Today is April 25th. For months we have been planning on today being Eli's birthday. On Monday the 18th, we were still planning on today being his birthday. God laughed at us. He laughed right in our silly human faces.
*This is the story of my labor and Eli's birth. It gets a little TMI, so be prepared.*
At 2pm on the 18th, we went for our 36 week check up at the high risk OB. My cervix was totally closed, and I wasn't having contractions. We left content that we were still on pace to have check ups with my regular OB on Wednesday and Friday, then be admitted on Easter to induce. Monday the 18th was a full moon. And I'm now a believer. Shortly after midnight, my hips started killing me. It felt like charley horses in my hip flexors. No contractions, so I just wrote it off as my hips spreading and resigned myself to the pain. The pain got worse throughout the day on Tuesday. I could barely walk it was hurting so much. I was determined to not have to be back in the hospital on bed rest, so I wouldn't let Sheldon call the doctor. My blood pressures were still great, and I didn't have any of the other symptoms my doctor told me I had to come in with. In the late afternoon, I started having a few random contractions. The closest they got was about 30 minute apart in the 6 o clock hour. I noticed a little bit of a pink tint to the mucus I had. Mucus in general I wasn't concerned about, because I know your mucus plug regenerates and can be shedding/regenerating for weeks and have nothing to do with labor. The pain was getting worse, so around 6:45 I laid down to take a nap. At 7:15, I got up to use the restroom and saw blood in the toilet. We decided it was time to go to the hospital. I got in the tub for a warm soak while Sheldon got our bags together. And the contractions started to come every 10-15 minutes. I was pretty sure that Thundercats were, in fact, GOOOOOOOOOOOO! at that point.
We got to the hospital at about 8:30 and headed up to L&D. At 8:45 the nurse checked me and to our complete and utter shock said, "You're gonna be a mama soon! You're at about 4 and a half!" WHAT!! *Cue excitement* "Let's get you checked in and get anesthesia up here for your epidural!" (best news EVER.) My sister in law arrived around 9:30, also excited out of her mind. The doctor (who was not my regular doctor, but the chief of obstetrics for the hospital and we had already decided we didn't absolutely need my doctor to be the one who delivered the baby) came in to rupture my sac. Well, it had already ruptured, and after he informed us of that, he also said, "Hey, your baby has hair!" It puts you at ease when you have a casual yet professional doctor. I like it. (In hindsight, knowing that my water was already broken makes us believe that the afore mentioned blood was in fact, my bloody show.) A little after 10, I was checked again (and I was already at 8!!) and got my epidural. Katy is in awe of me for all of this. I did not scream when during contractions (which hurt REALLY EFFING BAD, in case you were wondering.). I just closed my eyes and tried to breath through them, crying with the ones that were really bad. I'm shocked I didn't use a single profane word. That's just not like me. I loves me some F bombs and "holy shits" when something hurts. I don't know why I was so calm throughout it all. I think I was still sort of in shock that I was actually having a baby. So epidural. AMAZING. I could still feel my legs, I just couldn't feel any pain. I felt a little pressure when I was having contractions, and so I was in a great mood! I started to stall, so they gave me some pitocin to try and get me the last cm or so. It worked! Some time between 12:30 and 1, it was time to push! It was impossible to be scared at that point. I had Sheldon on 1 side, Katy on the other, and probably the greatest L&D nurse ever, all of them encouraging me and keeping me calm. Best labor experience ever, probably. I pushed for an hour and his head just was not moving past the pubic bone. The doctor came back in and said it was time to throw in the towel and do a C-section. The plan since the 1st trimester had been to let me try to delivery vaginally but knowing that I'd most likely have a C. I've been prepared to have a C since I was 19 and was totally cool with it. Basically, because I'm diabetic, doctors won't let me (or any diabetic mommy for that matter) push as long as a non-diabetic mommy because it stresses the baby. So Sheldon suited up and anesthesia started getting me ready for the big show.
The only thing that sucked about this part was that I was COLD. I was so cold I was shaking. It was AWFUL. The anesthesiologist was amazing and trying so hard to warm me up. Bless him! Sheldon was by my side while they did the surgery (which is surreal... you're awake, and you just feel like someone is pressing on you, but that's all you can feel.) The first thing the doctor said when he pulled Eli out (at 2:46am) was, "Look at those big cheeks!" And Sheldon and I both started to cry. I'm totally tearing up again thinking about it. Then you wait for what feels like minutes (but is really just like 30 seconds max) to hear that cry. And then there it was. I looked at Sheldon and said, "He sounds like Tilly!" Weird the things you think about when you hear your child's 1st cry... I asked how big he was (because the ultrasound on Monday had estimated him at 7 and a half pounds) and someone replied, "HUGE! He's 8 pounds 9 ounces! 21 inches long." Sheldon and I both said, "HOLY CRAP!!!" They wrapped him up and handed him to Sheldon, instructed him to show me and let me kiss him. Oh my God he was so beautiful!
Then Sheldon took Eli with the nurses to the nursery to get cleaned up and set up for success, I got stapled up, and headed to recovery. When I got there, the only things I could feel were my head and my left arm. I felt like I was in the video for "One" by Metallica. Not a cool feeling AT ALL. While I was in recovery, I got the amazing surprise of Bunny and Fox! They had driven down from Dallas when I told them I was in labor. Love them. I finally made it back to my room between some time around 6. I was DESPERATE to get my baby. I kept asking for him, but they were bathing him and making sure he was warm. I finally got him around 7 and oh my heart just stopped. This beautiful little boy came out of me?! He's mine?! Its the craziest awesome feeling ever. My doctor came by for rounds a little after 8. He was like, "You have a baby!! And he's HUGE!!" Seriously, no one saw me going into labor, and we didn't expect him to be so big. But he's amazing and we're so blessed.
We were in the hospital until Saturday, and there's a lot that went on during that time, but that'll have to wait for another post. I need to go snuggle my son now.
1 comment:
JOB WELL DONE.
A GRANNY FROM FLORIDA
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