it started with the urge to pee. yep. i woke up at 5:50am on 11/8/2008 to “relieve myself” for the zillionth time that night. i was 38 weeks and 5 days pregnant. my bladder was being squished by my giant baby and i was done being pregnant! at my previous OB visit, i was 2cm dialated and 70% effaced. labor was going to happen soon, but i had also convinced myself that i wouldn’t know it unless my water broke!!
sure enough… i crawled back into bed after going to the bathroom. for some reason, i mentally coached myself to let my body relax and suddenly, i felt a pop… a snap… a noise that i swear you could hear, but moreover, that i FELT! my water had broken! it was 5:55am. i was laying in bed next to my husband and didn’t move… no water on the bed was all i could say to myself. i shook him awake, made him toss me a towel, and proceeded to… leak all over the floor and the towel. called the doctor. she asked if i was SURE my water had broken.
yea. i was sure. the soaking wet towel and mess i’d made were sure enough signs of that. so she said she would call the hospital and let them know i was coming, but not to rush because i wasn’t having any active labor pains and to shower and take it slow. after showering, doing my makeup, and blowdrying my hair (hey, afterall, i had to look beautiful for post-birth photos!), we got in the car and… proceeded to get dunkin donuts where i felt my first labor pains. 10 minutes apart. every 4 minutes.
we got to the hospital around 8am and i was hooked up to machines and monitors within the hour. whew. loooootsa pain going on. my mother, mother in law, father, and hubby were all there. coaching me along and helping me get through the worst contractions. i labored without any drugs until 3pm. and i got the epidural. i cried and cried and cried. at that point, i was so done with feeling the pain, but i’m such a chicken when it came to needles. i still kind of am. i wasn’t even speaking english to anyone before i had the epi! i could barely breathe in enough to get through the ctx. i wouldn’t even open my eyes. so you can imagine how unrelenting i was with the anestheisiologist when he kept telling me how “excellent that camera was”. hubby had bought a new canon 40D for the occasion and the doc just wouldn’t stop talking about it!! just do your jobbbb!! LOL. i was done with that guy.. but he would haunt me later.
as soon as the epi took effect, i was back to laughing, smiling, and chatting with the family that was present. then… hubby and my MIL left to go to my nephew’s birthday party. i know, i know. but i didn’t care!! i just wanted to rest and relax and i hadn’t progressed more than 4cm and 100% effaced at that point.
5:30pm – my next check up. i was 6cm! i called hubby and he and my MIL came back to the hospital. by the time they got there (8pm) i was 8cm!! YESSSSS!!!!! it wouldn’t be long now!! i was SO EXCITED to start pushing and meet my little man.
then… 10pm came… and i was STILL 8cm. i was exhausted. frustrated. and upset that i hadn’t dialated any further. my doctor said that she’d wait a little longer and if there was no progression the next time she checked, then we would have to do a caesarean section. i wanted to deliver naturally more than ANYTHING. so i cried… a lot. turned out that between contractions, my uterus was not completely detracting enough to get a large contraction that would further my dialation and progress my labor.
11pm – no progression. at this point, we decided on the c-section. by 11:30pm, everyone was ready to get going. i was loaded onto the operating table and strapped down… hubby was given operation scrubs (he was my McDreamy!) and asked to wait in another room until i was ready. well. no one had hooked my IV up in the OR and they were PUMPING ME with epi medication to get my body to numb out for the surgery. turns out the same anesthesiologist i had for my original epi was STILL on and was in the OR with me.
hubby was allowed in. it’s now 11:45pm. he had his camera and the curtain to separate the sterile area from us was up. i started to feel extremely nauseous… and voiced that… before someone finally said, “oh, her IV isn’t hooked up…” and i looked at my hubby n’said i was going to throw up. it all happened SO FAST after this.
they gave me the pan to throw up in next to my face. the anesthesiologist and my husband were chatting in depth about his camera at this point. a man was jumping on my stomach (i swear, he was pile-driving my chest/stomach) to get logan to move down. all i could say to hubby was, “get the camera! he’s coming!” and with that, i heard a cry.
the most beautiful sound i’d ever heard. i started to cry. hubby pulled himself away from conversation. and logan alexander was born at 12:04am 11/9/2008. the first baby of sunday. they brought him to the NICU to get his shots and vitals taken.
8lbs 14oz 20.25″ long. 18 hours of labor.
they brought him to me in post-op… about 1.5 hours after the surgery. we tried breastfeeding. he took some, but slept for the most part. all i kept thinking was how beautiful he was. eventually, about 3am, hubby and i were moved to our recovery room where hubby was set up with a cot and i had to wear these awful, itchy circulation bootie things all night. needless to say, i didn’t sleep. i was so uncomfortable.
uncle eric was logan’s first visitor. he came at 4am, even though he didn’t get to see me ’til about 6am. he lied and told the hospital he was my brother.. when i had JUST told my nurse i was an only child. HA!
it was 38 hours before i actually slept. the adrenaline rush of finally having my son was all i needed to function. plus, i wasn’t such a huge fan of the water diet they had me on post-surgery. so many people came to visit that day that i can’t even begin to name the names. i was so grateful for all the gifts, flowers, and just the *company* of so many people who had helped me during my pregnancy. and now could share in my joy. 4 days later, we got to take logan home.
there is no greater love.
