So sorry this post took so long, but I needed Michael to read it before I posted it. This is all the details of my labor and delivery experience.
My last day at work before maternity leave was a crazy one. I was having all sorts of labor symptoms, but things that can happen 2 weeks before you go into real labor, so I was not certain I would go into labor. But everyone else in the office was. Everyone kept saying it was going to happen sometime over the weekend.
Turns out the cramps I had been having that day were probably contractions...but I never paid them too much attention. I was just thinking about my exams that I had to accomplish over the weekend. After work on Friday, I went home and got ready to do my homework. TJ and Tracy picked up Chinese for us for dinner so we would not have to cook (so thoughtful) and Radcliffe and Mary also stopped by before they left to go to Brewton for the weekend. And after everyone had gone Michael helped me do my homework that was due that night at midnight.
After going to sleep about 12, I got up to go to the bathroom at 2 (to be honest this was probably my second or third trip since going to bed...pregnancy bladder). A few minutes after I got back in bed something felt strange, so I sat up and then stood up...assuming that I had to go to the bathroom yet again. This was my assumption for every strange sensation in the third trimester. As soon as I stood up water came gushing down my legs. Be that it was 2 am and that I was in denial that this baby would come any sooner than my exams were due I went to the bathroom for further examination because I would not have been at all surprised at this point if my bladder had just failed. I cleaned myself up and washed my face and piddled around and then decided to wake Michael up. I kissed him on the cheek and he thought I was just being sweet telling him I was sorry for once again waking him up with my million trips to the bathroom. Then I informed him I needed him to get up because my water had broken. He was still confused and had forgotten that water breaking = hospital trip. So I explained we needed to call the doctors service and go to the hospital. Then he started throwing everything in the car and fed the cats and was ready and waiting as I took my time, I still wasn't really feeling contractions and therefore I had no sense of urgency. By the time we got in the car I was having contractions and they sped up really fast. I started timing the first one at 3:33 and the next one came at 3:36. (I had obviously taken my time at home because my water broke at 2:10 am.) We walked in Baptist East at about 3:50 am and were stopped by the security guard who asked if we had any oozies or guns of sorts and then let us go through to labor and delivery. He had a sense of humore at 4:00 am. We went upstairs and then nurses got me set up and Michael went to check me in.
Until you have experienced contractions you cannot understand them or imagine them...they hurt....real bad! The nurse asked if I would be having an epidural and I answered with an emphatic "YES"...she responded that she had assumed as much and something about how I did not seem like the type to try it on my own...not sure whether or not to be offended, after all she was right, I ignored the comment. The down side to taking my time to get to the hospital was that my contractions had gotten really close together and they could not give me and epidural until I had taken in an entire bag of fluids. Watching that bag of fluids drain was really agonizing for both Michael and me. I turned to him at one point and said, "I am not made for this...". He was so wonderful, he encouraged me and rubbed my back to distract me from the awful contractions. He was just counting on getting some relief when I got my epidural. Too bad that never happened. The nurse warned me early on that my platelets were low in my blood and that sometimes the anesthesiologist would not give an epidural when the platelet count was low. But she said they would test my blood again and it may be OK. At some point during the contractions I turned to Michael and said "I am not made for this". A few minutes later, which seemed like an eternity, the doctor came to inform me that I was not getting an epidural and he continued on to explain ready for me to argue with him. I was not interested in the details I said "if you say I can't have one I trust you", and thought..."now get out of my face so I can survive this contraction that is starting." At that point the nurse checked me again and I was dilated 10 cm so she said we were going to start pushing very soon and told Michael to call our family. She guessed that the baby would arrive in 30 minutes or so...ha little did she know! That poor nurse was trying to encourage me and she was so helpful, but I did feel bad for her because she was due to be off and Riley was taking his sweet time. A couple of times in between contractions I looked at her and she just looked board. Early on she said she could see a full head of hair but could not yet tell the color, then later she said she had about a cm of hair coming out..."now we just need the rest of the head". So much for pushing for 30 minutes...we pushed for an hour and a half. I turned to Michael at one point and said, "Damn Katie and her 20 minutes of pushing." (Katie had Hails on Thanksgiving) Then at what might have been the most awful point she said I had to stop pushing and wait for the doctor...and this other sweet nurse said "just breath through it." Let me tell you that it is impossible to breath through a contraction! The only thing that makes a contraction feel better is to push. In fact your body almost automatically pushes for you. So when Dr. Martin walked in the door and said I could start pushing again I could have kissed him! I did not care that he was coming at me with 4 shots, or that I felt like I was on fire down there...all I wanted to do was push. So now that ya'll no what it feels like for the babies head to crown...know that it is all down hill after that. As soon as the head crowned, the doctor commented on the full head of hair and said it looked like that of a little girl,...then 1/2 a second later his entire body had popped out and Dr. Martin announced that we had a little boy. Michael said "yes" and did a cha ching motion. And I relaxed while the doctor asked if Michael wanted to cut the cord. He said, "no", emphatically, and the next thing I knew the doctor had laid a grey crying baby on top of me. I was too tired to pick up my own arms...that is what an hour and a half of holding up your legs and pushing will do. I just stared at him in disbelief. Then they took him to clean him and check him and Michael watched. I turned to Dr. Martin as he worked on me and said "that is an awful lot of blood on you"...he replied "oh yes if this was a hysterectomy we'd be in trouble, but for this it is normal". Then from across the room I heard Michael ask the nurse if his head should be that pointy...I scolded him for not remembering everything Mary Jane had taught us in labor and delivery class...after all I had just managed to make her proud by not screaming through the process!
After that point I was just a big puddle on the bed, I was sooo tired. I could hardly keep my eyes open since I was sooooo swollen. If anyone who had seen me in recent weeks thought I was swollen you should have seen me after delivery...whoa I looked like a marshmallow pale and puffy...or perhaps the Michelin Man. It was bad. When my Mom entered the delivery room she was not even looking at Riley whose sex and name she did not know...instead she was worried about her daughter who she was not so certain could handle delivery without an epidural.
My last day at work before maternity leave was a crazy one. I was having all sorts of labor symptoms, but things that can happen 2 weeks before you go into real labor, so I was not certain I would go into labor. But everyone else in the office was. Everyone kept saying it was going to happen sometime over the weekend.
Turns out the cramps I had been having that day were probably contractions...but I never paid them too much attention. I was just thinking about my exams that I had to accomplish over the weekend. After work on Friday, I went home and got ready to do my homework. TJ and Tracy picked up Chinese for us for dinner so we would not have to cook (so thoughtful) and Radcliffe and Mary also stopped by before they left to go to Brewton for the weekend. And after everyone had gone Michael helped me do my homework that was due that night at midnight.
After going to sleep about 12, I got up to go to the bathroom at 2 (to be honest this was probably my second or third trip since going to bed...pregnancy bladder). A few minutes after I got back in bed something felt strange, so I sat up and then stood up...assuming that I had to go to the bathroom yet again. This was my assumption for every strange sensation in the third trimester. As soon as I stood up water came gushing down my legs. Be that it was 2 am and that I was in denial that this baby would come any sooner than my exams were due I went to the bathroom for further examination because I would not have been at all surprised at this point if my bladder had just failed. I cleaned myself up and washed my face and piddled around and then decided to wake Michael up. I kissed him on the cheek and he thought I was just being sweet telling him I was sorry for once again waking him up with my million trips to the bathroom. Then I informed him I needed him to get up because my water had broken. He was still confused and had forgotten that water breaking = hospital trip. So I explained we needed to call the doctors service and go to the hospital. Then he started throwing everything in the car and fed the cats and was ready and waiting as I took my time, I still wasn't really feeling contractions and therefore I had no sense of urgency. By the time we got in the car I was having contractions and they sped up really fast. I started timing the first one at 3:33 and the next one came at 3:36. (I had obviously taken my time at home because my water broke at 2:10 am.) We walked in Baptist East at about 3:50 am and were stopped by the security guard who asked if we had any oozies or guns of sorts and then let us go through to labor and delivery. He had a sense of humore at 4:00 am. We went upstairs and then nurses got me set up and Michael went to check me in.
Until you have experienced contractions you cannot understand them or imagine them...they hurt....real bad! The nurse asked if I would be having an epidural and I answered with an emphatic "YES"...she responded that she had assumed as much and something about how I did not seem like the type to try it on my own...not sure whether or not to be offended, after all she was right, I ignored the comment. The down side to taking my time to get to the hospital was that my contractions had gotten really close together and they could not give me and epidural until I had taken in an entire bag of fluids. Watching that bag of fluids drain was really agonizing for both Michael and me. I turned to him at one point and said, "I am not made for this...". He was so wonderful, he encouraged me and rubbed my back to distract me from the awful contractions. He was just counting on getting some relief when I got my epidural. Too bad that never happened. The nurse warned me early on that my platelets were low in my blood and that sometimes the anesthesiologist would not give an epidural when the platelet count was low. But she said they would test my blood again and it may be OK. At some point during the contractions I turned to Michael and said "I am not made for this". A few minutes later, which seemed like an eternity, the doctor came to inform me that I was not getting an epidural and he continued on to explain ready for me to argue with him. I was not interested in the details I said "if you say I can't have one I trust you", and thought..."now get out of my face so I can survive this contraction that is starting." At that point the nurse checked me again and I was dilated 10 cm so she said we were going to start pushing very soon and told Michael to call our family. She guessed that the baby would arrive in 30 minutes or so...ha little did she know! That poor nurse was trying to encourage me and she was so helpful, but I did feel bad for her because she was due to be off and Riley was taking his sweet time. A couple of times in between contractions I looked at her and she just looked board. Early on she said she could see a full head of hair but could not yet tell the color, then later she said she had about a cm of hair coming out..."now we just need the rest of the head". So much for pushing for 30 minutes...we pushed for an hour and a half. I turned to Michael at one point and said, "Damn Katie and her 20 minutes of pushing." (Katie had Hails on Thanksgiving) Then at what might have been the most awful point she said I had to stop pushing and wait for the doctor...and this other sweet nurse said "just breath through it." Let me tell you that it is impossible to breath through a contraction! The only thing that makes a contraction feel better is to push. In fact your body almost automatically pushes for you. So when Dr. Martin walked in the door and said I could start pushing again I could have kissed him! I did not care that he was coming at me with 4 shots, or that I felt like I was on fire down there...all I wanted to do was push. So now that ya'll no what it feels like for the babies head to crown...know that it is all down hill after that. As soon as the head crowned, the doctor commented on the full head of hair and said it looked like that of a little girl,...then 1/2 a second later his entire body had popped out and Dr. Martin announced that we had a little boy. Michael said "yes" and did a cha ching motion. And I relaxed while the doctor asked if Michael wanted to cut the cord. He said, "no", emphatically, and the next thing I knew the doctor had laid a grey crying baby on top of me. I was too tired to pick up my own arms...that is what an hour and a half of holding up your legs and pushing will do. I just stared at him in disbelief. Then they took him to clean him and check him and Michael watched. I turned to Dr. Martin as he worked on me and said "that is an awful lot of blood on you"...he replied "oh yes if this was a hysterectomy we'd be in trouble, but for this it is normal". Then from across the room I heard Michael ask the nurse if his head should be that pointy...I scolded him for not remembering everything Mary Jane had taught us in labor and delivery class...after all I had just managed to make her proud by not screaming through the process!
After that point I was just a big puddle on the bed, I was sooo tired. I could hardly keep my eyes open since I was sooooo swollen. If anyone who had seen me in recent weeks thought I was swollen you should have seen me after delivery...whoa I looked like a marshmallow pale and puffy...or perhaps the Michelin Man. It was bad. When my Mom entered the delivery room she was not even looking at Riley whose sex and name she did not know...instead she was worried about her daughter who she was not so certain could handle delivery without an epidural.
But I did survive it and I would do it all over again. I have to say I thought that immediately...it was the most wonderful, beautiful, unbelievable, and fantastic experience of my life. I have to say I have lived everyday thinking that my life could not become any richer or any fuller, any more amazing or any more blessed and yet it still does. Though this incredible journey began as a surprise 9 months ago, God knew this was the right place and time for us. Michael and I are so incredibly grateful for the way he works.
2 comments:
I just got the chill bumps. AND I thought I would be traumatized but noooooo.
Too cute. Soon we won't remember what life was like without little Riley!
I am so proud of you for delivering Riley the hard way. I know exactly what you mean about a blessed life and I am so incredibly happy for you. He is so cute!
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