We went to the hospital at 11:30am on Saturday, May 16th for a Non stress test and blood pressure monitoring. My blood pressure was up, again, at 154/110. We both kind of knew then that we'd be staying. 1/2 hour later or so, Dr.U came in and checked the monitors and left. A few minutes after that, there was a knock on the door. "TV lady!" The lady who does the TV subscriptions in the hospital rooms came in. About 5 seconds later, Melissa, our nurse, came in and said "wait! They don't know they're staying yet!" T and I had a little chuckle about that. Yep, we figured it out, he said. Too funny.
Anyway, Dr.U came and checked me out. Um, can you say painful? Dr.U could be known as Dr.BigHands. Ouch.
He put cervadil in around 12:30 in the hopes of inducing labour. We were then moved to our L&D room, and commence meltdown #1. We were going to have our baby, and there was no going back.
Anyway, hours and hours later (18 to be exact), and a fitful night with no rest in the hospital for either of us, I woke at 6am to what I thought might have been contractions. At 7:15am Dr. U came in and confirmed I was 2cm dilated and contracting. No breakfast for me. He decided to break my water, which put the exam from the day before to shame. Holy shit that hurt. He broke my water, which was perhaps the most disgusting (up until then) thing I've felt. I felt like I pissed my pants. And I kept peeing and peeing and peeing. They hooked me up to the oxycotin IV and I was doomed to bed and monitoring until the baby was born.
Within an hour or so, the contractions increased in strength. They were coming every 2-3 minutes when T called my parents to update them at 9am. I was able to handle them ok by concentrating on my breathing. The cramps inbetween were a pain though, and I wasn't getting much rest.
Around 10:15am, I asked for drugs. Not the epidural yet, but nubane, a narcotic. It worked for a while, taking away the cramps inbetween the contractions. I was able to close my eyes and rest. I decided around 11:00-11:30 that I needed the epidural. The Anesthesiologist was in a c-section and was told to come see me when he was done. He arrived around 11:45-12:00. He gave me the epi talk (side effects, possible complications etc) and started to put the epi in.
That was probably the scariest part of the labour for me. T stood in front of me, holding me still, while I sat on the side of the bed trying my best not to move while the Dr was fiddling around with my spinal cord. Yeah, not fun. Especially not fun when contractions came and went through the whole thing. After he was done, I started to feel tingling and then that heavy leaden feeling in my legs. It was wonderful.
I laid in bed for 1/2 hour or so when I started feeling a small section on my lower right side on each contraction. Melissa (L&D nurse) kept telling me it was my ligaments. I kept saying, no it's not. She was convinced it was until 1/2 hour or so later I was doubled over on my right side feeling every single contraction, but just in that spot. I have new respect for women who can do it completely naturally. Just that little section, about the size of a tennis ball, nearly had me in tears. This whole part was a blur, I remember some of the conversations going on around me. The baby's heartbeat kept dropping with each contraction, but he recovered o.k. Melissa looked concerned. T and I both started thinking a C-section might be on the way.
I can't remember why, but she finally checked me to see how dilated I was. At 2:10 or so she was surprised to discover I was 10cm. She had another nurse, Jean, come in and check and sure enough, I was 10cm. They had me try pushing for a couple of minutes to see how I would do. I vaguely remember Melissa saying she had called Dr.U to come in. He wasn't sure I would be ready for him. After Jean saw me pushing, she confirmed he needed to come now. The nurses kept me pushing and there was lots of things being wheeled in the room, a baby warmer, scale, medical supplies. I remember looking down at one point and seeing the doctor there. I don't remember him walking in.
I pushed for 15 minutes or so with the doctor there. I remember him getting the vaccuum and saying 2:31, the time they put the vaccuum on. I kept pushing with each contraction and felt this intense amount of relief when the head came out. Instant pain relief. At 2:34pm they put my baby on my belly and said it was a boy. I was so happy and I KNEW it was a boy all along. Best moment of my life.
They took him off and over to the warmer to clean him up, and to weigh him etc. 8lbs 9ozs., 21 inches.
While T was over watching the nurse with Aaron, Dr.U started stitching me. Apparently I tore pretty badly. Thank you baby boy with the big head! It seemed like he was down there for a LONG time. I asked what degree tear I had and it was a 3rd degree.
The whole labour thing was the longest, most difficult thing I've ever done. But looking at Aaron's sweet face makes it all worth it. And it's true what they say... you do forget all about the pain as soon as you see your little one.
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I knew it was a boy too! He looks perfect! The epi sounds like the most scary part, who wants a needle in their back? It gives me the heeby-geebes. You did great.
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