The Saga of Baby - Part One of The Birth

The week Baby was born was CRAZY. That's the easiest way to describe it. If I had to use every adjective that would apply, we'd be here for a while.

I went in to the hospital Sunday evening under the impression that I was being given meds and then coming back on Monday. WRONG. They were giving me cervadil (sp?) and I was being ADMITTED. Oops. Luckily I had planned ahead and had Mr. Clean pack the car with everything we were going to bring anyway, just in case. It's a good thing I got that "just in case" gene from my mother. It came in handy.

Once I kind of settled into my room, we discovered I was beginning contractions on my own. I have a feeling that unexpectedly being admitted had something to do with it, but at least they didn't have to give me the meds to get things started. So they let me continue because I was making enough progress. I did start to get some anxiety and feeling shaky so they ended up giving me something to take the edge off. Remember how I was thinking I didn't want the narcotics? FUCK THAT. The drugs were awesome and allowed me to relax and get a little sleep.

Then they started the pitocin at 5 AM Monday. I started having stronger contractions and at one point was ready to KILL someone for my epi. They wanted me to be at least 3 cm dilated and I was only at about 1 1/2 or 2 so I had to wait about an hour. That last hour was excruciatingly painful. I remember trying to think of what to compare it to and somehow the best I could come up with is that it's like having the worst charlie horse of your life but it's stretched across your stomach and it's about a thousand times more painful. Anyway, after an hour the nurse checked me again and I was so close that stretched me to 3 so I could finally get numbed up.

Getting the epi was interesting and irritating. The anesthesiologist tried to administer it while I was lying down on my side but it was too difficult for him to find the right spot so I had to sit up. Plus, I had to be PERFECTLY STILL while he was poking me a thousand times in the back AND I was having ridiculously strong contractions. I don't know how I did it, but I did (Mr. Clean was very helpful and supportive during the epi) and once it took over, I was out like a light. I wasn't feeling the contractions and could finally get some good rest so I totally did.

I woke up around three or four hours later and although I could still feel the pressure of the contractions, I was okay pain-wise. The epi was going to be gone soon though, so the nurse debated whether or not to have the anesthesiologist give me an extra (albeit much smaller) dose to get me through. They ended up doing it, but I guess my blood pressure and the baby's heart rate increased slightly. My mother was in the room and noticed this and the nurse had me lay on my side which helped. My blood pressure was something that we had been monitoring quite a bit during the birth because it had elevated a bit a couple of times.

After just a bit, the nurse checked me and I was fully dilated so she called the doctor to have him mosey on over soon. (His office is just across the street from the hospital.) She asked if I felt the need to push and I didn't, so we waited a bit. Later she asked again, and I have to tell you the only thing I felt like I was ready to push out was a good poo, so I asked her if that meant anything which apparently it DID. Who knew? So she wanted to try some practice pushes, which was fine with me. Hey, let's get this show on the road!

To be continued...