Bret Christopher

Birth..ugh, I may never get away from the subject
Bret Christopher ..November 16, 1989

After seeing your sister be born on the bathroom floor, at the age of 15, a parent may just think that would be the best form of birth control in the world. Well, not for me. I got pregnant at a very young age, 17, and well..here we go again. More labor stories!

I woke up in the middle of the night to a broken mucus plug. Although, at 17, I had no idea what the hell was going on, other than I was 9 months pregnant and not about to relive another bathroom baby. I lived with my Aunt & Uncle at the time. I slowly, very slowly walked down the hall to their room to let them know that I was in labor, or at least thought I was. We called the doctor and the doctor told me that since it was the first child, that I could wait until the morning before going to the hospital. Well, not this chic. It was off to the hospital. Me, Uncle Rich, and my bright peach socks.


Ok, so the socks and I were in labor. The reason for the whole sock thing, is this. I was sooo flipping scared, after the sight of my sister being born, that I refused to even change to go to the hospital. So, we went. Me, in a green night gown, a blue robe, and these bright, I am talking neon peach socks, that everyone in the hospital had to comment on. What did I care? I could not see my feet at that stage of the game. And color coordination at 9 months of pregnancy is pretty impossible, especially when it comes to the foot wear.

During my pregnancy, I was addicted to the Arsenio Hall late show. Every night, I would watch. And damn it, this night would be no different. I was in labor for 23 1/2 hours. Not hard labor. Just labor. About 4 hours into it, the nurses come in and tell me that I had to push. Me? Push what? Again, I was 17, and was not up to date on all this. I said, not right now. Arsenio is on. But, the powers that be, and the little one inside, were telling me it was time. So, I pushed and I pushed. Nothing. So, I did get to watch my show.

Finally, it was time. They induced labor and injected me with all the good stuff. I was feeling quite fine. I was numb from the waist down and wanted to just go to bed. But, then I dilated. And, this time, was THE time. I could not even lift my legs to push. So my mom, and my dad were on each side, and helped me. Now, don't get me wrong, they held my legs, I did all the pushing. And mom rubbed my aches the whole time. Of course, I spewed venom at the nurses, just like any person in excrutiating labor would. And, my mom, the angel that she is, kept trying to hush me up. I apologized later, and chalked it up to the drugs.

One more push. And there he was. Absolutely beautiful. 8lbs, 19 ounces of pure baby boy. I was exhausted, but proud. One of the brightest moments of my life.