The Mudflats

GG’s efforts to come into this world early (pre-term labor) resulted in me having to be medivaced from Ugashik to Dillingham on October 17.  (Wow, that was a month ago today!  It seems much longer than that.)  So off I went to Dillingham as Victoria and CC waved from the car.  I was having lots of contractions but thankfully I wasn’t in actual labor and with a couple of IV bags of fluid they stopped.  But since this was the 2nd time in a couple of weeks that this had happened, the doctor decided that I had to go into waiting and remain in Dillingham.  This was nearly 2 weeks earlier than expected, since I wasn’t scheduled to go to Dillingham to wait until October 29th.

So there I was stuck in Dillingham early!  Couldn’t pack anything and bring it with me on the medivac let alone could Cece have joined me.  So now what?  We had made plans for Cecelia and I to move to Dillingham to await GG’s birth.  We were going to stay at the SAFE DV Shelter, but there I sat released from the Kanakanak Hospital and sent to the “Maternity Home” and Cece was still in Ugashik with Victoria.

Victoria and her hubby were getting a crash course in “Life with a 2 year old”!  Cece being Cece was making certain that this “crash course” was very in depth and challenging!  (grin)  Victoria related stories about how fast Cece could get into things.  How much fun playing in the dogs water dish was.  How surprising her dogs took to being helpful Cece sitters/watchers when Vic was trying to get house/computer work done.  How her hubby learned that in the blink of an eye Cece could disappear from his sight and run into the bathroom to help Vic take a shower.

My favorite story that Victoria told me about her dear hubby’s crash course into toddlerhood was when she told me how she went to change CC’s poopy diaper and her hubby went running out of the house muttering something about the smell and that that is just disgusting.  Also he was heard vowing something about “I do NOT!!! do poopy diapers!!”

So needless to say Victoria and her hubby learned a lot the days they watched Cece.  Victoria escorted Cece into Dillingham to join me that Thursday.  I moved from the maternity home to the SAFE Shelter on Thursday before they arrived.  Victoria and Cece arrived Thursday evening and we spent the evening trying to settle in and get some sleep and the next morning bright and early Vic headed back to Ugashik.

Cece and I filled our days playing, reading, cooking and waiting.  And waiting, and waiting and waiting….did I mention we were waiting?  I had many nearly sleepless nights filled with lots of contractions.  A couple of times there were late night trips to the hospital because I thought I was in labor.  They always resulted in being sent back to the shelter.  Gotta love false labor!  NOT!!

During these late night trips Cece would be packed up and dropped off at new found friends homes to await the birth of her baby sibling only to be carted back and dropped off with me again when I found out that it was another false alarm.  As you can imagine all of these nearly sleepless nights with contractions that didn’t seem to be doing anything but irritate me and keep me awake was tiring and the novelty was quickly wearing off.

On November 12th I was up early having gotten very little sleep from a false labor trip to the hospital that lasted until 2 am, Cece was at a friends house and I sat in the living room watching Regis and Kelly on the TV.  I was sitting there feeling unbelievably irritated and frustrated and saying some choice words to my late husband Segundo detailing how tired I was of being pregnant.  I sat there wanting to cry and going through names of people I could call and simply cry to.

Then in the middle of my li’l self pity party SOMETHING happened.  OOOOH what was that I thought to myself?  Did I just pee my pants?  Ooooooh I know what that was!!!  My water broke!!  Well I guess either God or Segundo heard my pleas and decided that it was time to have a baby!!  I remained calm, knowing that the birth was still probably many many hours away and started making phone calls.

Victoria had come into Dillingham for a class and was due to fly back to Ugashik that morning so of course she was the first on my list to call.  But first I had to keep from making a watery mess anywhere I walked so I went and told the SAFE advocate to call her.  After taking necessary measures to contain my water (sorry if this is too much information but any mom who has gone through this knows what I am talking about *wink*)  I started going down my list of necessary phone calls.

In between phone calls I had to reassure the SAFE advocate that everything was under control and try to keep her calm.  I explained that this was not the first time that I had done this and that I wasn’t even having any real contractions yet so we had time to get things done.  I made all the necessary calls.  Ensured that Cece would be taken care of and finished packing my bag for the hospital.  Victoria arrived from the hotel she had been staying at for her class.  I made arrangements for a ride to the hospital and then remembered that maybe I should call the hospital and let them know I would be coming in.

So Victoria and I headed to the hospital thanks to a ride from one of the SAFE staff.  I got checked in and they verified that my water had broken.  They wouldn’t take my word for it and had to check, after they confirmed that I did know what I was talking about they hooked me up to the monitors and made sure that the babe was doing well and that I was dialating even if my contractions weren’t happening very often (about every 10-20 minutes at this point).

The doctor decided that I could get up and walk around hoping that walking would intensify my contractions.  So off Victoria and I go, wandering all over the hospital.  The doctor and nurses having given me instructions to return to my room if anything changed or in an hour.  We wandered the hospital stopping every three to eight minutes when I’d have a contraction.  After an hour of this the doctor checked me again and sent me off to walk again instructing me to wait 2 hours unless something changed.  So Victoria and I were off wandering the halls of the hospital and found the stairs.  Victoria waited on one of the landings and I proceeded to go up and down the stairs hoping to get my labor to progress.  Down three flights of stairs, turn around and head back up, stopping on each trip up the stairs as my contractions were coming about every 3 to 4 minutes.  Breathe, try to relax, visualize the baby dropping and moving down, breathe and then off I’d go again. Up and down the stairs.  I don’t know how long we were there but after I’d guess over an hour I was getting tired so we returned to my room.

Sat in the bed with the monitors connected, my laptop out as I chatted with friends, and on the phone while I ate some lunch.  Yep I was still multi-tasking and trying to blog while in labor LOL!  Unfortunately the hospitals free wireless internet had restrictions on it so I wasn’t able to access our blog, Anonymous Bloggers, or the Mudflats but that was OK, as my contractions were getting a little bit too strong to try and blog/type through.

Well, without going into any more specific details about the labor as I am suremost of you are saying ok this is too much information!    my contractions intensified and at about 9 p.m. it was time to start pushing.  Then at 10:08 p.m. all of my hard work paid off and Glenna Gabriella Kegginacengaq Strongheart was born.  Weighing in at 8 lbs 12 oz and 21 and 1/4 inches long.  Victoria got to cut the cord as I was simply to tired to even try.  They placed Glenna on my tummy and I got to see my new daughter for the first time.

Wow, even only minutes after her birth and I could see my little Segundo!  She looks just like her daddy!  She of course will proudly carry on her daddy’s Yup’ik  name: Kegginacengaq (rough pronunciation KEY nutch Nuk) meaning “Small Face”.  I held her and welcomed her into this world with a little teasing saying:  Poor my little husband has come back as a girl!  My little husband will be wearing pretty pink and sporting pony tails!  Despite the fact that she was only minutes old she smiled at this teasing.

A bittersweet moment holding my beautiful baby girl wishing that her daddy were there also.  Knowing that he was there in spirit but still mourning the fact that this beautiful little girl will never feel her daddy’s loving hugs and kisses.   She will only know her daddy through pictures and stories told by family, friends and I.  The thought of future conversations and explanations of the fact that her daddy is in heaven and is watching over us is hard.  These conversations are already in use when Cecelia and I sit every day looking at pictures of Segundo and I explain to CC that daddy is gone but we will always carry him in our hearts and he loves us very much and is always here with us in spirit.

But thankfully we have such a HUGE support system in place of family and friends.  The support has been immense!

I will never be able to thank everyone enough for all they have done and are still doing to help me adjust to life as a single mom of two small beautiful girls.