The Labor Post

Okay, baby readers. You may not want to read this blog, depending on your tolerance for grossness and quite possibly, your gender.  However, I really need to write this post for me to remember what it was like to give birth to Jacob.  I've been meaning to write on this subject for a long time, but I have been putting it off because I was afraid I would scare away readers. (haha)  I realize, now, that I probably shouldn't have put it off for so long because I want to write down as many details as I can remember... and the longer I put it off, the more I forget. Plus, I was inspired to write this by a friend who recently gave birth to a baby girl.  So here I go...

I've come a long way from this moment:

It has been a whirlwind of a ride from when we first found out I was pregnant in July 2009.  I took lots and lots of belly pictures (HJ made me take one each week) but I'll spare myself the embarrassment of putting those pictures on here. Just know that my tummy got very big!  As you may know from a previous post, I had preeclampsia and the doctor prescribed me to bedrest.  I had to go for a check up every week to make sure my blood pressure and protein levels weren't too high... and at Week 37, they were!  I still remember the moment Dr. L walked into the room and said I needed to go to the hospital to have the baby.  HJ and I just looked at each other in shock.  So we went to the hospital, where Dr. K was waiting for us to come in.  He gave me pitocin through an IV to induce me at around 10:30 am, and kept cranking up the levels of pitocin because I wasn't having strong contractions.  HJ and I kept waiting and waiting, and our family kept waiting for the phone call to come see us at the hospital... but that phone call never happened.  BJ was stubborn and didn't want to come out on that day. (March 1)  At around 11:00 p.m., Dr. K gave us three options:

1. Continue on with the highest level of pitocin throughout the night (ugh, no thanks)
2. Stop the pitocin for the night and continue in the morning (eeeek again?)
3. Wait a week and see if baby will come naturally (natural? sounds like a plan)

So we chose option 3... HJ and I were on high alert the entire week but BJ didn't want to come out. So Dr. K said to go back to the hospital on March 9 for another induction.

HJ and I nervously excitedly arrived at the hospital around  8am on March 9, but we weren't sure if the inducing was going to work, so we told our family members to be on standby.  When we first got there, there weren't many patients; as the day went on, however, the hospital rooms were filled with women in labor.  As soon as I heard that the rooms were full, I asked Nurse M to reserve a single room for me.  It cost extra but was so worth it!  

Okay, so it's 8:30 am and they hook me up to the IV and start dripping in the pitocin.  At first, it wasn't kicking in again.  I was having contractions but they weren't strong and they weren't consistent.  As mentioned earlier, there were many women in labor, so Nurse M and Dr. K came in every once in a while but not every hour like they were supposed to.  (They were busy helping other moms give birth, which I don't blame them.) So anyway, they weren't coming in to check my dilation, which was fine because the pain wasn't that bad and when they did check, I was always stuck at 3 centimeters.  

However, at around maybe 3 o'clock, my contractions started getting worse, painful, and closer together...  I kept telling HJ to tell the nurse to come and check, but whenever he would go outside to find Nurse M, she was in another room helping another patient.  You often hear stories of women going crazy during labor and telling their partner all sorts of mean things... well, I admit I threatened my hubby.  I was getting angry at him for not finding Nurse M, and I remember looking in his eyes and saying, "If I'm more than 7 centimeters, I'm going to kill you!"  (Oops!)  So at around 4:30pm, Nurse M finally came in to check me after helping Dr. K. with a c-section... she checks me, looks up in shock, and says, "You know... I think you're at 9 centimeters!" If looks could have killed... I think HJ would've been a gonner.

At that time, I asked Nurse M if I could have the intrathecal (which is similar to an epidural) and she said she would have to ask Dr. K because I was so far along.  THANK GOODNESS Dr. K said yes.  I had to have two shots of the intrathecal in my spine because the first one didn't work so well, and after that, I couldn't feel much pain.  The contractions kept coming and Nurse M asked me if I felt like pushing.  My reply: "I think so?" haha, I wasn't sure.... but I pushed.  Nurse M said I was a good pusher, and that she didn't think I would have to push for long... and I didn't!  I think only pushed for 10 minutes before Dr. K came in and said he could see hair a full head of hair!  I felt so overwhelmed... thoughts that were going through my head included: "What? Baby's coming now?"  "His hair? Why? Is he right there??"  So after a bit more pushing, Dr. K looked up and said, "Well, it must be a good sign! He's winking at me."  HJ said his head was out.  One more push and he was out at 6:02 p.m.  

It's such a surreal moment when the doctor plops YOUR  baby onto your tummy.  "What? He came out of me???"  The picture above is of BJ, of course, when he was all cleaned up.  When he came out, he was all covered in white sticky stuff.  And (sorry if it's gross, but...) I tore.  Apparently, there are 4 degrees of tearing, 4 being the worst, and I was at 3.  FUN. Dr. K said it was lucky he let me have the intrathecal because otherwise, the tearing would have been extremely painful.  Since I was numb 'down there', I was smiling and didn't feel a thing. Dr. K, Nurse M, and I were joking around... while Daddy HJ got to hold baby.  It took about an hour or so for Dr. K to sew me up, and our families were anxiously waiting outside.  They were finally let in around 7pm.  *Happy Family*... The end :-P

You know what I think is funny?  No one really talks about what happens to a woman's body after they give birth.  Before I got pregnant, I thought that your belly shrinks back as soon as baby comes out... boy was I wrong! 3 weeks after I gave birth, an acquaintance asked me when baby was due... I wanted to hurt her but I just smiled and said baby's already here.  Ugh.  And... I have never seen so much blood in my life!   It's like having your period but 10x worse.  And I won't even begin to talk about the first poop after giving birth.  I'll just say, it SUCKS.... but I would do it all over again if this wonderful baby boy is the outcome: (hahaha to the picture)