Joseph's Birth Story

Six months ago today Joseph made his debut in this world.  I actually wrote this blog entry while I was still in the hospital.  

Unlike most mothers, I get to schedule the arrival of my children.  Joseph was scheduled for 12:00pm on May 7, 2011.  He would be/was 37 weeks in gestation.

In the wee hours of the morning of March 7th I woke up feeling extremely nauseated.  I told myself that it was just the jitters and forced myself to go back to sleep.  I woke Doug around 7:00am.  I couldn't handle the nausea any more.  I'd been fasting since midnight in preparation for the surgery and couldn't take any medication.  I wasn't scheduled to be at the hospital until 10:30am.  I didn't know what to do. Doug gave me a priesthood blessing.  I laid down again and hoped for sleep.  Thirty minutes later I began throwing up and contracting.  Good morning!  I guess someone wanted to ensure that this would be the day of his birth.

Doug called the on-call doctor who said that I should come in a little early to get some IV anti-nausea meds before surgery.  Dr. Kaelberer called just after 9:00am to say "come in ASAP."  Doug helped me get showered and I laid back down in bed again.

As I was laying there I heard Rachel's sweet voice holler, "run, run, run" as she ran down the hall past my bedroom door.  This was followed by the pattering of Zoe's feet.  I knew that I couldn't stay in bed no matter how horrible I felt.  I willed myself into a vertical position and moved into the family room.  I wanted to spend as much time as I could with Rachel before I left.  I would be in the hospital for 4 days.  I would be bringing another baby home when I returned.  This was the last moment I could spend with her before our family drastically changed.

By the time we got to the hospital it was 10:15am.  I was supposed to have been there at 10:30 anyway.  They told us it would be a minute before they could get us into a room.  We waited and waited and waited.  Okay, so it was only 20 minutes but it  felt like forever.  I was still sick and contracting.


It only took 1 stick to get the IV.  Hurray!  At about 12:20pm I walked to the OR.  As the room swam into view the terror of what was about to happen pressed against my heart.  Somewhere inside I wanted to scream "I don't want to do this anymore!"

It wasn't long before I was clutching a nurse as Dr. Rigby, the anesthesiologist, did the spinal block.  I had to hold onto a nurse because they don't allow husbands to hold their wives during these procedures anymore.  I guess a husband passed out.

It wasn’t long before the surgery was underway.  They used a big medical pad, stuck it to my belly and then pulled the cord up past my head to hold my belly up out of the way.  It was humiliating and made me feel disgustingly fat.  Even more it was the cause of later problems.  When they took the dressing off of my incision, the tape tore the skin off of that area of my belly.  It blistered.  Grrr.

The surgery felt like it took forever.  But at 1:01pm Joseph Douglas Goodwin was born.  He weighed 5 lbs 13.5 oz and was 20 inches long.  He came out urinating everywhere and crying like crazy.  Doug got to go see the nurses cleaning him up and started taking pictures.  Every once in a while he’d come back and give me the update and show me pictures.
 

Soon after Joseph’s delivery I began to have referred pain in my shoulder and upper chest.  Every time they would put pressure on my uterus I’d get searing pain up top.  Dr. Rigby gave me a different pain medicine in my IV.  Soon I was much more comfortable and sleepy.  It felt like forever before the surgery was complete.  I hadn't realized how important the anesthesiologist was until I began having children.  Dr. Rigby's skill and attentiveness was refreshing.  With Elizabeth it took 8 tries to get the spinal block.  When I had Rachel the doctor got the spinal block on the first try but my body shook from the beginning of the surgery until about an hour afterward.  This time he got the spinal in 1 try and I only shook for 5 or 10 minutes.

They wrapped Joseph up tight.  He looked like a little papoose.
 

They let me hold him as they wheeled my bed back to our delivery room.


Then Doug took pictures with Grandpa and Grandma Goodwin.
 
 

Welcome to the world little one!