Labor and Delivery 6/30/2011

For my friends who are pregnant or yet to have kids I don't write this to scare you I just want to always remember it. Before anyone goes any further reading all pain experienced during this process was truly forgotten the moment I held Hudson, really, and if I had to I would do it all again! And yes this is a picture of me right after delivery beautiful I know;-)!

What a wild few days! Hudson is 3 days old (5 now actually, not a lot of time to blog anymore) and it all seems like one day to me! I want to record everything before I forget it, pictures will have to wait as I forgot the cord for our camera(now I'm home see here is a picture). So it all started around 9pm on Wednesday night, I was at young womens tying quilts when it became painful for me to bend forward anymore. So I went home and laid down, I started to notice that my back pain was coming every five minutes, so I stayed up till midnight reading all about labor and back pain, it seems that it usually indicates a face up baby. Finally I called labor and delivery and midnight and they said to take a bath or go to bed. I went to bed, around 1:30 I woke up in pain and went to the bathroom where I had a bloody show (mucus with a little blood, means your dilating) so I called labor and delivery again and they said to go back to bed, I had already told TJ to come home from work and started to pack the last of our bags, I tried to go back to sleep but it was too painful! So labor and delivery said to come on in! I came in and was at a 5! Wahoo, contractions were regular and I was sent to a delivery room! Contractions were intense and I was around an 8 and I started to throw up I decided for me to be able to remain calm through the rest of the delivery I needed an epidural. I mainly feared for the future more than anything else! Getting the epidural made me want to run home, my nerves kept getting tinged and I would want to jump off the bed but had to remain completely still. After I finally got it successfully installed I was in paradise, I listened to my hypnobirthing relaxation and thought of and prayed for Hudson, it was such a wonderful time, it was like night and day! I thought of all the things I hope for him to get out of life.

One of my friends happened to be a nurse on staff Melanie Hope who I now regard as my angel, wow, I am humbled by all that nurses do and Melanie's ability to be calm, concise and quickly get things done, she is the best nurse I've ever met and has a gift! So I finally hit a 10 about 12 hours after starting labor. I started to vomit intensely despite the zofran I had already accepted for my nausea. Up to this point my Dr and nurse said that I was having a textbook labor and should even pop him out a little earlier than an average first labor Everyone had been trying to figure out what way he was positioned, and come to find he was facing up, babies most successfully descend and exit facing down nevertheless they had me push, and I pushed for 2 hours, he got to a +2 and didn't progress, his head even started to mold but we didn't make any progress. My Dr said I have a narrow round pelvis which is great for running and looking good in my jeans, great encouraging. I thought death sounded like a great option at this point, my epidural had run out and more importantly my strength as we were all trying so hard to push him out. I kept feeling the desire to push, I think it I had energy left it wouldn't have been so bad but without it I felt helpless.

My Dr who is against unnecessary C-sections started to explain the risks and why he thought it was our best option, he couldn't start fast enough! I started to shake but still had the urge to push and no strength it was awful. They wheeled me up to the operation room, Melanie worked with an amazing calmness and precision to get everything done quickly. I remember someone in the operation room saying to me this seemed like a good idea 9 months ago huh? It made me laugh. I loved my anesthesiologist he warmed my hands and was so sweet, he may have even made that comment I don't know. I could feel a lot of tugging and pressure it was kind of wild but I could feel no pain. Then I heard my baby cry and it was the best sound in the world! TJ was with me and I made him go to him, I could see Hudson's big hand grab TJ's finger and I could see him looking up at him it was so sweet!

They wheeled me back to the delivery room, I heard my mom say Elizabeth as we passed by the waiting room and saw my brother's mother-in-law but I had no strength to lift my hand even. Then TJ brought Hudson into the room, I didn't think they would let me hold him as I was still shaking and freezing and nautious, but Melanie held him up to me and I couldn't stand it so I asked if I could hold him, as soon as I did the shaking stopped, the nausea subsided and I got warm. He fed right away and like a champ, this kid has no problem eating that's for sure!

Then they wheeled me into postpartum where we set off an alarm, the have a tracker on your baby that will lock down the unit if anyone gets to close to a door, kind of cool, kind of scary. After that I mainly remember laying on my back that's all I could do. I had some pressure cuff thingys on my legs and was still pretty numb, I slept with Hudson on me that night and we were all so happy!