December 10th – birth day!
We loaded up & headed toward the hospital.* We were nervous & excited. My parents live about an hour away & planned to come to the hospital that morning. I told my mom not to rush because having a baby takes forever & they’d probably just get bored at the hospital. I knew that especially with inducing, it could take up to 24 hours to have the baby & I was mentally prepared for that. My mom was willing to be at the hospital at 5, but I told her to take her time. They decided to shoot to be there around 8. Here’s a run down of the morning events:
5 am – checked in & headed to the waiting room
5:15 – the nurse took us to our room
5:30 – got my IV (ick)
6:00 – started pitocin
7:00 – the doctor came in to break my water (super weird feeling) & said I was 5 cm dilated. She gave me the ok to get my epidural at any time since I was far enough along.
7:05 – really started feeling the contractions (maybe it wasn’t 7:05, but I swear it was really quickly after she broke my water). Wow, those babies were intense. When one would come on, I’d just stare at a spot on the wall & try to breathe, which was hard. I was all ready to do my trusty yoga breathing but each contraction felt like when you get the wind knocked out of you & you can’t get air into your lungs. Only instead of having the wind knocked out of me, I was paralyzed with intense pain. It didn’t feel localized just to my stomach – it was like my brain couldn’t even pinpoint where the pain was coming from. It took over my whole body. It was extremely uncomfortable but manageable in general.
7:30 – I told Michael I thought I was ready to call the nurse to get my epidural. He asked if I thought that was a good idea since we’d heard it could slow down progress. Luckily for him, I wasn’t in the middle of a contraction when he said this & I didn’t punch him in the face. Ha. I told him it can sometimes take an hour to get the anesthesiologist to the room depending on how many people are ahead of you & I didn’t want to wait until I couldn’t take it anymore to get the process started. He wisely didn’t disagree with me. I called the nurse & she agreed it was smart to get it going. She also told me over & over again that I had really great pain management. I figured she was just trying to encourage me, but she made a big deal about it (and even told the anesthesiologist). Apparently there was a girl down the hallway who would scream during every contraction & she was only 3 cm dilated. I don’t know how she had enough breath to scream because I didn’t feel like that was even possible for me. I also am pretty self-conscious & wouldn’t want to draw attention to myself like that if at all possible.
8:00 – the anesthesiologist arrived to do my epidural. My nurse was all excited when she found out who was on duty that morning & told me she was the best anesthesiologist & the favorite of all the nurses. I was a little nervous about having a giant needle put in my spine, so this info made me very happy. I was allowed to have one person in the room with me but Michael is horribly squeamish, so I told him I’d be more comfortable with just my nurse (I really liked her anyway). He made a beeline for the Starbucks downstairs. I leaned on the nurse while the anesthesiologist did her stuff. She talked about how she knew it would be a busy morning & was sitting downstairs waiting for the calls to start rolling in. No one had called, so she sat down to read People magazine. I was the first person to need an epidural & three more calls came right after mine (glad I didn’t listen to Michael!) She & the nurse talked about celebrity gossip, which was awesome for me. It gave me something interesting to listen to while trying to forget the fact that a big needle was coming for me. The whole process was much easier than I thought it would be. I only felt a small prick from the numbing needle & she had the whole thing done in a few minutes. The IV hurt worse than the epidural. I was so relieved! And it started working fast, so I was one happy camper.
8:00 – the anesthesiologist arrived to do my epidural. My nurse was all excited when she found out who was on duty that morning & told me she was the best anesthesiologist & the favorite of all the nurses. I was a little nervous about having a giant needle put in my spine, so this info made me very happy. I was allowed to have one person in the room with me but Michael is horribly squeamish, so I told him I’d be more comfortable with just my nurse (I really liked her anyway). He made a beeline for the Starbucks downstairs. I leaned on the nurse while the anesthesiologist did her stuff. She talked about how she knew it would be a busy morning & was sitting downstairs waiting for the calls to start rolling in. No one had called, so she sat down to read People magazine. I was the first person to need an epidural & three more calls came right after mine (glad I didn’t listen to Michael!) She & the nurse talked about celebrity gossip, which was awesome for me. It gave me something interesting to listen to while trying to forget the fact that a big needle was coming for me. The whole process was much easier than I thought it would be. I only felt a small prick from the numbing needle & she had the whole thing done in a few minutes. The IV hurt worse than the epidural. I was so relieved! And it started working fast, so I was one happy camper.
8:15 – my sister arrived. She called to see what room I was in & I told her I’d already had my water broken & gotten my epidural. On her way up to the room, she talked to my parents who were almost there. My mom couldn’t believe everything that had already happened & said, “I’m missing everything!” But when she got up to the room, I assured her there was still a lot to come.
9:00 – the doctor checked me & I was about 7 cm dilated (and in no pain – hurray!)
10:00 – still progressing right along. Michael’s parents came & we all hung out in the room, joking & having a good time. My nurse thought I may have the baby by noon but I was still prepared to be there a long time. I was only allowed liquids & popsicles, so I asked Michael to get me a popsicle. He brought a purple one. I would have preferred red or orange but I didn’t care that much. He knows I like the color purple, so he said he thought I’d want a purple popsicle. While I ate it, my dad looked at me strangely & starting laughing. The popsicle turned my lips dark purple. I looked totally goth. Everyone who came in my room (nurses, my doctor, visitors) did a double take. I had to tell them – I ate a purple popsicle, it’s ok – so they wouldn’t think I was having some kind of medical reaction to the meds. It was an odd look, that’s for sure & it lasted all the way through labor.
11:00 – I hadn’t felt the contractions at all after the epidural but I started feeling a little twinge. Each contraction got a little more noticeable until they were as painful as they were before the epidural. I called my nurse & she had me push more medication through the epidural but she thought the meds weren’t able to keep up with my fast progress. I thought this meant I’d be experiencing childbirth with no buffer but she said they had a stronger medication they could use. She was on top of it & got the anesthesiologist in the room really quickly. They gave me what the nurse called “the good stuff” & 10 minutes later I was numb as can be. It was really strong but I was thankful for it.
11:30 – the doctor came in, had everyone leave & had me do some practice pushing (Michael & my mom stayed). The doctor determined the baby was still a little high & we needed to wait to let me labor down for awhile. I didn’t know it at the time, but apparently Michael got really lightheaded & felt like he was going to faint during the practice pushing. He really is bad with medical stuff!
12:00 – the doctor came back & they started preparing the room. It was a whirlwind. Everyone got into place & it was time.
12:15 – the doctor told me to start pushing. I was really surprised that I was told to hold my breath in while pushing. No one had told me that before this. I figured you were supposed to slowing breathe out while pushing (like pushing the breath out would also help you push with all your body). It felt very unnatural to hold my breath. They had to keep reminding me not to breathe out. Everyone kept telling me I was doing a great job, but I really didn’t know if I was or if they were just being encouraging. I was completely numb so I had no sensation of progress. I never even got the urge to push before labor. I didn’t mind, though. Those contractions were no fun! I could feel myself turn really red while pushing – it felt like my doctor counted soooo slowly to ten each time. It wasn’t that the strain was too much. I just wanted to breathe! I kept telling myself this could go on for a long time & to not get too worn out. Then they said the baby was crowning.
12:34 – one big push & out he came. The doctor held him up & all I noticed was his giant alien head. Not cone head – his head was straight out of Alien the movie. I wasn’t worried, I knew that happened & it would go away. But I guess my mom, Michael & I all were staring because the doctor assured us the head would be normal soon. I didn’t have the urge to grab my baby or cry or anything sappy. I was just so happy it was over, everything went well & it had all been relatively easy.
The rest was kind of a blur. My mom cut the umbilical cord (Michael & I wanted nothing to do with it – I didn’t even watch her do it), I completely ignored what the doctor did from then on & at some point, they handed me Alex. I didn’t bond with him right away but I didn’t feel distant toward him either. I just couldn’t believe how well the day had gone. I had a baby 7 & a half hours after arriving at the hospital with only 19 minutes of pushing. I was prepared for hours & hours of labor followed by a long, grueling bout of pushing. I felt like I had only been in the hospital a few hours (and I only had to miss one meal – breakfast). They delivered lunch to my delivery room before I was transferred to my postpartum room. I had Alex for quite awhile before they took him to get cleaned up, etc. The family all came in to meet him. Then they followed him to the nursery to watch through the glass. My mom kept saying she felt bad about leaving me by myself but I didn’t mind. I was eating my burger & fries. J Eventually I got transferred to my other room & they brought Alex back. He took to nursing right away & made it easy on me.
Michael stayed the night. It was a long night. It felt like nurses were coming in my room every 15 minutes either bringing Alex to feed or checking my temperature/blood pressure. They took Alex in the morning for his circumcision & Michael went home to shower & get a few things. They brought Alex back to me after the circumcision & he was really sleepy & cuddly. That’s when I really bonded with him & knew I wouldn’t have a problem loving him. His little face was just so teeny & cute. The rest of the hospital stay was pretty uneventful & we were released on Sunday.
*I just realized that in my last post, I said the alarm went off at 5 but that was incorrect. We had to be at the hospital at 5 am, so I got up around 4.
I seriously still can't believe how well things went. My biggest problems were the epidural not working but that was fixed quickly & my stupid purple lips. It was actually pretty funny, though. I think one of the reasons things went really smoothly was I didn't have a lot of preconceived notions of how the day should go. I didn't have a birth plan. I planned on having an epidural but mentally prepared myself just in case I didn't have time to get one or it didn't work for some reason. I told myself that the doctors & nurses do this every day & I would rely on them to help me through this process. I'm not the medical professional & I don't want to be. I was comfortable with my doctor, trusted her & I really liked my nurse. My overall feeling was labor was going to suck, but I'd survive & then it would be over. And it turned out to not be that bad. But I made a point to go with the flow. I would highly recommend this attitude to anyone getting ready to have a baby! I'm also an epidural fan. I know some people don't like them, but I was thankful for mine & would do it again.
Waiting
The purple popsicle... (Please ignore my extra chins - they made me keep the bed reclined & it was not a good angle...)
He's here! And my lips are still purple...
Proud Papa
Lots of pictures :)
Going home
I can't believe it's been over 19 months since then... It was a great day & we've had too many great days since to count! We sure love that little guy.
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