Happy Birthday Brittany  − 20 August, 1990

My daughter came into the world August 20, 1990 at 12:20am. I had been to William Beaumont 10 days earlier, experiencing pain. They checked me and decided I was only 3cm dilated and wasn't progressing so they sent me home. I was back a few days later since I was having a lot of back pain and doctor's orders were to report to L&D for any medical concerns (the back pain was a signal for events later to come). I was sent home again. On the afternoon of August 19th, I started having pains again. I wasn't too confident they were actually contractions since my earlier pain was non-productive. The pain continued and my back started hurting even more. I took a nap for a couple hours and finally, as the pain started coming faster and stronger, my mom drove me to the hospital. They did a bunch of paperwork and took me upstairs. They took my blood, checked my status and took my blood pressure. After a few minutes, they came back in and started asking how I'd been feeling. Apparently, I had pre-eclampsia and they were now very concerned about my medical status. They looked at my records and saw that there had proteins reported in my urine and my previous visit was an indicator I was having problems. Ahhhhhh....the ineptitude of a military hospital.

So, I was heavily monitored and all the doctors were freaking me out. I was 17 and a wreck anyway, so they made it 100x worse. I ended up having to have an oxygen mask put on me and there were alarms going off everytime the baby's heart rate dropped. My IV popped out at some point and another alarm went off, which immediately scared me.

It finally came to the time when I could start pushing. After going through the rest of labor without any medication, it was such a wonderful feeling. I had been told they weren't going to let me push for long because they were afraid the heart rate would get too low. Fortunately, B cooperated and was low enough where they could use forceps. B was born and I was so very relieved and excited that she was healthy. I was in the delivery room for a couple hours after that point as I had experienced some very severe lacerations. I think that part was one of the worst parts of the whole process.

I was allowed to sleep for a few hours after being done with suturing. To prevent convulsions, I was given phenobarbitol (sp?). For some reason, the hospital thought I could function well being medicated so I had B in the room with me for most of my stay. It was quite an experience. Somehow I don't think a civilian hospital would have done the same.

I never thought so much joy could come from one person, but being a mother and having that experience has been so rewarding and fulfilling.