Mama's Got a Brand New Job by Powers Janis

Author:Powers, Janis [Powers, Janis]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780989203715
Publisher: Powers Enterprises LLC
Published: 2013-08-11T16:00:00+00:00

21

I never got my epidural.

Dale got a bruised hand, an earful of profanity, and an eye-full of afterbirth.

We got a baby boy. Henry Hamilton Pedersen.

With Dale’s arrival, I went into full-on labor. There had been no time to administer an epidural without the risk of spinal paralysis. At the time, that seemed like a good trade-off. Through the pain, I wondered why I had waited so long in the apartment before I had left for the hospital. But I was assured that I had followed protocol. Nothing I could have done would have controlled what the baby was going to do. It was a rude initiation to a phenomenon I was sure to experience again and again over the course of Henry’s life.

Once Henry had passed into our world, I asked Dale to fish the camera from my tote. That brought him in plain view of the birthing site. He looked like someone who had just witnessed a gruesome car accident and couldn’t stop staring at the convoluted mess of the remains. His mouth started to move and he began to stammer about hospital infection rates and patient privacy. I just shook my head, since at this point, the worst had to be over.

One of the nurses, probably familiar with his expression, guided Dale and the camera out of the room. I remember hearing the nurse tell Dale that his responsibility was to follow her around with the camera and document everything for me to see later. Mechanically, he nodded his head in compliance.

Katie and a few other saints helped clean me and the room up. “We’ll be moving you to a postpartum room pretty soon. You’ll be able to see your parents and any other visitors,” she informed me.

“So where’s the baby?” I knew the answer, but couldn’t articulate a better question at the time.

Katie tied up a big trash bag of debris. “The nurse will bring him to you. You’re going to nurse him, right?”

“Yeah, but I mean, already?” When I had mentally committed to nursing, I hadn’t realized that it was going to happen almost immediately after the arduous delivery process. I could barely sit up, I was connected to a million tubes and, oh, yeah, I had just endured more pain than I thought humanly possible. “How am I supposed to start nursing? I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do.”

With a loud smacking sound, Katie filled a new garbage bag full of air. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out. And there are plenty of lactation coaches here to help.” She handed the bag over to somebody else. “I’ve got to go check on some other patients. Good luck with the baby!” She darted out of the room, and in a few minutes, I was rolled to my next destination.

Dale helped move me to the postpartum room, my home for the next day or so. Henry was in tow, in a rolling bassinet. He was crying. It was such a hopeless feeling to hear him upset, and to know that there was nothing I could do to help.

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