This time last week we were waiting anxiously for the hospital to call and let us know we could come in. I was extremely anxious about how the birth would go because of my symphysis issues and knowing Amir would be a big baby. The doctor was not shy about telling me a c-section was likely and I was terrified of that possibility. Obviously we would have to do what was safe for both of us, but I wasn't ready to accept that option until I had to.
Masud and I got to the hospital around 11:30 and made our way into room 5 of the Ridges Birthplace. After waiting a few minutes for the nurse to come in, she was there and getting me all hooked up. Our room looked out over the therapy playground at Gillette ... Too bad it was too cold for outside therapies that day! I put up a picture of a rainbow Lyla made me to serve as inspiration.
Nurse Carol was awesome and got me hooked up to all the monitors right away. I let her know I was apprehensive about everything and she said we could takes things slowly and that they would try to take an approach that was better for baby this time When Lyla was born, it was all about getting her out and they used high levels of pitocin and a lot of interventions, which is probably why it was a little more hectic experience. This time, I got my IV and got hooked up to pitocin, but it was a much lower dose. I felt the contractions, but they were reasonable and I got to have a labor experience for a while, which was awesome.
Dr. Cowling came in and broke my water around 12:30 or 1:00. The fluid was clear and everything looked good. That leaking feeling was very strange, but hey, a least I got to feel what it was like! After she broke my water the contacting got a lot stronger. She also asked that I stand up to help baby move into the pelvis more. I stood for a while, then tried getting on a birth ball -- again, something I wanted to try before but didn't have a chance to do. Unfortunately when I sat down, Amir's heartbeat would disappear on the monitor, so I had to go back to standing.
Eventually the contractions were getting too strong to handle on my own so I called Carol to get the epidural process started. It took a little while for the anesthesiologist to get there and at one point Masud called the nurses desk and said, "I think she is really in a lot of pain in here, is someone coming?" I thought it was sweet that he was worried for me. Shortly thereafter the guy came to put in the epidural. He was a jerk and it was the worst experience with anesthesia ever.
Between the contractions and the unsympathetic anesthesiologist, I was in a ton of pain. Carol was great and really helped me get through it. Still, I had all I could do not to sob through it and had tears streaming down my face by the time the guy was done. Afterward, even Carol seemed to think it had gone a little bit awry.
Within 5 minutes I couldn't feel my feet at all and within 15 minutes I was completely numb from my chest down. I started to panic a little bit because I could hardly feel myself breathe and felt nauseated. Carol tested my numbness level and shut the medicine off right away. Whatever the guy did, it was obviously too much medicine or in wrong or something. All I could think was how scary it was to not feel my body at all and what it must have been like for Lyla to go through that for so many weeks!
As the epidural wore off we watched Jm Hensons's Creature Workshop and the food channel. After a few hours, I finally fell asleep which is when Carol came to check me again of course. She said I was ready to push! I did a practice push and she told me to stop pushing because she didn't want him to be born before the doctor could get there.
Dr. Cowling made it shortly after Carol got the bed all set up and I started to push with each contraction. It was calm and quiet and even though it was hard, I felt like I was having the birth I wanted, which was great. While my epidural wasn't turned on, i was still pretty numb and didn't feel much more than pressure as he came out. I even got to feel his hair and him crowning without being it too much pain. After 35 minutes Amir was born and ready for the world! Our big, healthy boy made it out with no complications.
By the time she was sewing up my tears and managing some minor hemorrhaging I could feel everything a lot more and it was quite uncomfortable. Delivering the placenta was worse than delivering Amir! But, who cares when you have a perfect little man to snuggle afterward.
They put him on my chest right away and Masud cut the cord. We got to snuggle him for a long time before they took him to the warmer and I was amazed at how strong he is! He was already pressing up off my chest right after being born!
After some breastfeeding time and family bonding, a new nurse came in to bathe Amir and get me cleaned up too. We packed up and moved to the mother and baby unit where we got settled in. We are so in love with our little man!
No comments:
Post a Comment