Birth Story of Timothy James Trulin

Timothy James Trulin
August 5, 1994

I found out I was pregnant with our second baby when our first was 11 months old. Quite a surprise (I didn't know you could get pregnant while nursing and on the "mini pill")!! A little scary too, we were planning a VBAC. I had never experienced true contractions, because my first had been a transverse breech and I had never felt painful contractions.

The baby was due July 30, 1994. That date came and went. I was depressed and wanted the baby out, it was HOT in California, and I had a toddler to take care of. After having a planned C-section the first time this waiting stuff was stupid.

Any way, Wednesday August 3, I lost my mucous plug. I was so unsure of what to expect that I didn't expect much. I called a friend who also was pregnant with #2 and a month behind me, and we went grocery shopping. I got my daughter down for a nap and cleaned the kitchen and made phone calls to people who may need to be on call for Rosee.

The next day, Aug 4, I spent with my friend, no contractions, just bloody show. I spent the day at her house eating watermelon, which was the only thing thing that sounded good to me. My husdand got home from work, and I mentioned calling my brother to come stay the night so we wouldn't have to call any one in the middle of the night. He said no, and told me to sit down and relax (it was 10 pm) I felt restless and like walking. I decided though to try to get some sleep.

I woke up at 4 am with a contraction, then another and another. I timed them, they were 2 and a half minutes apart!!! What happened to five minutes apart?! I woke my husband, and he asked me how far apart, I didn't want to scare him, so I lied and said they were about four minutes apart. So he decided to take a shower, I called my mother in law. She got there quickly, about the time my husband was ready to leave.

We got to the hospital by 4:30 am. My water broke almost immediately upon the arrival at the hospital. The contractions were 3000 times worse!!! I was trying to breathe through them, and wanted to make noise, but the nurse said to be quiet and concentrate on not making noise, because that would hurt worse. So I tried.

At 7 am, my dr. came to check me, and found I was dilated to 4 still. I was depressed, and exhausted, after three hours of contractions 1-2 minutes apart!! He gave me a shot of Stadol, and went to finish his rounds.

At 9 am, a new nurse came in and said that I needed to try to go pee. I really didn't need to and I was starting to feel wierd. She walked me to the bathroom, I couldn't go to the bathroom, so we went back to my room.

Immediately, I felt the urge push. The nurse checked me and I was only at 8. I couldn't help pushing little pushes, in spite of blowing. Then she checked the monitor, and the baby's heart rate was decelerating, down to 64. She called the doctor in and things went so fast. My contractions stopped. They threw an oxygen mask on my face, and told me to push, only 2 minutes ago, when I wanted to push, they were telling me not too! I was confused and scared and feeling nothing, no contractions, no urge to push.

They just kept yelling at me and pulling on me and telling me to push. I did the best I could, and then the dr. slammed some lidicain in my bottom, and cut the episiotomy, I hadn't gotten numb yet and I felt it and I was so scared! He attached the vaccuum extractor and it popped off of the baby's head so he had to put it back on and pulled the baby out. I looked down at his face and he looked like he was dead. The cord was wrapped around the baby's neck twice, and had to be cut by the dr. The nurse pushed me and my husband back and they pulled the baby's body out and turned their backs on us and started to work on the baby boy.

There was mec, so they were worried that he may have gotten some in his lungs, and he wasn't breathing well, or doing well at all. The dr. was busy with me, and the fact that I was bleeding heavily and the placenta wouldn't come, I still had no more contractions after all of the trauma started. As I continued to bleed, he decided to pull the placenta out. I couldn't hold our baby or nurse him yet because he still wasn't stable enough. In retrospect, I know nursing him would have helped that part of the delivery alot. Finally, the placenta came, I was given a shot of pitocin and my second degree midline episiotomy was sewn up.

About this time our son, TJ was taken to the nursery to be further cared for, but he had come around already and was breathing on his own and was doing great. They cleaned him up and did what they had to do and brought him back to me.

I felt strange and distant from everyone, my husband, the baby, my family members who came to visit in the hour after his birth. I held TJ, and tried to nurse him, he wasn't really interested, I was numb emotionally, and not all that impressed with natural childbirth.

After a few hours in recovery, holding my baby son, and successfully nursing him, I was much better. And in awe of this little boy. Timothy James made his dramatic entrance August 5 1994 at 9:21 am. He latched on to nursing and didn't want to stop until he was 17 months old, and was waiting for the arrival of baby #3!