A Baby Story
This post was started weeks ago, but life got in the way and it was never finished. So, now, probably a month later I have finished it. It's not as proofed as I would prefer, but I have a hungry girl to feed. Priorities!
On a cold dark night in Montana (around 3:30 a.m.), I awoke with abdominal pains. This was not an unusual occurance during the weeks prior to the 10th of October, because my doctor had me on an iron rich diet and I was eating lots of beans and spinach. So, like other nights, I lied awake for some time wondering if I was experiencing the onset of labor, braxton hicks contractions, or simply having gas pains. I didn't really time the pains, but I could not seem to fall back to sleep this time, so at around 5 a.m. I decided to grab a watch and begin recording the sensations so that I would have something to tell the doctor when I called her after the office opened. And, yes, I let Husband sleep through all of this.
When Husband's alarm went off, he was surprised to see me awake. I filled him in on what I had been up to during the previous 4 hours and he made a quick call into the office to let them know that he might not be coming into work. The pain that I was feeling got progressively worse, but still not too bad. We continued timing until around 9 a.m. when the doctor was scheduled to be in and then headed to see her per her request. She did a quick exam and felt that, yes, I was in early labor. She sent me home with instructions to take a warm bath, walk around, eat something, and get some sleep.
I must say that I found it very funny that the doctor would expect me to be able to sleep through the pain. Really?!?! I had a bowl of Cherios and then hung out in bed until all of a sudden, I felt like I had to throw up. On the way to the bathroom, I was sure that I also had to pee, so there was a mad scramble to empty the nearest trash can, which proved to be a wise decision, if you know what I mean. Afterward, I did find out just how small our guest bath really is when I curled up in it, attempting to relax. (The master bath only has a shower.) And, Husband made sure that I was walking around until we had to check in with the doctor again around 2 in the afternoon. It was really cold out so we just kept walking in circles around the house.
The doctor asked us to come back in for another check when we phoned her in the afternoon.
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Following lots of tears due to fear and lack of sleep, the decision was made to send me to the hospital, which was in walking distance from her office, very convenient. I had done pre-admission paperwork several weeks before, so admission was quick and easy. Unfortuneately, there has been a drop in berametric pressure overnight, which according to the nurses, causes women's water to break, so we actually had to wait about half an hour while they finished cleaning a delivery room.
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As anyone I have talked to knows, I was all about getting an epidural, which happened fairly quickly once I was all cozy in bed. I was really surprised that it didn't hurt. Either that or contractions hurt so much worse that the epidural felt like nothing. The doctor also broke my water, which, can I say, ewww. That was one of the grosest feelings, and I am very happy that it didn't happen at home. Once the nurses and doctor were done doing what they needed to do, I had some of the best orange jello that my starving self has ever eaten, then wrapped myself in my warm blanket and dozed off while husband watched TV.
Later that evening (I don't know exactly what time), I awoke to contractions on my left side. Not excrutiating, but bad enough to make me cranky. The doctor did a quick check and called the anestesiologist for more medicine since I was only dialated to about 6. Following enough drugs to actually make me completely numb from the waist down (I could still move my legs the first time around), it was back to napping. I woke up again just before 11 pm, this time my left side pain grew very bad very quickly. The doctor did another quick check only this time there were no more drugs; I was dialated to 10 and it was time to push. Painful, but in hindsight, probably a good thing.
So, Husband took his place beside my bed, put on his rally cap, and told me get my game face on. The doctor told me that it could take anywhere from 15 minutes to several hours to push the baby out, and I remember distinctively saying that I was aiming toward the 15 minute mark because I was not dealing with the pain for hours. There was a bit of stank-eye being thrown at husband and the phrase "Never Again!" came out of my mouth repeatedly, but my strong will and determination paid off and Baby was born about half an hour later.
Recovery all went fine except for almost passing out during my first attempt to make it to the shower. However, all it took was getting some food in my belly to make the dizziness go away. I was amazed by all of the yucky stuff that came along with giving birth. There were so many things that people just don't talk about. Thank goodness my friend Jenny gave me the 411 on the monster pads that the hospital has. Even so, they made me laugh anyhow...the next day.
Now, eight weeks later, Baby is doing well, not too much crying and sleeping about 5 hours at night. I feel fully recovered, just jiggly still. I really need to figure out a way to fit more cardio into my days. I was walking, but now there is too much snow, so I really need to research my gym's childcare. After all, my jeans still don't fit and my maternity pants are too big. I need there to be more to my wardrobe than just my "sexy sweatpants"!
posted by Christina/Christy/Chris @ 11:54 AM
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