Twenty Years Ago

November 1987. I was newly married and expecting my first baby in early to mid December. A few weeks prior I had been prescribed bed rest and was not too thrilled about it. I was told that I had placenta previa...basically unless the placenta moved, the kid was going to have issues on the way out. So I caught up on my soaps and settled in until December. In an effort to help curb my boredom my husband bought several cross-stitch kits to keep me busy. Unfortunately, I had no idea how to cross stitch! But I learned and I enjoy it still.

Anyway, back to the subject.... I have failed to mention that at this point in time I am 19 years old. Yes, it is the tail end of the teen years, but nevertheless, still a teen. I am CLUELESS about pregnancy issues and yet I know everything at the same time. As I languish on the couch my feet are swelling as are my hands. My shiny new sapphire and diamond wedding ring had to be cut off. All a part of being pregnant I thought. My vision would blur occasionally or perhaps I would see double. I gotta clean these contacts I thought. At my next Dr appt. my blood pressure was extremely high. He asked if I had experienced dizziness and changes in my vision. Then he said I had pre-eclampsia. Wow. I remember being scared and worried about what could happen to me or my baby.

Twenty years ago today I sat on the couch with my husband and roared with laughter at the Temptations on Johnny Carson. The dance moves were hilarious I thought. They were just too much for this 80's girl. I went to bed when it was over only to awaken a few hours later feeling "weird." I fixed myself a cup of tea and relaxed. In the morning I called the Dr and made an appointment. That afternoon he said I was experiencing false labor. FALSE LABOR??? I remember thinking if this is false labor I will surely DIE during the real thing. He sends me home to continue with my bed rest. And since I am feeling really cruddy and my husband has to work until 9 p.m. or later my mom and grandma come to "help out." I was in my bedroom writhing in pain while they are in the living room watching Wheel Of Fortune. I called my mom into the room and explained that I was feeling worse. My back was killing me about every 8 minutes or so. In hindsight, yeah I should have gone straight to the hospital but that just wasn't gonna happen since my mom doesn't drive. She called my husband, who called the Dr, who said it is false labor... "but if you want to you can take her to the hospital but they will probably just send you home." My mom took command and told my husband he needed to take me to the hospital.

We arrived at about 9 p.m.--the nurse did the examination and said "oh yeah, we're having a baby tonite." I explained to Nurse Ratchett the ungodly amount of pain that I was going through and asked for something to help me out. She took note of my age, patted me on the leg, and replied "Now honey, you don't want your baby to come out drugged do you??" At that point I really didn't care but I managed to grumble out a "noooooo." My mom and grandma had to leave for a bit. My mom asked about how far my labor had progressed to ensure that she would be back in time for the birth of her first grandchild, Nurse Ratchett told her that due to my age and that this was my first baby, it would be HOURS before this kid would make an appearance. My mom left and said she be back in a bit once she got my little sister situated for the night.

Approximately 2 hours later Aryn Nicole made her debut. My mom missed it. She walked into the room just as the Dr exclaimed "It's a girl!." She weighed 4lbs 15 oz. and was 18 1/2 inches long. She was just as impatient and ready to take on the world then as she is now.

You go girl!