So funny story...we were almost out the door of the OBGYN office when I turned around, found my doctor and asked, "Is there time for me to stop and get some food?". I think this is a legitimate question, for once I'm admitted to the hospital all I would get to eat are ice chips. She unfortunately said no, I needed to get there right away. Sigh.
Hubby drove like a madman, almost running a couple red lights. I wasn't in any pain or feeling anything different, so I don't know why he was driving badly-but I can see how stressful it would be to know your wife's water just broke. Once we got to the hospital, I was admitted and had an IV hooked up to me along with my blood drawn. As most of you know, I hate needles, but I took it like a champ.
Since my doc broke my water and no contractions were coming on their own, they hooked me up with Pitocin to bring on my contractions and I played the waiting game. My first contractions came on and they felt like menstrual cramps; my thoughts, "Bring it on". But then as time started ticking by, they came on stronger. And stronger. By around 5:45pm, I was in PAIN. Hubby brought up that I could take an epidural at any time, and 15 minutes later I agreed to it-I couldn't take the quick, strong contractions! The anesthesiologist came to my rescue about 10 minutes after I agreed to the epidural and even though I couldn't see him, I heard his cell phone ring and him actually answer it. WTF...I'm sitting here in major pain and he decides to answer his cell phone and what sounded like a personal call. Thankfully the procedure was quick and he delivered the epidural faster than I thought it took. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would, just felt kind of funny/abnormal. After about an hour, the meds kicked in and I was in heaven-you can ask my hubby, I think I said "Thank God for epidurals" at least ten times.
We played the waiting game for the rest of the night; with such strong contractions we were sure the baby would come by that evening, but unfortunately we had to wait all night. I tried getting sleep when I could, but the nurses would come in and move me every 45 minutes so that baby could make his way down quicker.
4:15am rolled around, and I started feeling a little different down there...the nurse said once I feel like I had to, er, poop, it would mean the pushing would start soon after. 4:30am came and I felt a little pain and needing to use the potty-sure enough, I was fully dilated and it was time.
First, to all you moms out there, well done. Wow.
I pushed for about two and a half hours. I was crossing my fingers that it wouldn't have taken that long, but Baby H was/is a on the larger side of the "average" baby scale-not by much, but still he was not six pounds like I was. Pushing a baby out is the worst pain I have and probably will ever feel. My nurse was the one guiding me most the time-my doc didn't arrive until about 20 minutes before Baby H fully emerged, and I was mad at the time because I would be there trying to push him out but the nurse was quiet and the only person helping me was hubby. I realize now that they were waiting for the doctor to get there. UGH! But all I felt was relief when I was able to make that final push. Once he came out, they took him to get cleaned and weighed/measured, etc. and hubby was able to watch that procedure. Meanwhile my doc sewed me up-thankfully I only had superficial tearing, but she was rough with the sewing.
Once they finished cleaning up Baby H, they brought him over to me and I instantly fell in love. Leif Arthur Hovland was born Friday, December 27th, 2013 at 7:08am at 8 pounds, 12 ounces and 21 inches long. My pregnancy was finished, but my motherhood had just begun.
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| After my skin-to-skin contact with Leif, he got to meet his daddy. |
More to come...
This made me all teary! I'm so happy for you Nichi!
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