I'll try to keep it PG but if you don't want to know...sorry...don't read it! ;) Here's our exciting story:
During the "terminal stages" of my pregnancy (Micheal Scott reference) I was being monitored for Preeclampsia because my blood pressure was elevated. During my check up at 39 weeks, the NP examining me asked, "What are we waiting for?" She decided that given all the facts: 39 weeks, 2cm, 80%, and high blood pressure...there was no reason to keep waiting for the little guy to come on his own. She called over to the hospital to talk to the doctor and when she came back she said, "Let's get you delivered!" The scariest, most exciting 4 words I had ever heard. She told me to head over to the hospital ASAP. So I went out to the waiting room where my Aunt Karen was watching my niece Hadley (I had been babysitting) and told her the news! Luckily she was able to watch Hadley for me so I could head off to meet my own little munchkin. It actually turned into a little bit of a panicky mess because I first called Kellen at work to let him know to head home and grab the "GO" bags and meet me at the hospital, then I had to take Karen and Hadley back to Liz and John's apartment. However, once we got there I realized that Liz had forgotten to leave us her house key.....sooooo...we loaded back in the car and headed to my apartment. We left Hadley and Karen there and finally headed off to the hospital. We got checked in and the induction process began at around 2:00.
The induction was a loooooonnng process. It took me all night to get to 4cm and I hung out there for what seemed like forever! Some details are hard for me to remember but I think it was around 5cm that they offered me the epidural and I took it. I was scared. Retrospect, I wish I had held out. But it was the middle of the night after umpteen hours of labor. I wanted relief. Unfortunately, relief is not what I got from that "magic juice." It basically gave me the Flu symptoms so we were up all night with that anyway. I kept hearing...probably around 6am we'll start pushing...maybe more like 10:00...hopefully by 1:00 we can start pushing. I was slowly loosing it! Finally, at 1:00pm the next day after 24 hours of labor, even though I was not fully dilated at 9cm, we started pushing. It was soo much harder than I ever imagined it would be. I was sick, tired, and sore but had to use all the strength I had to get my little guy out. We spent about an hour to an hour and a half pushing, I was the most exhausted I had ever felt in my entire life. Oddly the part of my body that hurt the most were my arms...never saw that one coming. So after all the pushing my poor baby was just plum stuck in there.
So they started talking to me about a C-Section. That was one of my biggest fears. I never in a million years thought I would need one and really didn't want it. I hated the idea of it putting limits on our future plans to have more kids. It just was not how I pictured this exciting day to go at all and it made me really sad. After some talking, tears, a beautiful blessing from my husband and a talk with one of my best friends and veteran C-Section mom Kimberly, I felt more at peace with however they had to get it done. The doctor wasn't going to be able to get there until 3:30 so we continued waiting and hoping I may still progress to the point that I could do it myself. The doctor got there and checked me out and felt comfortable letting me wait just a little bit longer before going for the surgery. They told me that if I could move him just ONE centimeter lower, they may be able to use forceps to get him out. So we pushed some more. But he wasn't moving at all.
At around 5:00pm, they juiced me up (which made me sooo sick!) and started wheeling me in to the OR.
At my request, they tried to place forceps, just to see if they could. I really just wanted to know that surgery was the ONLY way. So we tried and failed. And I was prepped for surgery. My sweet Kellen was so supporting and loving the whole time, I couldn't have done any of it with out him. Within minutes they were starting. I felt so weird. Literally drugged. I was shaking, nauseous and felt like I wasn't fully conscious. It was the worst.
But then all of a sudden I heard his little cry. I looked over at Kellen, who was looking at him and could tell how great he was just from the look on his face. :) We had our little moment. Then they showed me his tiny feet from over the curtain. So precious. The last thing I remember was telling Kellen to go be with him, don't leave him. And a nurse came to sit with me. Then I was gone.
I woke up back in my labor and delivery room. I was all bundled up and was sooo thirsty. The nurse brought me water and apple juice. That was the best darn juice I've ever had in my life. I hate apple juice.
They wheeled me over to Mother and Baby, and brought him to me.
I later found out the reason my chunky boy couldn't come out on his own:
All in all...it was an amazing, painful, wonderful, exciting, powerful experience. And once I had my sweet baby in my arms I could not have cared less about the pain I went through or was in or how they brought him into the world. I was just so glad he was here.
"Steadfast and Righteous is this Noble Prince from Heaven"
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Pictures courtesy of Liz, Kellen, and Nurses :)
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