Isabella has arrived, Monday August 25, 2008 at 11:53 am! What an ordeal. Rosanna woke me up just before midnight on Sunday August 24th and told me her water broke. Of course I was half asleep half awake when I heard these sweet, terrifying words so I did what any strong husband would do ... I rolled out of bed straight onto the floor, face first. As I was getting up, Rosanna explained that she had just gone to the bathroom and realized her water broke. I called the doc to let him know and he asked a few questions then determined we should go in to see what’s going on. Rosanna went to tell her father who had come in from out of town and was staying in our guest room, he was playing the odds that Isabella would come in the next couple of days. I loaded up the car and we left the house around 12:30 am. We arrived at the hospital at !:30 am, the drive there was pretty uneventful, Rosanna was not in much pain. For the next hour I filled out paperwork as our unenthusiastic nurse attended to Rosanna. The nurse had hooked up a monitor to Rosanna that showed she was having small contractions. In addition she checked Rosanna and determined she was 1 cm dilated. Being skeptical that this Rosanna’s water really did break she did an additional test and told us the results would take 15 mins to receive. The results showed that her water did not break and she recommended we go home.
So Rosanna, her father (Robert) and I all left the hospital dejected, but on our drive down MoPac toward home Rosanna’s contractions were not so small anymore. She was really starting to feel pain. We got home close to 2:15 am and Robert went straight to bed, Rosanna tried to find a comfortable position, and I was looking forward to a few hours of good sleep. Right. From 2:47 am to 4:21 am Rosanna had serious contractions, she could not find a comfortable position to deal with them. I was recording each contraction, when it started, ended and how long in between each contraction. We had been to our birthing classes and they had told us if the contractions met the following criteria then you should call the doctor:
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-contraction lasts longer than 1 min
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-time between contractions is less than 5 mins
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-the above to go on continuously for at least 1 hour
I was motivated to record every contractions for two reasons, I wanted to stay up and support My Beauty, but also wanted to be double sure (have proof) before calling the doc again. I recorded 24 contractions at home, from 2:47:33 am to 4:21:15 am, each lasting anywhere from 1 1/2 - 2 mins and gradually got closer together (3-4 mins apart). No matter what the position Rosanna could not get comfortable. There was no escaping the pain of the contractions. She kept saying, “I can’t do this”, but she did. It was hard to see My Beauty in so much pain and not be able to a thing about it. At 3:45 am we both decided that if the contractions continued for 30 more mins then we were going to call the doc again. We were a bit gun shy to call the doc because the nurses had already given us the Heisman once.
At 4:21 am we finally decided to call the doc for the 2nd time and said, “Hey doc, this is Mark Carvajal and my wife and I called you earlier this morning about her water breaking. Well we came into the hospital and were sent home. But I think this is the real thing this time.” I explained how here contractions were 3-4 mins apart and lasting more than 1 min each. He suggested we come in and take a look. So we got out of bed and gathered our things. Rosanna was in serious pain when we finally headed out the door. I had told Robert to continue sleeping until he gets a phone call from me that it’s indeed the real thing,
On our way to the hospital this time, Rosanna was not so sweet, demanding me to forget about fuel economy and just get to the hospital! I was just hoping they would not send us home again. By the time we arrived at the Seton parking garage off 38th and Lamar Rosanna was in serious pain, so much so that she could not even make into the hospital. The walk from the parking garage to the hospital entrance was a couple hundred yards, plenty far enough when your in labor. Just outside the hospital doors Rosanna could go no further and sat down on some steps to power through another contraction. Thankfully a nurse, Felicity, came to help us with a wheel chair. Felicity was just arriving to work and ran over to us because she saw Rosanna in pain on the steps. She asked if we’d like a wheel chair and then ran inside and brought one out. There were two others that got out of their cars to help and provide encouragement. The generosity and compassion of these complete strangers were one of the sweetest moments of the pregnancy. It was 4:52 am when Rosanna was wheeled into the hospital by Felicity, I was following with a few bags in tow.
The admin for the ER told Felicity that she did not have to take us up to Labor and Delivery (L&D) because she had called for two nurses to come down and get us, but Felicity was so sweet, she insisted on wheeling us up to the 2nd floor, Labor and Delivery. Half way there we ran into the nurses that were called for and they took over. I thanked Felicity and were whisked away by the nurses. The L&D nurses first took us to the Admin desk to check in, but nobody was there so we went straight to a room. One of the nurses with us was on of the two that had send us home only hours before. She felt bad for doing so and I saw it in her eyes. She said something to the effect that it’s just hard to tell sometimes and that they don’t have a crystal ball. I reassured her we appreciated her help and were just glad to be there.
Following are the actual notes I took on a scratch pad:
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-5:23 am Nurse Rochelle has just come into the room to determine how much Rosanna was dilated, they do this check before hooking up an IV and everything else b/c they need to be convinced the mom is in fact in labor. Rochelle determined that Rosanna is 3-4 cm dilated, so in just 5 hrs Rosanna has gone from 1 cm to 3-4 cm, that’s what all those contractions at home did. Rochelle looked at me kneeling by Rosanna’s side and said, “We’re having a baby today.”
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-5:30 am Nurse Rochelle just started the IV in Rosanna’s left arm.
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-5:45 am Rosanna is having another intense contraction and now we can watch them come and go on the monitor next to the bed.
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-5:50 am Rosanna continues to suffer and really wants the epidural but has to wait for the lab results to come back.
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-6:07 am Dr. Hayes arrived with the epidural and spent about 10 minutes preparing the concoction.
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-6:16 am Epidural is administered and catheter is inserted.
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-6:20 am Isabella’s heartbeat dips into the low 80’s and nurses are concerned.
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-6:30 am Dr. Seeker comes to visit and Rochelle nervously points to the monitor. The doctor stays calm and calls the low heartbeat the “epidural dip” and is not concerned.
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-6:34 am Isabella’s heartbeat is back to normal and Rosanna is now 5cm dilated and 100% effaced. Dr. Seeker broke Rosanna’s water with a hook and predicted a delivery time around 12 pm.
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-6:55 am Nurses Elise and Tessa arrive for a shift change and Rochelle has just left us. Reading Pop’s e-mail and talking with him on the phone got me teary-eyed and emotional. The joy I was having became more real as I was going to share it with my Pop, my best friend.
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-7:15 am Just spoke with Pop and Patsy. Robert (my father-in-law) just showed up all smiles.
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-8:20 am Since 7:15 I worked on the computer tying up loose ends at work so that I could concentrate entirely on my wife giving birth. Rosanna is now 8 cm dilated.
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-8:50 am Pop and Kathy just showed up and I’m barely holding it together. The joy I feel right now is welling up from deep within. We know Isabella is on her way and we have family there with us to share in the moment.
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-9:50 am Liz calls to let me know that the Lord would not let her fall asleep the previous night and was placing it on her hear to pray, so at 10:30 pm on Sunday evening Liz decided to pray for Rosanna and Isabella.
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-10:15 am The five of us gathered close to Rosanna’s bed to pray as we all held hands. I was doing fine up until I wrapped up the prayer with a request to provide protection for my wife and daughter. The love I had and have for both had grown exponentially in the span of 10 hours and I teared up with the thought of something happening to My Beauty.
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-10:35 am Rosanna is now 11-12 cm dilated.
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-10:50 am The grandparents are ushered out and Dr. Seeker is paged.
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-11:15 am My Beauty has been pushing for 15 minutes. We’re in our 7th cycle so far and the word from the nurses on the other side is that Isabella has long hair! Elise and Tessa are counting out loud and I am whispering words of encouragement softly in to My Beauty’s ear.
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-11:45 am We’re down to the final pushes now. The nurses call for Dr. Seeker. Things are happening faster now.
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-11:50 am We are close. Rosanna is asked to stop pushing until the doctor arrives.
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-11:53 am Isabella was just born and she was blue, blue, blue!
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-12:00 pm We have a baby girl! She weighs 7 pounds 6 ounces and is 19 3/4 inches long.
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-12:10 pm I went outside to tell family and to show a few pictures. I raised my hands up in joy and let them know we had a baby girl and again I teared up.
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-12:15 pm First picture of the three of us is taken! On the iPod the song “We Love You Lord We Love You” by David Crowder plays next to Rosanna’s bed.
