Harmon turned six weeks old on Christmas Eve. Because of time spent on diaper changes, mixing bottles, and getting ready for and celebrating the holidays, we have had scarce time to finish his birth story. If you are interested, the following is his mommy's account of how Harmon came into the world.
Harmon’s Birth Story
Throughout my entire pregnancy, Kevin and I would have bet money that our baby would arrive early. As October turned to November, however, and my due date of Nov. 10 loomed, there was little to no progress. At my last appointment before the due date, Dr. Jane Nicholson suggested we schedule some tests for Nov. 15. The results of those tests would help us decide when to induce labor.
On the morning of Nov. 10 I noticed some fluid leakage but, being that it wasn’t a lot, I thought nothing of it. The next morning, I again noticed some leakage but this time it was a bit more. Since I still was working full time at the Kellogg Eye Center, I headed into the office but was very tentative. Throughout the morning, I spoke with a couple of my girlfriends and by 2 p.m. they both convinced me to call the hospital. I called and spoke with the nurse and she suggested I come in for a check-up “just to be safe.” I then called Kevin and told him I would pick him up at The Record and then we could go to the hospital together.
After we checked in at 2:30 p.m., a nurse said she thought it might not be fluid. But a midwife did another exam and determined that the leakage was amniotic fluid—my water indeed had broken. I was hooked up to a heartbeat monitor and the nurse commented, matter-of-factly, that I had just had a contraction. I felt nothing, but I sure felt them later. At this point, I was admitted.
After five attempts (up and down both my arms) from two different nurses, my IV finally was in place so the fluids and Pitocin started to flow. My family arrived and I was able to spend some time with them and Kevin was able to call his family before the contractions began to intensify.
Around 10 p.m., after everyone was gone, I asked the nurse for some morphine to help with the contractions and it didn’t help at all! I dealt with the contractions during the next few hours and, at around 3 a.m., I couldn’t take it anymore and asked for an epidural. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite what I expected and that was mostly because IT DIDN’T TAKE! After about two hours of some of the most intense pain I’ve ever experienced, the anesthesiologist determined that I would have to have a second epidural. After epidural number two, which I received at 5:30 a.m., things were much better.
At 10 a.m., the doctors came in to check my progress and, much to my surprise, I was fully dilated to 10 centimeters! I was told to try to take in some fluids and build my strength before I started pushing. Ironically, the pushing began just before kick-off of the Indiana at Michigan game, which was the first home football game I had missed in 15 seasons! With the game on TV in the background, I pushed for the next FOUR HOURS in every imaginable labor position but the baby did not want to budge.
Dr. Anna Griffith, who was the on-call partner in Dr. Nicholson’s practice, suggested five more big pushes and if there was no progress I would have to undergo an emergency c-section. After these five pushes and no movement, it was off to the operating room! Once my anesthesia was in full effect, Kevin was allowed to join me in the operating room and the procedure began.
Although I felt a lot of pressure, pulling, tugging, etc., it seemed only moments before Harmon Spencer Bergquist made his entrance into the world! At the sound of his loud and healthy cry at 5:16 p.m., I began to cry. Nine months of careful preparation (and careful consumption of Diet Coke) and he finally was here! Although Kevin did not want to leave me, he observed the weigh-in—9 pounds, 4 ounces and 21 inches long. Kevin brought Harmon over to me and fed him his first bottle and then we had our first family photo taken, complete with me spread out on the operating table. Then the three of us were moved to the recovery room.
For me, the rest of the night was spent in bed, coming down from my wonderful epidural and holding Harmon when the pain would subside. In the wee hours of the morning one of the many wonderful U-M nurses gave Harmon his first sponge bath and his first immunization shot. Also in the wee hours or the morning, the nurses forced me to get up and walk around. Although the incision hurt, what hurt more was the incredible shoulder pain, which I was told was a side effect of the c-section—who would have thought? The rest of the night I finally was able to sleep, although I can’t say the same for Harmon and Kevin.
Early Monday morning, the doctors on call stopped by to check on me and, being that I was doing so well, they began my discharge paperwork. Harmon had to have a hearing test and get some blood work done to check for jaundice and, with both being perfect, we all were given the OK to leave. Kevin and I dressed Harmon in his orange kangaroo going-home outfit and then I had a fun wheelchair ride out to the car.
For the first few nights at home, Kevin and Harmon slept in the living room and let me sleep in the bedroom to recover. Harmon woke up around 2:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. for the first two weeks and has moments when he sleeps almost through the night. We are so blessed, and Harmon is a dream come true.
