Austin

My first son Austin was born June 21st, 2000.

He was three days late and I was feeling it! I went in to see my doctor that morning and I didn't know that I was in labor. No pain, no contractions, nothing. They sent me over to the hospital and told me that my baby would probably come later that day. About an hour later I was in bed in my hospital birthing room when my doctor came in to break my water.

When she did this, I could tell that something was wrong by the look on her face. Up to that point I was always so afraid of my water breaking in public and I had read that if that happens you need to make sure the water was clear. Well, when my doctor broke my water it was not clear, it was a greenish color and I knew that wasn't a good sign.

I was told that the fluid contained meconium, which means that the baby had it's first bowl movement. They told me that if the baby inhales this meconium the baby can get an infection, and would be taken to another hospital with a NICU. I am a very calm person and tried to not let this news affect me. Not an easy thing to do when you're stuck in a bed now having labor pains. I remember that they put a tube into my uterus to flush it out.

They told me that I couldn't push because they wanted that fluid to stay in there. That was not an easy task considering that my labor was moving along so quickly that I was unable to have any kind of medication. I remember even passing out a few times, and wanting to move positions, but they wouldn't let me. I was lucky, I was only in labor about 3 hours.

My room became filled with a medical team for the baby, and seeing them made me realize how serious this situation was. When I pushed Austin out, the doctor plugged him so that he wouldn't breath and she whisked him to the waiting team. My husband wasn't even able to cut the cord. I am very happy to report that Austin did not inhale any meconium and was a very healthy baby.
Carrie