40w0d - Introducing Jocelyn Piper Karle

Okay, obviously I am WAY behind on my blog post. I have more pressing things going on. But I do want to chronicle this. Jocelyn is asleep on my lap and Hubby-poo is out at Buy Buy Baby picking up some supplies, so I thought I would at least try to get through the whole labor and delivery process. Hence the back-dating of the subject line (but not of the blog).

It all started up around 2:30 a.m. I woke up, as I am wont to do, with a full bladder. Although, this time, the bladder wasn't the only problem. It was contractions that were *definitely* different than the BH contractions I had before. Ten minutes later, there was another one. I tried to sleep through it, but to no avail. Eventually they started coming closer together - 7 minutes. At that point I knew I wasn't getting any sleep.

It was around 4:30 or so that I decided to wake up Hubby-poo. I told him that my contractions were 7 minutes apart, that I was getting in the shower, and that he might want to consider packing a bag.

By 6 a.m. my contractions were minutes apart. I called my doctor, and she told me to labor at home for as long as I can. If my contractions become more painful or closer together, or if my water breaks, I should go to the hospital. But otherwise I should stay home and walk around as much as I can. She reminded me that once I go to the hospital I would need to monitored, so I would have far less mobility and labor would probably slow down (since I was planning to go natural, slowing down and being tethered would be bad).

So labor at home I did. I spent time on the exercise ball (sitting on it, hunched over it), pacing around the living room, trying (and failing) to nap, etc. I took the time to make sure I had everything that the book said I needed to pack (which turned out to not really be true - I packed WAY too much stuff!). Hubby-poo and I both called out of work, so he spent some time doing a few last-minute things that he needed to take care of before taking a week off, also packing a bag, etc. My original plan was to bake a cake to distract myself from labor at home (a birthday cake!), but with having severe contractions every 5 minutes that lasted about 45 seconds each, well, I didn't feel like doing anything of the sort. Besides, I didn't know how long I'd be there.

Around 1:00 I decided I needed to lie down. I pondered taking a Benadryl so I could sleep, but if my exhaustion wasn't going to help me pass out then taking drugs would only make me loopy but still awake. It was probably a good thing that I didn't, because at some point between 1:30 and 1:40 I got up to pee and my water broke. THAT was weird. At first I wasn't sure, as only a small amount came out. But then it just KEPT ON COMING! It was gross. Only about 20% of women go into labor with their water breaking, so I guess I am in the minority. Another call to the doctor, an old towel for me to sit on, and we were on our way to the hospital.

With the breaking of my water, my contractions became VERY intense. And were coming between 1 and 3 minutes apart. And were causing me to literally shake with pain. It was on the drive to the hospital that I decided the whole natural childbirth thing was for the birds.

I had always imagined myself calmly walking into the hospital. Instead I had them wheel me in. They brought me to my labor and delivery room, hooked me up to the equipment and checked my cervix. 2 cm dilated! What? After 12 hours of labor? After another body quake, the nurse who was very quickly trying to get my IV going and blood taken so they could place the epidural ASAP took a break to check my cervix again. 4 cm. She got my blood sent away to be tested, had the anesthesiologist on deck and even put a pressure pump on the IV bag so I could get in one full bag of fluid as quickly as possible. Another check of the cervix - 6 cm. I was moving VERY quickly.

About 2 hours later (14 hours of labor!) they were ready to place the epidural. I was in so much pain that I couldn't sit up for the epidural placement. They did it on my back, which is evidently trickier to do. But he did it, and it was fine. 15 minutes later, I could still feel the contractions but they didn't cause me any pain. It was a great balance. Of course, things did slow down, so they had to start me up on some Pitocin, but it was fine.

At that point, they officially got me checked in, had me sign all of the releases, etc. I thought it was VERY nice of them to treat my extreme pain before making me sign crap. By about 5:30 or so I was all set, but confined to bed. Since I didn't hurt anymore, I was kind of bored. Lucky for me we brought some Uno cards (among other things for entertainment), so we played a few rounds of Uno. Also, there was internet in the room, so I kept up with Facebook. We also called our families to let them know that we were full on labor and that the baby was imminent. And at 7:00, we watched Big Brother on the in-room TV. Classic!

The timeline from there was a bit fuzzy. I know I started to feel my contractions pretty strongly again, despite the epidural, and I was starting to have the urge to push. Yup, 8 cm dilated. It didn't take long to get to 10, and the nurse had me do a few practice pushes to get things moving a bit, and so I knew what to feel for. She also did a bunch of stretching while I did those pushes, that way I would have an easier time passing the baby. I was barely at zero-station, so we decided that my body as nearly ready, and that we would prop me up a bit and let gravity help out. I turned side to side for a while and the baby moved her way down quite a bit.

Then the real fun began. It was probably around 10 or so and I started the real pushes. I got to watch in a mirror for a while, until the OB showed up and got in the way. Even with the medicine, it still hurt. But that was good, because I knew where to focus my pushes. It was kind of a blur from that point on. But I do know that at 11:30 p.m. a long, slimy bundle slide out of me and was immediately placed on my chest. I put my hands on her while they cleaned her up. It was so, so surreal. I imagined the birth of my child so many times, but it was nothing like reality. The overwhelming sense of HOLY CRAP - THAT BABY JUST CAME OUT OF ME was something I didn't anticipate. She seemed SO BIG. Of course, that's because she was 9 lb. 10 oz, and 21" long (95th percentile in both categories, my little overachiever!).

Then they were off - baby was getting checked out, Hubby-poo was taking pictures and getting footprints put on his scrub shirt, Mama was getting cleaned up and stitched up - it was a whirlwind. But it was over by shortly after midnight. My baby was back, all cleaned up and wrapped up, and I was learning how to nurse. The advantage of a giant baby is that they are very hungry. And my overachiever figured out latching very quickly. It took mama a little while to get the hang of how to hold her in the different positions, but we worked it out.

The rest of the night was a combination of soothing my baby, trying to sleep and being poked and prodded by nurses. It was all very surreal. And the rest of the hospital stay was fine. Uneventful. And the best part was that, at the end, I got a gorgeous baby girl to take home with me :-).