Michael Stephen Beverley

August 5, 1994

15 years old

Me and my boy.....Michael's birth was much different then David's birth. We were living in Baltimore City, we had no air condition and I was washing window fans, I was taking them apart and getting all the dust off the fan parts so we could use them. I brought one into my bedroom and when I did my water broke in a huge gush. I called the doctor and he said to head over to the hospital as soon as I could, as this was my second child and they didn't want me to stay home. David was sleeping so we had to find someone to watch him so we could go to the hospital. We asked our neighbor and can you believe they said NO. Then we called my in-laws and they came to Baltimore to pick up David from Anne Arundel County. Not to far away, about 20 minutes, It was about 10pm when my water broke and about 12am when we left for the hospital. I was not having any contractions.

We got to the hospital and they checked to be sure my water broke. At first they did not believe me, and said that the test was coming back negative for amniotic fluid. I proceeded to tell them it was most definitely my water that broke, so they tested again and it came back positive. They admitted me and began a pitocin drip since I was 37 weeks. We were there all night with no contractions on Pitocin, don't quite understand that, but none. They even raised the amount after a few hours. About 9:30 am my husband decided that he would go get some breakfast. I was not allowed to eat, so I told him to go, it wasn't like anything was going on.

He left to go eat and the nurse came in to see me and left. A few minutes later I got a contraction, a pretty strong one. I waited and a few minutes later another one and it hurt....I called the nurse. She came down and I told her the contractions were starting and if this is what they were going to feel like I might want an epidural. She left to call the anesthesiologist, had another huge contraction and felt like I needed to push. I called the nurse, she came and told me it was too soon, so she checked me. She said, oh my you are right and you are crowning (NEVER doudt the mother, geez) She ran out and called the doctor and paged my husband over the intercom system of the hospital to report immediatly to labor and delivery.

Next contraction, time to push, they are telling me not to push....no way I am pushing! Nurse caught Michael as the doctor walked in and my husband walked in. I did not know what I was having so my husband annoucned another boy! He was perfect! I had a small tear that they sewed up and everything was good.

I remember they moved me to my room, Michael was in with me and he slept for 11 hours! The nurse came in and said, "honey you need to wake him to eat...you can't let him sleep that long." That was new to me, because David didn't like to sleep in the beginning, he was colic for almost 3 months.

Michael was an easy baby from there forward. He was a good sleeper and a good nurser. We had some nursing complications, but a friend of my husbands got us back on track. Michael was such an easy baby, he was so easygoing about everything, and to this day he still is.

At that time they were promoting 24 hour discharge after birth, so home I went the next afternoon. David was excited to meet his brother for about 5 minutes and then was more interested in running up and down the hallways.

Great experience, great boy......next week is Katie! My only girl and as well a great birth experience. I look forward to sharing it.

P.S. : You will notice a trend in the next few birthstorys, whenever I start to think I need pain meds....I will be having a baby any minute....too funny.