Frankie's Birth Story

Last Wednesday, October 1, I had an appointment with my OB/GYN for my 38 week checkup. I hadn't been to the dr. in a month because I didn't have insurance so I was real curious to see what I would find out at the appointment, ya know, baby position, weight guessimate, etc. I also was scheduled to have my Strep B test taken. I should mention that I had been having some leaking going on for approx 10 days. I figured that it was the baby on my bladder causing urine leakage and I needed to do some more Kegal exercises. When I was lying on the exam table for the Strep B test I felt a light leak and told the dr that I think I just peed a little, oops! :) She told me that she didn't think it was urine that it could be amniotic fluid and that she was going to test it. Sure enough my water had broken and I was 3.5 inches dilated. The dr was not happy when I told her that I had been having the leaking for 10 days. She told me that I was not to go home I needed to go straight to the hospital. She told me to call Frank while she called the hospital to let them know I was on my way. I was in such shock, I had no idea what to do or think!! When I get nervous I giggle hysterically so when I called Frank I was laughing so hard I could barely speak. He didn't really believe me that I was really being sent to the hospital to give birth. We were so unprepared, the overnight bag was half packed, we didn't have confirmation for anyone to watch the pups, that baby's room wasn't done yet. Frank was amazing with getting everything at the house packed and ready while I was making phone calls to get the pups taken care of - all of this while registering at the hospital. I don't think I've ever multi tasked so calmly before. How? I have no clue but somehow we were able to get everything taken care of. The ironic part is the Monday before my appointment I said to Frank that we should finish packing the hospital bag because wouldn't it be hilarious if when I went in the dr told me I was dialated to a 3.5 and needed to go the hospital...little did I know!

When I got to my room they set me up on the external heart monitors and put me on Poticin. I didn't want the Poticin but they had to get my contractions started. I wanted to try and birth the baby naturally, I don't know what I was thinking!! After 6.5 hours of contractions - the last two hours being really rough, the moniters showed that I was basically having one really long contraction with peaks - they offered me a drug to take the edge off ( I was still determined to not have an epidural) and so I said yes. After two doses of that I had an exam and found out I had only dialated to a 4 - I then requested the epidural!! That helped because I was able to get some sleep, not much but a little. At around 6 in the morning we did an exam to see how far I had progressed and I was at a 7. At 8:50 we found that I was dialated to a 10 and could start pushing. I pushed for two hours when the dr told me that they wanted to bring in the vaccuum to help the baby out. To be honest hearing that made me feel like I wasn't doing enough, that I wasn't pushing hard enough to get my son out. I don't think the fact that I was so tired helped the situation any. While they set up the room for a vaccuum birth, which also required bringing in nurses from the NICU, I still kept pushing through each contraction. I wasn't giving up! The first, yes first, vaccuum broken after two pushes. Then the second vaccuum broke as well. Turns out that the nurse wasn't using the vaccuum correctly. The third vaccuum worked and Baby Frank was born at 11:32 am. Turns out he was facing the wrong way - he came out head facing up, not down - which is why I wasn't able to push him out on my own. It was surreal watching them pull Frankie out and placing him on my stomach. I don't think I will ever forget that moment. I can truly say I believe in love at first sight now.


Frank was awesome during labor. He was a great coach, he was motivating and understanding and very, very patient. I am so lucky to have such an amazing husband. I couldn't ask for a better man to be my husband and the father of my child. Since we've been home Frank has done everything to keep the house running smoothly. He has made it possible for me to just worry about taking care of Frankie and getting rest. It's been great having this week to bond together as a family. We had a friend come over today and she took a pic of the three of us together. Here is our first family pic!!

The Grieco Family

I have some more pics of the baby that I will be posting in the next couple of days.