I’d like to thank everyone who offered up prayers for our little Catherine. I know that her recovery was not only due to having fantastic doctors and nurses, but also due to your constant prayer.

Several people have asked me about my labor and delivery experience. Without going into the super personal or gory details I thought I’d let you know how things went.

Catherine was born with a severe case of Meconium Aspiration. Despite the complications that arose due to her condition my labor experience was almost enjoyable. It would be easy to focus on all the things that didn’t go as planned that day, but I’d like to tell you about the good things.

Things that went right on May 25th and 26th, 2006

1. Laboring at home: During the day on Thursday the 25th I was going through the stages of early labor at home. I spent time trying to nap, watching tv and surfing the web…all while trying to ignore the contractions. Most of the day was fine. I made it until 8:30pm when I felt I ought to call Dr. Daniel Becker. We headed into the hospital at 9 and discovered that I was dilated to 6cm (out of 10). I was already more than half-way there!

2. Peter- The best coach a gal could ask for: Besides our Childbirth classes at the hospital, Peter and I had done some reading up on Labor. Most notably What to Expect When You’re Expecting, Husband-Coached Childbirth: The Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth and The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth. With all that information in hand we were able to discuss how we’d like labor to go and how we’d get through it.

Peter was a constant support for me. He took cues from the nurses and suggested things that might help me. He remembered our discussions and reminded me of what we thought was important. He never let me get discouraged, put up with my hand-squeeze of death and was a tireless bringer of cold cloths. He was my hero.

3. My fantastic Nurses: I labored through the night, and through a nursing shift change. We started off with Kelly who got us settled in. She kept us on track and made some great suggestions for a more ‘comfortable’ labor. I took her up on a few; the birth ball, hot bath, and cold compresses. She didn’t hang out with us too much, though. She would check in every 15 minutes or so and the rest of the time we were on our own. She was the perfect combination of caring and helpful and hands off.

Amy took over for Kelly at 3am. Amy was stalwart and comforting and totally supportive. She was there through the pushing stage and the “panic due to the imminent possibility of a C-Section” stage. She triumphantly announced that she herself had torn up my c-section paperwork! She is obviously well practiced at her job as she knew exactly what to say to help me through the last part of labor.

4. A strong belief in myself: I don’t have a “hero complex” but I was fairly determined to have a natural childbirth. (In other words: no epidural, no pain drugs, no labor inducing drugs.) I was prepared to accept medicinal help if the situation arose, but I was truly hoping that I wouldn’t need it. Thankfully a strong will, high pain tolerance and very supportive husband (and nurses!) helped me avoid them. I’ve never been more proud of myself; for bearing the pain and for sticking to my convictions even when others tried to change my mind.

5. A close shave: After my water was broken, and the green color signified the presence of meconium the Doctor was concerned that the baby wasn’t progressing through the birth canal as quickly as he would like. He was worried that an extended labor would make her condition worse, so he set preperations for a c-section in motion. I was not happy with the suggestion of surgery. Neither was Catherine, aparently, because just minutes later she was born!

6. Quick Thinking Medical Staff: Everyone did exactly what they should have. My OB/GYN was prepared for a Mec Aspiration baby and got going on suctioning her throat and lungs as soon as her head was delivered. She was passed on to the NeoNatology staff soon thereafter and they cleaned her up and brought her to the Special Care Nursery for evaluation. The Docs and Nurses there made quick work of getting her stable and making the decision to transfer her to Boston.

7. No Room at the Inn: Catherine was originally scheduled to be transferred to Children’s Hospital. Their transfer team was already on route to Beverly when they called and said that they were full and couldn’t take her. The team came anyway and Catherine was taken to Brigham and Women’s instead. The respiratory team at B&H were able to pounce on her with their full array of treatments. Normally they only see babies like her after they’ve already been to Children’s and are 24 hours old. They rarely get 6 hour old babies and since their treatments were started so early she made great progress in the first day she was there.

Still here? Overall the experience was much better than I had been led to believe. Yes it was painful, yes it was tough, but it was not impossible and has made me a much stronger person in the end.