahahaha