So I sat down to watch some TV tonight with Caleb and Lawson and got to thinking...this time last week, we were in labor and delivery awaiting the arrival of our little monkey. My first reaction to that thought...tears streaming down my face! Poor Caleb looked over and was scared to death that something was wrong...oh no my dear...these are just the baby blues. Nothing major of course, just emotional from time to time. My doctor said it was completely normal to go through random bouts of crying and sometimes for silly reasons. My hormones are acting crazy right now and if I want to cry about something, watch out...I turn on the water works and 5 minutes later, Im laughing. I suppose tonight the emotion of everything we went through just hit me again (along with the complete lack of sleep I have gotten since last Thursday...haha). Sometimes I wish I could just freeze time. I thought in honor of one week ago, I would tell you all the story of my labor and delivery...don't worry, I'll make it reader friendly but I can't promise it will be short!! :) ( I started writing this on Thursday, December 10 and finished on Saturday the 12 if that tells you anything about the length).
Rewind to Wednesday, December 2. My dad had just arrived from Florida on business. He decided to take us out to dinner. This was a welcome trip as I had been couped up in the house for weeks trying to make sure I didnt go into labor pre-maturely. Don't worry, when I hit 38 weeks, my doctor said it was ok to take short trips to dinner or to the grocery store as long as it was in Burlington or Greensboro. I had been feeling funny all day and thought for sure that something was going to happen that evening so we decided to go to Greensboro for dinner with the car fully packed. We ate, we talked, we drove home.
I woke up Thursday morning (at 8 am...this becomes important later when I tell you about sleep deprivation...haha), December 3rd without a single symptom of labor. WHAT? Where did all the weird feelings from yesterday go? How could they just disappear? Then my sweet husband reminded me that it is the story of my life. It never just comes easy...THANKS! HA! I was also upset because I knew MY doctor was on call today and that if I didnt deliver today, she probably would not deliver me because she was not on call again until December 18th. Caleb decided to go ahead and go to work as there was nothing going on. I started my normal daily routine of showering, watching every baby show on TV and stalking people on facebook. Ok, Ok, I did some laundry too. Caleb called to see how I was doing and I said I felt great. As soon as I got off the phone, I walked into the bathroom to get some more laundry and felt a weird tightening in my tummy. The same one I had felt the day before except this time it hurt. It passed and on I went about my "chores". About 10 minutes later, the pain started again. I called Caleb and told him. He decided he would come home. He did. Of course when he got home, it had all stopped...again the story of not only my life..but his too. We decided that since it was so nice outside, we would take the girls to the track for a walk. Not 2 minutes into the walk, I started feeling an unbelievable pressure and the same tightening from before. This time, they started happening closer together and after about 2 hours, I decided to call my doctors office.
They asked to see me at 3:30. Caleb and I packed the car knowing full well that it was all for nothing because we would be sent home again but figured it was worth it just in case.
Fast forward to the doctors office. I am MISERABLE. I feel like I can't breathe and that there is a watermelon between my legs everytime I try to walk. In walks Dr. Ross. She could tell I was miserable. I told her as I was sitting there that I felt like I was leaking. She checked and said that she thought I had ruptured my membranes. Thats it folks...my water had broken (not a full gush...just a little leak). Her exact words were, "lets have a baby". WHAT?? For real, your not just joking are you? Every emotion filled my body at once. I was scared of what I was about to go through, happy because I was going to meet my son, sad because my mom wouldnt make it from Florida to be there, EXCITED because my dad just happened to be in town and relieved that little monkey had listened to all those pep talks from mommy about waiting until Dr. Ross was on call.
Off we went to the hospital. We called family on the way and the race was on for them to get to the hospital. Although he was the last to arrive, Howard (Caleb's dad) wins the speedy award and the dumb award all at once. He pushed the petal to the metal and made it from just north of ATL to the hospital in 4.5 hours....I know that he was super excited however...the goal was to make it safe to meet your grandson without a ticket for wreckless and careless...HAHA! Needless to say, he beat his grandson by a long shot and we are happy that he made it safely. I do believe that Dr. Ross said..."Doesnt he know this is your first baby..he wont just fall out you know!" HAHA
Anyway, when we arrived at the hospital, they immediately checked me in. Then the nurse said, "By the way, it looks like you will be here with us for a while as we have no room in triage and no room in any of the birthing suites". EXCUSE ME...come again. Apparently everybody and their sister was having a baby that night and there was no room for us at that time. Now if you know me...my baby was not going to be born in a room that did not have the word suite attached to it...haha. Luckily, they did end up getting me into a triage room...which was better than laboring in the admissions waiting room. They hooked me up to the monitor and as soon as the nurse walked out after saying it might be a while before I could move to a suite...another nurse came with a wheel chair. Somehow a birthing suite with my name on it magically appeared...I wonder who did that...haha!
We were off! As soon as I got to the room, I got situated and the first question I was asked by my nurse, Heather was, "What is your plan for pain management?". I dont know about you, but if it hurts and there is something to cure it then BRING IT ON. I believe it was Dr. Ross who said, have a few contractions just to say you felt it and then kill it! I did not need the epidural right then. I was having very regular contractions but they were bearable. The shift changed at 7 pm and in walked my new nurse also named Heather. Thank God for Heather. She was the most amazing nurse in the world. She made my night so much easier!!
Here is a picture of me right before we started pushing!
HAHA.....Not so much! This is actually shortly after getting hooked up to all the monitors in the birthing suite. I was still feeling good at this point. The contractions were coming regularly but they were of the bearable type....you know like feeling soar from doing 50 crunches. Ok, Ok who am I kidding, 50 crunches happened back in my highschool days...more like 5 now will cause me that kind of discomfort. HA!
The contractions began to get stronger and I thought for sure that I was progressing nicely. Afterall, with minor contractions I had dilated to 5 cm outside of the hospital so this labor thing was looking like a piece of cake! GUESS AGAIN! I was having a grand time texting, picture taking, and laughing with my hubby and his Aunt Hota. I think tears were rolling we were laughing so hard about different things. My nurse and I were having conversations about music and One Tree Hill! Little did I know that my fun was about to end!
Dr. Ross came in to check my progress. I was still at 5 cm and the pitocin was ordered. I'm not going to lie...this made me more nervous than anything because I had heard this was the drug of Satan and I was not fully willing to let Satan take over my body! Afterall...I was living the dream delivery at that point...laughter and little pain.
Enter 3 hours later. The pitocin certainly was the drug of Satan. I have a picture of me showing what the contractions were feeling like and I will NOT be posting that here! I started to think that maybe the nurse should check me. I made the decision that if I had progressed to close to the pushing stage, I would forgo the epidural but if I had not progressed much, I would surrender. I honestly thought that with the intensity of the contractions that I was feeling, I would be on the home stretch and I would be able to say that I made it without the epi...OH WRONG AGAIN. The nurse checked me and I was still at 5 cm. I through up the white flag! PLEASE send in the anesthesiologist. I had been told that it might take a while for this doctor to make his appearance so I grabbed some ice chips and Caleb helped me breath through the contractions. What a wonderful hubby!
It did not take long for the little bald man in scrubs to make his way into my room. I was delighted to see him but could not let him know because at this point...it hurt to talk. I sat up in the bed and my body began shaking uncontrollably. Not just a little...hello im cold shaking...this was the big leagues my friends. I was shaking like those people you see on TV that were coming off of some sort of drug addictions...NOT FUN! This of course got me to thinking...CRAP, I am shaking so hard this guy is going to puncture my spine and really make me numb. The doctor did not seem to mind. He told me his name several times but I still cannot remember it so lets just call him Dr. HEAVEN! His name will change in a minute but don't worry, it will go back to Dr. Heaven.
Dr. Heaven administered the epidural without any flaws. He told me exactly what he was going to do and what I would feel before he did it. It did not hurt at all. The worst part of it was trying to live through the contractions hunched over. Caleb, Hota and my nurse got me through it without any problems. My feet started to tingle immediately as Dr. Heaven proclaimed...4 cc's. I dont know what that meant but it sure felt good. There went my legs next as Dr. Heaven proclaimed 7 cc's. OK we were heading in the right direction. I laid back and within 4 minutes, I felt NOTHING! Oh thank you Dr. Heaven...you just made my life! He was in and out with the blink of an eye but he was my new best friend....UNTIL....
Because I was feeling better, Caleb went to the waiting room to give an update. I looked over at Hota as I reached for another red popsicle and what do you know, I fell over..almost out of the bed. I could not move my arm...OMG...I can't breath now. Dr. Heaven quickly got renamed to Dr. Hell. What had he done to me. I was losing all feeling in my whole body. My nurse came in and Hota said the color quickly drained from my face. I was gray. I took one look at my nurse and said...I'm gonna throw up. She grabbed a bucket and just in the nick of time...up up and away except I could not feel the sensation of throwing up. I just knew it was happening because of what I was holding in my hands. The nurse took my blood pressure. It had dropped. She quickly gave me a shot of something in my IV and instantly, the nausea stopped. GOD BLESS HEATHER! The anesthesiologist was called and he ordered the epidural be turned off. Instant relief, I regained feeling in my arms and chest. I could breath again but then PANIC...no epidural means A LOT of pain. Heather decided to turn the epidural back on because we figured out that those 7 cc's I loved so much was just too much for my body at one time and now that it had worn off some, the rest of the dose would go in at a slower pace and my body could handle that. She was right and I was back to calling the anesthesiologist Dr. Heaven!!
Dr. Ross came in again and checked me. I was at 6 cm. She decided that she wanted to measure the intensity of my contractions and also get a better measure of Lawson's heart rate. She broke my bag of water completely and then added a few internal monitors. I wont go into detail here but lets just say that all modesty at this point went out the window. Lawson did not like when she broke my bag of water completely and his heart rate began to do a little dance. Dr. Ross carefully monitored him and as soon as I moved onto my side, everything went back to normal. This whole process made me go from 6 to 7 cm by the time Dr. Ross had finished. Dr. Ross decided to go home for a little while and get some sleep and advised me and Caleb to do the same as the pushing would be starting sooner rather than later. We turned off the lights and Caleb went to the computer to update the blog. The nurse came back in the room and I started feeling a familiar pain in my left side along with a tremendous amount of pressure. The pain in my side was a contraction...what the heck happened to my epidural. This was not supposed to happen. My nurse informed me that just like everything else in this world...gravity was taking effect and my epi was going to the side I was laying on only. I rolled to my left side...except gravity stayed with my right...explain that. The pain was so bad all I could do was breathe to get through it. Caleb sat by my side and rubbed my head as I just breathed. My nurse told me to push the button to administor more epidural but I was terrified. Remember what happened last time I had to much epidural? I finally caved and pressed the button...THANK GOD for HEATHER again. No blood pressure drops, just relief except for this tremendous pressure and urge to push. Heather told me just to breathe through it as the baby was making his way down on his own and this would make the pushing phase go quicker. Caleb layed down for a little while and Hota and I just talked stopping at each contraction to concentrate on not pushing. I know I gave her a few good laughs because of my worries about the pushing phase but at least I was cracking a smile now and again.
About 30 minutes later the nurse came in to check me. 10 cm and ready to push...CALEB WAKE UP. Caleb shot up off the broken couch/bed (again welcome to our life that the room we get has the broken couch bed and strobe light disco dance party when the lights dim) like a deflating ballon. Don't worry no baby yet but we are getting close. The nurse taught me how to push and after two rounds of contractions, Dr. Ross was there. I thought she would just come in to catch the baby but she stayed the entire pushing phase. What an AWESOME doctor. By the way, did I mention she was wearing pink heels. They look like clogs in some pictures but no joke these were wooden clunky PINK heels that I absolutely loved (check out the pics in the next post). My son will hear this story over and over again.
We began pushing. Each push I could feel I was getting a little closer. I had no feeling in my right side though so I depended solely on the nurse to let me know that what I was feeling was truly a contraction. In between each contraction we talked with Dr. Ross about everything from what crazy program was on TV to hunting. It made life a lot easier! After about an hour, I knew we were getting close. I could feel more pressure than ever before and doctor ross suited up. I was in the zone. Each contraction I pushed harder and harder not paying any attention to anything but the sound of Caleb's voice helping me through. After about an hour and 10 minutes, I heard Dr. Ross say hold on a minute, relax...ok push a little more and then at 5:55 a.m. all I heard was open your eyes and a loud screaming cry. My son was born! There are absolutely no words to describe the feeling. I looked at my baby boy and then at my husband and never in my life felt more love than I did in that moment. We all cried and then laughed as Lawson decided to pee all over Dr. Ross, probably to get her back for that bag of water she broke. He did not like that! Caleb then cut the cord and they handed me my son for the very first time. It was love at first site and I will never EVER forget the feeling! I have several pictures of this whole process but I will keep those for us. I will post pictures tomorrow of the shots after this moment and of Lawson getting all cleaned up and then coming to see me when things had calmed down. I am forever grateful to Dr. Ross and Heather, my nurse for making this experience the best in my life! I could not have done it without them (and Caleb and Hota of course!). Oh yeah and a big thank you to my friend Heather who stayed up all night texting me to make sure everything was going ok and to Michelle for bringing me french toast sticks for breakfast Friday morning! :)
Lawson's very own tree...complete with footballs, baseballs and sports snowmen! :)
Dr. Ross holding Lawson!
