Thursday, April 3, 2008

Resurrection


14 years ago, the Easter bunny brought her to me. My due date was March 31st but she didn't come until April 3rd. I went into the hospital on March 31st to have my labor induced because I developed Toxemia. I was hooked up to an IV which dripped pecocin (a drug to start contractions) into my veins. The next day was April Fools, her biological others birthday. I call him this because he has never been a father or a daddy to her. No contractions started so they upped the dose. Still nothing the whole day and I was on a liquid diet, I remember my bff Shelley snuck in a pizza for me (thank you). Hehehehehe. Still no contractions for the whole day but the next morning, April 2nd I started having irregular contractions. By the morning of April 3rd they were coming 2-3 minutes apart. I watched the second hand on the
clock...tick, tick, tick...here comes the pain...OUCHHH. Rest for 2 minutes...tick, tick, tick...OUCHHH. I remember the nurse telling me I needed to be quiet because I was upsetting the other expecting mothers.
Oh well, excuuuse me.
As the day went on, various doctors stuck their fingers deep into my vagina to feel the dilation of my cervix.
"You're still not ready, only dilated to 7." I heard this for several hours.
I had an internal monitor (think of a long metal tampon) and a catheter. My other bff Ursula was rubbing my back and wetting my washcloth whenever it got warm (thank you). After about 12 hours, I remember telling one of the doctors, "get this baby out of me, I don't care if you have to cut it out, I can't take this anymore."
They brought in an ultrasound machine and immediately told me that I was going to have an emergency cesarian because the baby had passed meconium. Oh really!?! I knew something wasn't right--call it a mothers intuition.
I was wheeled into the delivery room and told to hold completely still while they inserted the needle into my back. I lost all felling from my stomach down. Weird, I felt what it was like to be paralyzed, not able to move my legs. Laying flat on my back with my arms stretched out at each side, I looked like Jesus on the cross.
"I feel like Jesus Christ and it's Easter," I said as the doctor cut open my stomach.
My beautiful angel Naomi took her first breath at 10:46 PM. She was 8 lbs. 2 ozs. and 21 inches long. I held her for 1 minute and then they took her away. She had to go to the intensive care unit because she was at risk of developing a lung infection from the meconium. The sad, sad thing was that I had a fever and I couldn't go see her.
The next day, I cried and cried and cried and cried. Somehow, someone let me go see her. I remember my grandpa was with me and I held her and we counted her toes. "Yup, she has all 10," Grandpa said. I learned later that this was a family tradition for all new arrivals.
Naomi's birth was a resurrection for me. I don't know what my life would be like if I
didn't have her.
Fond memories: When she was 2 years old and she would sing, "Tinkle, Tinkle Little
Star." When she was 5 years old and we went to Florida, I tried to explain how big the ocean was and she walked up to it and said, "Mom, it's not that big."
"All things of the universe are perfect miracles, each as profound as any." - Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

7 comments:

Adamity73 said...

Happy birthday, Naomi! =o)

Meagan, that was great. I loved this line, especially: "'I feel like Jesus Christ and it's Easter,' I said as the doctor cut open my stomach." The juxtaposition, girl, the juxtaposition! She was a pretty big baby, huh? Remind me never to get pregnent. It sounds WAAAAAAAY too painful.

Adamity73 said...

*pregnant

Melissa said...

Happy birthday, Naomi!

Great post, Meagan.

JenBun said...

Wow, what an amazing story... and a great birthday tribute to a special young lady!

Me_Again said...

thank you for reading and commenting =0)

jodi said...

From such pain did (your) beauty come. Labor and delivery seem to be so deep that I suspect it is what fuels our lifetime of maternal instincts. Love your story!

Me_Again said...

Thanks Jodi! and just to let you know, you made this comment on my birthday - kewl!

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