Friday, December 23, 2011

My Very Own Labor Story

Before you ask, I think it's clear by now that I had Emily :) Everyone has a labor story and I've been told that no two labors are identical. I'm thrilled that now I have my own.

I tried to get to bed a little earlier on Monday night around 8:00pm. It took a while to go to sleep because I knew that, by that time the following night, Emily would most likely be there with me. I woke up around 11:00pm to get one last snack before I had to fast.
Around 2:45am, I woke up feeling a little sick. My alarm was set to go off at 3:00am so I just decided to get up and hop in the shower. Eric came upstairs and saw me vomiting out of the shower into a trash can I was holding and I saw his face sink. He told me to call the doctor and was very worried I just got the stomach bug that he had on Sunday. I called the hospital and told them what was going on and they said to still come in for the induction and they would check on Emily then. I threw up again before leaving the house.

Eric got everything in the car (including a "barf bucket") and we left for the hospital a few minutes after 4:00am. I was doing pretty well for the car ride and then, we got to Huachuca City and I vomited again. We had to pull over because I was having a hard time throwing up in the way I was sitting in the car and then, the Sheriff's car pulled up behind us. Eric explained that we were headed to the hospital and I was pregnant. The Sheriff offered to escort us but we told him that it was okay.

We got to the hospital and saw Katie and Jonny at registration (who ended up being right across from our room). Once we were checked in, I got to the room and got hooked up to monitors. I'm so thrilled that my nurse was Ashley's mom - she made the whole day much better than I anticipated. They kept trying to get a longer time of monitoring for Emily but I was vomiting every 20 minutes or so and Jen had to readjust my monitors each time. When Dr. Van Oosten came in, they got me setup on an internal monitor, checked my progress, and had me reposition (which was about every 30 minutes for the rest of the day). I stopped vomiting around 9:00am (or shortly after) and I think it was just the anxiety of it all. Jen said that it was likely that I was going to go into labor on my own within the next couple days and nausea may have just been my first indication. My contractions started to get uncomfortable but I opted for IV pain medication instead of an epidural to see if I could handle labor like that instead.

Long story a little shorter - I ended up stalling at 5.5cm (4cm according to Dr. Van Oosten) and around 4:00pm, Dr. Van Oosten decided that we should do a C-section. I think at that point, I kind of figured that I wasn't going to deliver vaginally and I was actually a little relieved. I was relieved because I knew that the hard part of my labor was over and I knew a definite end and that I would see her soon. Still I was a little disappointed because I hadn't had to get an epidural and that I knew a C-section meant surgery. That didn't stop me from humming down the hallway, "I'm gonna have my baby, I'm gonna have my baby!"

I got the epidural (and would NOT see that needle if I wanted to). Eric had to stay outside while that happened, which I later found out was the most stressful moment for him was waiting. My mom wasn't allowed in the OR at all but a very wonderful nurse named Casey let my mom hang out so she could see Emily too. They strapped me down on the table and Eric was finally allowed to come in. I didn't want to think about what graphic things were happening behind that sheet so I kept asking Eric questions to have him talk to me. Then, all of a sudden, I started being moved from side to side. Eric said it was them trying to get Emily out.

Dr. Van Oosten finally got my HUGE baby out and asked Eric, "Is this yours?" Eric said she was all blue and that they had to suction out her nose and stuff before she breathed and all the color came into her face. She scored a 9 out of 10 for her final APGAR score :) Eric showed me her and I got teary. Eric took her away to bathe her and they stitched me up. I tried to tell them that they could do a tummy-tuck if they wanted, since they were in there anyway. They told me not to get greedy because I just lost 10lbs with Emily and 7 more with the rest that they were taking out.

After I was stapled up, they brought me back to the room and I couldn't stop talking. I think it was partially the drugs and partially because I wanted my girl back. Finally, Eric brought her in and I got to hold my new daughter. Let me tell you - better than I ever imagined. I had a lot of visitors in my recovery time, which I was a little upset about because I wanted that 2-hour recovery time with just my mom and Eric. She was born at 5:10pm and, while I appreciate people stopped by, it was a little distracting when I was trying to learn to breastfeed and spend time with my barely-an-hour-old daughter. If I could go back and re-do it, that door would have been locked.

There it is - I survived labor. I'll do another update with the last couple weeks of our little family but I started this one on 12/23 so I figured I'd finish it.

I'm headed to bed now - my beautiful girl is BIG on mornings.

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