Wednesday, June 1
38.5 weeks pregnant, swollen, and miserable (okay, it wasn't that bad, but I sure was being a whiner), I went to my appointment eager to see some movement in dilation & effacement. I was still a two & so annoyed about it, but the doctor offered to strip my membranes. I was afraid, but I said yes. Mother of pearl, that was painful, but luckily it only lasted a couple seconds! I was crampy for the majority of the morning, but by early afternoon it had worn off & I felt totally normal. Work went by, & I made sure to ask the health nurse in my office if she thought tonight was the night. She said she thought I had plenty of time left. Ugh, instant frustration. I went home & walked, walked, walked. I squatted on the floor while I watched TV because somehow gravity would make this baby come! Aaand nothing. I went to bed frustrated, but my mom swore that tonight was the night so I had the smallest glimmer of hope!
Thursday, June 2
It's 2 am, I woke up in the middle of the night to pee (as per my usual pregnancy routine). More mucous plug came out (I warned you of the TMI), and I was thinking hallelujah! I went back to bed, & felt the contractions I had been feeling regularly after using the bathroom. Tonight though, they were a bit more intense. After a couple minutes I decided I should go back to the bathroom & as I moved to get up, I felt a strange feeling. When I stood up, GUSH! I yelled at Ian to wake up.
"IAN, MY WATER BROKE, WAKE UP!!"
"Wha-what?"
"WAKE. UP. WE NEED TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL!"
"Uh, uh, give me a second. I don't feel so good."
"Okay, well pack your dang bags!!" (I had been telling him for WEEKS to pack)
A few minutes pass & Ian keeps repeating how sick he feels. So at 2 am, when I'm standing in my fluids, he rushes to the bathroom to throw up. Yes, ladies & gentlemen, we have a wonderful start to the beautiful process of birth.
He asks if we can take a shower before we go. Well, at this point I'm feeling pretty yucky & a shower sounds divine, so alright. We shower, I get dressed again. We pack up the car & drive to the hospital. I'm not in any pain, but I am SO eager to meet my boy, so I lean over to see how fast soon-to-be-daddy is driving. The speed limit of 35 is what I read on our spedometer. Uh, we go faster than this when there are other cars around & we aren't in a rush. It's 3 am on a Thursday morning, people! There's no traffic, so I ask him (very impatiently) to drive faster.
We make it to the hospital & he drops me off at the front entrance. As soon as I stand up, GUSH! Really?! I just cleaned myself up! Hubs goes to park the car & I am left standing in the entrance for ages. Hurry it up, babe! There's a child coming!
Finally we make it upstairs to the 5th floor & we have to register (even though we already pre-registered). I'm pretty sure the front desk lady thought I wasn't in labor because I still wasn't in pain, so I'm patiently standing there waiting through the paperwork. She asks how I know I'm in labor. Well, my water broke, so there's that. Aaaand we are finally admitted.
It's 3:30 am, I am all hooked up to my monitors, baby is doing well, the flavored ice chips are amazing, & we are wide awake. Still dilated to a two.
Cue contractions.
It's 4 am, I am clinging to the sides of the hospital bed in pain (I'm a three now). Well, this natural birth idea that I had is seeming less & less realistic. Small plug here to say that if you're wanting to go natural, PREPARE! Winging it is not a good enough plan (surprise, surprise). I am looking at my husband and he tells me to just trust modern medicine & get the epidural. Okay, I give in but I am so scared that I burst into tears. Ian tells me that I will be okay, so we call the nurse in & tell her to get us the anesthesiologist.
4:30 am & the man with the drugs arrives! He gives me one of those cheesy "first baby? First epidural!" jokes, and tells me the numbing shot feels like a bee sting. Accurate. The next thing I know, he's taping me up and tells me it's in! Seriously, didn't feel a thing.
The next few hours are a blur, but let me tell you this: I felt zero pain. Flavored ice chips are still the bomb. And touching your nearly-lifeless legs is the weirdest feeling EVER.
It's (around) 7:30 am & the resident doctor comes in to check my cervix. I know this is a huge exaggeration, but I swear when he checked me it looked like his whole arm fit, & he said I was dilated to a 10!
We did a practice push and I was definitely ready to go. Random memory: a show about Dolly Parton was playing during my entire delivery experience, ha! I have no idea why we didn't change it. The (poor) hubs held my right leg & my nurse held my left leg as I pushed. I could feel the pressure building up (but no pain-- thank you, epidural!) & I would let everyone know when it was almost time to push again. The pushing required to get a child out is like nothing I've experienced before. I really thought my face would explode, ha! In between pushing, my sweet husband (poor guy!) would sit down, obviously overwhelmed, & talk to the resident and nurse about the smell of childbirth (hahaha, I was too distracted to be angry in the moment, but looking back I can't believe he was talking about that while I was pushing out a baby!). Finally my doctor came in and told me that when his head was coming out she would tell me to push lighter to avoid excessive tearing. I guess it didn't register that when she told me to push lighter a baby was coming out exactly then! So I was shocked that he came out so quickly, but they laid him on my stomach (apparently his umbilical cord was really short) & it was love at first sight. My slimy, beautiful child was here & he was perfect.
Daddy cut the cord, our sweet baby ate for the first time (breastfeeding story to come) & it was bliss. We were able to have about an hour of bonding time before being moved down to the recovery floor, where the real fun began.
I could end this birth story on that beautiful note, but here's some real talk. I delivered the placenta (didn't even feel it), and my doctor sewed up my second-degree tear. I felt weird pulling, but no pain while she was stitching me. Nurses pushed on my belly (hard!) in an attempt to get my uterus back down to normal size. My nurse helped me stand for the first time, which was so weird. My back felt like jello and I had to lean on my nurse to make it to the bathroom. She told me to pee, & I struggled to make anything come out until finally I heard it (but still couldn't feel a thing downstairs). I told my nurse I thought I did it, even though I wasn't entirely sure, haha. Shoutout to all the nurses out there! Recovery would have been impossible without all the angel women who took care of me!
I loved my hospital birth experience, & have no regrets of how things went, although I would like to try for a natural birth next time if at all possible. A healthy baby boy was brought into the world on June 2nd, & he made all my dreams come true. There truly has been nothing better in my life than the moment I became a mommy.
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