Baby A...where to begin.
June 24th I felt pretty good all day, had a few contractions mid day as I was having some Mary time checking out a few thrift stores and trying to calm my mind from the sadness that has been filling it since Ian died. It is impossible to calm the sadness I seemed to bring it with me everywhere I go. It might not be on the surface but it is not very far behind the smile I have at times forced onto my face.
Andy was in day one of a two day meeting and it was probably 90 degrees out so after I finished working for the day I decided to take a dip in the pool. I had just got in when I felt like I peed myself. Which is a pretty weird feeling. So I called my mom and she said I should call the Dr. I called Labor and Delivery and they suggested I eat some dinner have bit of a rest then come in and they could test me to see if my water broke. Andy and I headed down there at 8:30pm. They tested the fluid and it was amnioic fluid so I was admitted despite my "plans" to labor at home. Luckily I had recently surrendered to the fact that my life was no longer in my control and I was merely along for the ride for the time being. Perhaps someday I will regain a bit of control for no other reason than to steer things in the direction I would like them to go.
So the Midwife suggested that I get settled into my room, perhaps get some rest and we will see if contractions get going, if not they were going to start me on a pitocin drip, I really didn't want this. I was hoping to at least get to use the tub and shower when I wanted and if I was on pitocin I would be hooked up to at IV and on the monitors the whole time. So I got settled into room 7 and the nurse came in to put in my IV port ( I am sure there is a correct name for it but I can't remember what it is) in case I needed it in the future. I ended up fainting while she did this, because I was standing up and she collapsed the vein. So she redid it in my hand which was pretty lame because it made using my hand pretty difficult.
The night wore on, Andy and I got little rest, we walked for a bit but the contractions didn't get going at all. At 4am the nurse came in with the pitocin and some how I mananged to get the contractions going enough that they let me keep trying on my own. They were steady and not bad for the next 4 hours. My Bestie Sara showed up at about 9 am, she was coming down for the weekend to hang out with me and get any last minute baby stuff done. So at this point the contractions had stopped. I was pacing the room and getting worried. One of the nurses came in and suggested I try nipple stimulation, this did the trick, after 3 hours of it I finally got some strong steady contractions. During the night baby had decided to turn around so my labor became back labor...oh my. I wanted to get in the tub around noon and I spent some good time laboring in there, constantly unable to get any relief from the back pain. I got pretty cold in there so then went to the shower. I showered for along time, the hot water gave me some relief and I was able to squat down in there. My parents showed up around 2 pm ready to help get this moving along. I tried the ball, walking and rocking back and forth. At 4pm they checked me and I was only 4 centimeters, pretty discouraging.
Things really started taking off after that. I got in the shower again, then the new nurse barb got me to drink as much water as I could and labor on the toilet leaning against Andy. I made it to the bed at one point and they gave me some pain meds that lasted an hour, this gave me a small bit of relief and I ended up laboring the rest of the time on the toilet. I felt the need to push at about 8:30pm. I was dilated to 9 am at this point and they said it was okay to start pushing. Kit (our mid-wife) helped to get his head through the cervix while I pushed. I started in a kind of squat, then was on my knees leaning over the top of the bed, then on my back for the last of it. Andy, mom and sara where right there and my dad wasn't too far away. I felt the baby's head right before the last push and once his head was out his shoulder came out very easily. Kit said to "Grab your baby!". I reached down, grabbed his shoulder and pulled him onto my chest. We were all crying. He was on his side so I couldn't see his face and I kept asking what is it...Mom finally said its a Boy. Andy was too consumed with looking at his face and hands to even check! We ooed and awed at him. Amazed at what had just happened. He was so alert and chill. He spend about an hour on me before they measured and weighed him. It was amazing and crazy, incredible and scary, and most of all perfect.
Andy will write his own version and I will post that as soon as he has it done. He read this and said he could elaborate so much more.
