Peru Jun 21, 19--
… Recapping previous weeks…
I am still gaining weight but moderately. At the end of my pregnancy I weigh 164 pounds, which is 24 more than 9 months ago. I sleep poorly because my back bothers me.
May 31st: Bruce drove me to Huntington for a baseball tourney that lasted until 10pm. Because I sat in a chair all day, I had a bad night.
June 1: Sunday, Muriel's birthday. My stomach is so tense that I have trouble walking and am terribly uncomfortable. In the evening, after Muriel's birthday party, the contractions become regular and painful and Bruce takes me to the hospital. I'm admitted and I spend the night there. Bruce stays with me and so misses work. False hope! I am released the next morning.
Furious with myself and disappointed I promise myself not to return until my waters have broken. However
June 3rd: I start having a bloody show and the contractions come every 15 minutes and are painful. Yet I manage to finish my letter to Myriam and then go lay down at 1pm.
June 4th: same thing as yesterday. In the morning I did tell Dick that within 24-48 hours he will have another grandchild. At lunch time I was still there but at 12:10pm an extremely strong contraction takes my breath away and I ask Muriel to take me to the hospital. The contractions are 5 minutes apart and hurt so much that I have trouble breathing and am unable to stand up.
Muriel had to ask for the EMTs to bring a wheelchair to get me from the truck into the hospital. I could not walk.
They wheel me to the Maternity Ward where a nurse examined me and they deciced to keep me. The nurse wanted to know how close the contractions are to each other but has to wait 20 minutes as everything stopped again. As soon as she leaves the room they come back! Of course!
I started to walk and they were back every 5 minutes. No change until June 5th at 11am. I remained dilated at 4cm all night. Then
June 5th: at 11am the contractions become intolerable. I am fighting them because I am unable to relax. They have to give me a shot to help me relax. It helps until 3pm. I was hooked up to a monitor that marked my contractions and the baby's heartbeat as well as the baby's movements. What thunder!
Muriel was there, holding my hand to help me. Bruce was there too and it made me feel good. He kept asking if I could forgive him for causing me to be in so much pain. I said yes but we would not be having any more babies for a while…
I was so miserable!
I had been the first of 3 women to arrive at the hospital and the other 2 already had their babies and I was still laying there… in agony.
At 3:30pm the doctor came in to check on me and said it would be another 2 hours. I was at 8cm! I thought I was going to lose my mind.
At 3:45pm I was crazy. The doctor had broken my waters with a long hook and I felt an intense need to push. I was trying to relax but nothing would do. The nurse told me to breathe deeply but the more I breathed the more I felt like pushing.
At 4pm: 9cm. Bruce calls the nurse back
At 4:15pm, the nurse hurries me into the delivery room. The baby's head had crowned. They could see the baby's hair. They call the doctor who hurries. Bruce gets gowned. They get me on the delivery table and tell me to push if I feel like it – which I do happily! –
As soon as they are ready: 2 pushes and here comes Baby! A beautiful big baby! A little girl: 9 pounds 7 ounces 21 inches!
It is incredible! Labor pains are so awful to bear! I thought many times that I would never get there and yet… it is unbelievable how you forget such intense pain as soon as you hear your child's voice!
What a wonder! A child! Well worth the trouble!
When you hold that little one in your arms! I felt so close to Bruce! It was Love that created this little girl.
Melanie Eileen was born at 4:33pm June 5th, 19--.
She dropped to 8 pounds 12 ounces in the first 3 days but 15 days after birth she weighed 9lbs 13oz. I wish I had had my journal with me sooner. It has been in the attic and Bruce forgot to go get it. However, I can say that she puckers her lower lip like I do when she wants to cry and when she wakes up, she opens one eye at a time.
She has long brown hair that are begin to get lighter and grey blue eyes. She is so cute. She only cries when she's hungry. She must have a stomach ache today because she's crying a lot, poor little one! Bruce is there for every feeding.
June 12: in the evening, Dick et Muriel take us to Indianapolis to pick up Marraine at the airport, who brings us lots of presents.
June 13: baby shower at Ruth Plothow's. Marraine gave me $100 to open a bank account for Melanie and also money to buy her a bed when we are on our own.
June 15: Melanie gave us her first laugh. We were going to bed and were looking at her tenderly and she burst into laughter. What a joy!
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