Victor

Yes, he's here. Thus follows the 'birth story' of Victor James Westmoreland, born at 5:25am Oct 1st, 2007.

First a little 'background' on the day in question. Most of you are aware that my due date was originally September 30th but was revised to Sept 28th after an ultrasound conducted in April. The 28th was actually Friday, as you know, but instead of waking up in labor on that fateful day, I actually woke up with the world's WORST stomach virus. It was horrifying indeed. The mere idea of trying to cope with labor pains while also dealing with congestion, vomiting, and diarrhea was unthinkable to say the least. I was terrified that I would suddenly find myself faced with such an obstacle and so the sickness was even more intensified by just thinking of those things and became and all out panic attack! I sobbingly called my husband, my mother in law, and a sister in our hall begging for help because Johnson was home from school and he and his little brother were blissfully unaware of the severity of it all and wreaking havoc. Jonathan came home, Linda (his mom) came over to take care of the boys, and the aforementioned sister stopped her busy service day to bring me gatorade. After finally getting to the point where I could take some Phenergan, the virus seemed to loosen its hold a little and by evening I was able to eat a little plain rice. No labor yet. Whew!

Saturday I woke up weak and tired but the day was uneventful and I was able to eat a sandwich by that night.

Sunday, I felt great. I ate a small normal breakfast, went to the meeting, cleaned my whole house, and went grocery shopping by myself (which was pretty stupid but turned out okay). Sunday night, I began to feel a few contractions but nothing out of the ordinary. I stayed on the couch until they subsided which was about 1:30am. Then I went to bed. Sleeping was difficult and I kept having crazy nightmares and night terrors, which is really wierd for me. Around 3:30am, I woke with a strange cramping in my lower abdomen that was not similar to any contractions I had ever felt. I got up and started getting ready to leave because I had that 'feeling', you know? The cramp persisted and I was worried so we went ahead and planned to go the hospital, calling a neighbor couple to come stay w/ the boys while we went. I also called my sweet coach, Barbie, and told her to meet us there.

As the babysitters arrived ( less than 10 minutes later), I began to worry because the cramp was getting worse and I told them to tell my husband to hurry, as I was outside waiting by the car. But suddenly, my water broke! I ran inside to change and even though I was a little freaked out (the cramp I felt was obviously my waters pushing against my pelvis), I was glad that I now KNEW this was IT. By the time we got to Carthage (4:08am), there were strong steady contractions present. Strong enough to have to breath through. They were about 4-6 minutes apart. We got to UMC in Lebanon at 4:35. After trying several locked doors, we remembered that only the ER was open at this hour and when my husband dropped me off at the door, I was to the point that I was panicked. The contractions were RIGHT on top of each other. I walked into the completeley empty waiting room and made this known from the center of the floor since I didnt know which desk to approach. A harried man w/ a wheelchair appeared out of nowhere and took me to the maternity ward where Barbie and Granny Linda were both waiting.

There was NO ONE in the maternity ward but 3 nurses, two of which were not really attending nurses, but nursery personell. A young nurse named Tambra w/ short stri-pedy hair got my gown and began grilling me about the facts. By now the contractions were excruciating and I could NOT talk through them so I did my best and waited for her to get my iv in and check me. When she did, I was dismayed to find that I was only 5 cm dilated! It seemed I had a long while to go. And I was almost to the point that I didnt think I'd make it because, since my waters had ruptured, I wasnt 'allowed' to move around the room but had to stay attatched to machines in the bed. This was almost intolerable, let me tell you.

When the time came where I felt like I couldnt take any more, I asked the nurse to check me again. It was now to the point where it felt like one long contraction, with no break to speak of. When she checked me, I saw her eyes go wide and she said 'Oh wow. You're complete. I'm calling the doctor now.' So I went from 5 to 10 cm in less than 20 minutes.

Barbie was trying to help but by this point I was severely blinded by pain and I hate to say, I wasnt being very nice to her (sorry, Barbie). But she did a GREAT job with what she was given. The nurses were scurrying about like so many scattered hens, trying to get the room ready for the birth and all the while telling me 'don't push!' in unison. I saw Tambra say that the doctor was still at home and then I really began to get frantic because I knew I wasnt going to be able to wait. I told her 'I have to push NOW!' and with every ounce of coherence I could muster, told Barbie that I was now going to inhale and begin pushing and that I needed her to count to seven. She did and Tambra resigned herself to the fact that this was going to happen, whether she liked it or not. With one very violent and very intense push, I felt the baby's head emerge and with one more push, the body rushed out. You have not experienced relief until you feel this feeling! It is indescribably wonderful.

Anyway, I had been at the hospital for 45 minutes total when Victor was born. He was perfectly pink and very wrinkly. He doesnt possess the same newborn 'prettiness' of the other two boys, but he is full of Nichols character in his little face. We all think he looks alot like his uncle Josh and his Papa Nick.
His vitals were all perfect and he weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 21 inches long. Unfortunately, due to the intensity of the birth and inexperience of the nurses, there was no time to immediately bond with him. They took him off to the empty nursery immediately and Tambra proceeded to try and extract the placenta, which was being mighty stubborn. At this moment, the very ticked off Doctor arrived, and griped at poor little Tambra for not having called him sooner. We were all pretty annoyed with him. Basically, he came to get the placenta out and do a little 'stitching up', which I'm sure is kind of a pain for a highly paid obstetrician at 5:30am.

Yesterday I spent the whole day in my bed, bonding w/ my little wrinkled son and getting him aquainted w/ the phenom of nursing, which he has taken to wonderfully (and yes, my nipples are screaming). Unfortunately, I woke up this morning at around 3:30am with another bout of that nasty stomach virus and was unable to enjoy my last hours at the hospital. I was given a phenergan shot and some Immodium which left me feeling more exhausted than I should and made me all too anxious to get back home. Which I did. Which I am. Which I love.