My original due date was February 16th, a Wednesday. Well it came and went, and I didn't know how to continue my countdown on our whiteboard, which said 1 MORE DAY, the day before. Should I start going negative, like -1 days, -2 days? I'm lost, so I just erase the damn board. Anyone who has had a baby knows the crazy things us women do to magically get baby to come out at the end of the pregnancy. "I swear my sister-in-law ate eggplant parmesean, went bowling, did three jumping jacks, and went to bed. The next day she had her daughter." Yeeeaaaaah ok! Sometimes I heard things as bizarre as, "Make a pot of coffee, put in a large bowl, place bowl in toilet, sit on toilet (yes with pants down!) for 12-20 minutes." So the coffee fumes seep through into your uterus, basically getting the baby all cracked out on caffeine, then the crack baby wants out? Right. Well the days following my due date were filled with some of these "induction methods." Actually the DAY following my due date was full of these. After a few trys I felt kinda dumb and stopped. Endless pineapple only gives you a sore tongue I promise.
Saturday morning I woke up feeling contractions. They weren't painful, so I figured they were still braxton-hicks. Damn! They were consistent though. Nick was working that day, so I went to a movie with my Mom and Step-dad. That evening Nick's Mom and Step-dad came over for dinner, and I started really noticing the contractions. They were starting to feel really period-crampy like, and starting to hurt! I told the fam I thought maybe tonight was the night, and no one really took me serious. Well, ok then! The parents left and I tried laying down to see if they would subside. It was about 10 at this point, and I knew I wouldn't be getting any sleep that night. To cut the boring part short, I continued to labor at home, sort of in denial that this was happening. I knew we couldn't go to the hospital yet. I kept remembering, I'm not in real labor until I can't talk through the contractions. Let's just say I couldn't talk through them at about midnight, and we arrived at the hospital at 3:30am. That's how scared I was of being sent away for not being in real labor! We got to the hospital- after much fighting, I even said "Fine I'll go have this baby all alone!" to Nick. Dramatic much?
I was checked pretty quickly, it was not a busy time thankfully. I was 6cm!!! I could not believe it. On Friday, not even 48 hours before I was still closed up, no dilation, and only a soft cervix! My water hadn't broken yet, and the nurse said it was "bulging." I hate the word bulge. About an hour later I got my epidural (heaven-temporarily), and at 8am I was ready to push. Ps.. Nick was half asleep most of my "labor." He was forced to wake up when the pushing started. He had to hold one of my legs, and the nurse with the other. I really expected the pushing part to be so quick, like all the stories I read, and shows I saw. I thought for sure I'd be writing my Birth Announcement on BabyCenter saying, 3 pushes and he was out! Yeah more like 300 pushes. So after a boring and tiring 2 hours of pushing, the nurse said they could see his head when I pushed, but it would go back in after. And I didn't need a mirror for proof, no thank you. I was like, ummm K so do I have to push the rest of my life or will I ever meet my baby? They said most doctors don't like when someone has been pushing past two hours. Then I heard the C word. Ew not that one, the other one! C-Section! It was only talk, but I didn't likey. No way have I done most the laboring with out meds, and pushed for this long, to have my baby popped out my belly!
Then hell became what was once my delivery room. My epi wore off... no, I wasn't going to be one of those unlucky girls who's epi doesn't work right! Let me clarify though, it's not like I wasn't numb from the waist down still, I could just feel every contraction. And they were the devil himself! The epi doctor revisited my room/hell about 6 times that next twenty minutes. He kept increasing my dose, but nothing touched the pain. My legs were becoming more and more heavy from the numbing though. Ugh! Since it was now Sunday morning, my OB had to be paged at church-which he later thanked me for getting him outta there... He took about twenty minutes to arrive, and at that point I was just trying to survive through the contractions. Pushing made them less painful, but the pain stopped me from pushing. It was no bueno. I cried. Oh, and puked somewhere in all that. So, My OB took a look and said he thinks we should try a vacuum, or forceps. I vote vacuum, and get warned I may have a cone-head child. Beldarrr!
On the very next contraction I feel a contraption stuck inside me and a lot of yanking going on. Like a numb yanking though. Then his head is out, Nick is crying, I can't see anything, but the feeling of that baby still in you from the head down is a very bizarre feeling. Very CREEEEEPY. Then bam, he's on my chest, more beautiful than I had even imagined, looking up into my welling eyes. Most amazing moment in my entire life. The moment I had anticipated for months and months. Everything I had hoped for and more. Even with the complications, which were very minor in the big picture, I had an amazing birth experience. Most importantly my son was now in my arms, healthy, and big!!! 8 lbs 4 oz, 21 inches. Turns out his head was 37 cm and that is why the vacuum intervention was needed. I was very lucky to have avoided a c-section. They said it's cause I'm tall? Tall people birth big headed babies better? Score for tall people? Maybe? Enough questions...
Here is a picture of the best moment of my life.
And here he is at two days old.
Hope that wasn't too long,
Love, Jilly
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