Balancing Act #62: How It Happens

[GamerDad]

Dave Alpern's Balancing Act #62: How It Happens article - http://www.gamerdad.com/detail.cfm?itemID=3447

[SiW]

Oh, man! Congrats

I'll have to ask Amy if she wants to share our stories..

[GamerDad]

My wife, a nursing visionary, is going to love/loathe your story Dave. I'll say this, the nurses on the phone aren't nurses. They're barely assistents. They're generally called HUCs. Health Unit Co-ordinators. They sit sullenly at the nursing station, they help sometimes, but usually they sit sullenly there. A degree is not required. Linda had one on her floor, a very large woman named Judy. I enjoyed referring to her as: "Judy the HUC"

We had some similar experiences, my favorite being when I got my parents to the hospital to see Maggie and, while I was gone, some of Linda's family visited and, because of it being an inner-city hospital they had a strict limit of 4 visitors (and the father was considered a visitor) at a time. The HUC, WOULDN'T LET ME IN! I gaped at the lady and said, firmly:

"I'm a reporter and I'm the father. If you don't let me see MY baby, you'll read about it in the newspaper!"

Okay, I didn't say that. I said, "I'm the father, these are my parents, I'll go send some people home." But I thought the first part as I walked past her, without waiting for an answer, and through the doors. Thank god nobody stopped me... Anyway, I sent a few uncles out and got my folks in. They changed this rule by the time Henry came.

[txa1265]

Great news, and a nice story to boot!

It's funny you talk fluid - when my younger son was born (both were C-sections), they opened my wife and a tidal wave of fluid unlike anything I'd ever seen gushed out with such force that the entire crew around the table stepped back and paused for a few seconds ...

[CelesteGB]

I took a birthing class with David...I had the patience only for a 2 hour cram session on a Saturday and promptly forgot everything. I never took another one figuring that a) I'd forget exactly what to do and b)someone would tell me and whether I took a class or not, the baby would be coming.

My mantra during all the pregnancies were, "I don't wanna do this, I don't wanna do this."

Great article! Yeah, I named the nurses up here in Canada, the Nursing Nazi's

Have a cold...must get some sleep! *sniff, cough*

Celeste

[Gamermum]

Congrats Dave!

[momGamer]

You're not the only one who's been somewhere else during labor. My ex slept through most of Johnathan's labor. He'd just come off a double shift. He was there for the important part for all of them, though.

Congratulations to you and yours. I can't wait for the story on this one.

[jray]

Congratulations!

You nailed it on the head about the epidural. Our birthing class had drilled it into us that beyond a certain point in labor, it was too late to get it. As we walked up to the hospital desk, my wife gave them her name followed with "I want an epidural". It was a night and day difference in the whole pain management thing. I think she could have kissed the anesthesiologist, and I had never thought I would see her ask for a needle.

[Sorcha Ravenlock]

My ex slept through most of Johnathan's labor.

You think that's bad.. when I gave birth to DD she slept through a large part of the labor! The nurses made me drink icecold water to wake her up, because apparently it is important a baby is alert during the process, also because once the whole thing starts going they needed to be able to tell the slowing of the heart rate wasn't because of complications.

Anyway, great article, Dave, and congratulations!

[Tater-Dad]

roffle waffles!

great story (and congrats)

I refused to cut the cord for ours, one because Caleb was C-section, 2 I just didn't want to on Lori


I have this thing about cutting living flesh.... in real life...

[momGamer]

I didn't want to get into the bad labor stories realm. I have some stories from having the girls that would put everyone under the table. Twins are complicated both before and after.

[Mommy!]

Congratulations, Dave! Nurses can be the very devil in labor and delivery! Hopefully this time around will be more like your last time. Then again, you took all the classes, why not get a catchers mitt and learn to say "Push!"? I'm sure Carla won't mind.

All the best,

Sheila

[txa1265]

I have some stories from having the girls that would put everyone under the table.

And given that most of us are guys ... I believe that wholeheartedly!

[CelesteGB]

I didn't want to get into the bad labor stories realm. I have some stories from having the girls that would put everyone under the table. Twins are complicated both before and after.

If one was breach, I'll be crossing my legs

Celeste

[happycamper]

That's cool news, Dave!

We had a great birth with our boy back in September. The labor was very long, but she wanted to forgo drugs and she managed to do so. (One major reason was to avoid having the process slow down as often happens...)

Anyway, we got through the birth and then the hospital stay after was absolutely horrid... (traumatic, etc... etc...) Lack of privacy (we had to share a room with a family who had 7 or more guests at one time... even during non-visiting hours. I even got to the point of asking the front desk to ask some to leave but they never did...)

We escaped the maternity ward as soon as we could, but the hospital put our boy in the intensive care to "observe him" for an extra two days... he had had a tad of fluid in his lungs.

Long story short, we only have one hospital in town with a maternity ward, but we're seriously thinking about going over an hour away to give birth if/when we have a second...