After the triage room they moved me up to my labor/delivery room. They called in the anesthesiologist to do the epidural at 745. first he gave me a shot of local like a lidocaine or something which was no big deal. then came much badness. i guess i couldnt curl over enuf cuz he couldnt find a good spot. it was awful despite having the numbing meds. i was about to cry and said maybe i shouldnt get an epi after all. it took about 15mins to get the epidural and once the doc left i did start to cry. the experience was scary and i was scared about what was to come as well. it didnt take long for the epi to kick in. it felt like when your legs fall asleep – not the hurting tingly part but when its past that to being numb and u cant stand up on them. also i completely couldnt feel the contractions anymore. i had two monitors velcroed around my belly. one was playing lucas’s heartbeat on a monitor and one was measuring my contractions. paul would look at the monitor and tell me i was having one but i couldnt tell. i had a push button for anytime i needed more of the epi. i had been given pitocin then as well to speed up the contractions and after a little bit a catheter was added since i wouldnt be able to feel to pee. the catheter was uncomfortable…like a tampon incorrectly placed, but at least there was no pain. at this point we were just sitting around waiting for the pitocin and contractions to do their thing. paul used this time to call people and tell them we were in the hospital. a couple of times i started feeling the contractions come thru so i hit the button and theyd go away. i was a little worried about hitting it too often but they didnt say anything about there being a limit.
at around 1130 they came in to check me and they broke the amniotic sac and upped the pitocin. by 1140 i was 6cm and 90% effaced. mom stopped by around 1 but i told her it would still be a long time probably since i still had to go from 6-10. they told me to let them know if i felt pressure in my bottom. not too much later i was feeling a little butt pressure plus the contractions getting worse. i hit the button and started to tell the nurse (angela). i got as far as “pressure” and she said ok ill check you. she checked me and i was shocked to hear her say i was at 10 and ready to start pushing! he was already descended (the pressure i was feeling) and she could see the top of his head! she took away the bottom half of the bed and pulled out the stirrups and had me start pushing with the contractions (1:50pm). paul said he could see the hair/top of the head trying to come out. when things got a little closer she called in Dr Little and they coached me on when to push. since i could feel absolutely nothing i was worried i wasnt pushing hard enough, but they said i was doing well. lucas wasnt liking being in the birth canal and his heartrate would drop a bunch when i pushed and then go back up when i rested. i was worried theyd hafta use a vacuum to get him out right away or worst case an emergency c-section. turned out to not be a problem cause when he finally got close he just popped right out head, shoulder, body nearly all at once. it felt sooooo weird cause i could feel his slimy body wiggling against me. he was born at 2:30pm … less than 40 mins from when i started pushing. turns out the delivery was the easiest part of the whole labor process.
dr little worked quickly since he was born with the cord around his neck and also a knot in it and then they whisked him over to the baby tray where they could suction him and clean him and check his lungs. there had been a little bit of meconium in the amniotic fluid so they had to take care of that but it was all fine. they gave him a bath (which he did not like) and let paul cut the rest of the umbilical cord off of him. meanwhile i was getting stitched up by dr little so i couldnt really see what was going on but paul was with him and taking pix. i just lay there staring over at the bassinet thingy (it was clear so i could see bits of what was going on) and thinking how surreal it was that i had a baby. that the squiggly little newborn over there was actually *my* baby. i think i was in shock. finally i was done and lucas was done and paul was able to carry him over to me. we took turns holding him and i took a bunch of pix. paul and his awesome iphone was able to take pix and put them up on facebook right away which was really neat.
while waiting to get our postpartum room upstairs, they had me try to breast feed him and latched him on to me. after a second i freaked out cause i noticed he wasnt breathing and he looked sortof blue to me. i was freaking out and about to start crying and had hit the nurse call button and was telling paul to go find the nurse cause i thought he had died!!! paul took lucas from me when i first started freaking out. he told me that newborns dont breathe in a regular pattern like we do ( i wasnt sure if i believed him at the time cause i was so scared but i later read it in a book as well), and by then he was already breathing again. the nurse checked him and said he was fine, that its not uncommon for them to be blue when first born and the way you tell if there is really a problem is to look at their gums and see if they are blue.
around 4pm we were moved to the postpartum room wed be in for the next two days. soon after mom got there and then dad did, too. we all hung out and took pix. dr kola, the pediatrician, came in that evening and did the exam on him including checking all the funny baby reflexes. he said lucas was doing well and that hed come back the next day for another check. lauren and kristie came in and we all hung out with lucas some more.
the nurses come to check on me and lucas every hour and told me to tell them when i was ready for a trip to the bathroom. i didnt really hafta go and figured id wait till the company was gone to worry about it since i was wearing the lovely hospital gown full of cracks, slits, and holes. i figured they just wanted to escort me to the bathroom cause of the epi and my legs not totally working. turns out if was cause of the *pain*. i wasnt in pain until id tried to get up and walk around but once i did i discovered how sore i was.
the rest of the night was me attempting to breastfeed when he was awake ( i had to have the nurse latch him on every time cause i couldnt get it) while paul took care of all the burping and diaper changes and basically everythign else. from about 3am-7am we had a stretch where all 3 of us got to sleep but other than that it was a lot of short naps in btwn feedings and the nurses coming in and out to check on stuff.
to be continued…
ally-cat 