It’s been a while since I blogged, but I have a good reason — we had the baby!! She is perfect, of course, and we are trying to figure out parenthood with trial and error, just like everyone else. It’s tiring, but so rewarding that I don’t think we had time to dislike the state we were in. Each day you wake up, several times, as tired as you were the last time, but once you see that tiny little face all you can do is be in awe. I call her my Little Love, and will refer to her as that or L.L. because I’m not ready to announce her name on this blog, if ever. If you really want to know her name and don’t already, email me.
So, as I told you last time I had a doctor appointment on April 5th. I was hoping I would leave that with a date to be induced. Little did I know that I would leave with a time THAT day to be induced. I was excited and a bit apprehensive, because birth was around the corner. When I met up with my husband, we gathered our things, threw down some food and headed out the door. It was exhilarating and surreal all at the same time. (I know I keep saying everything is surreal, but hey, it really is when you are talking about your first child.)
We rolled into the parking garage at 1pm, as my doctor had requested. Got ourselves into the Labor and Delivery room and everything began. Well, kind of. We had to wait a bit on the pharmacy to get my meds. I tested positive for Strep B, which meant that I had to get penicillin through my IV at the same time I started the pitocin. Now I’m not sure which one hit me harder, but I was instantly nauseous. Then my arm started to burn, it felt like the veins were cut open all the way from the tips of my fingers to just above my elbow. This was the absolute worst pain I felt the entire experience. The nurse gave me a bag of ice for the burning sensation and completely warned me about how it would feel, but I was STILL not ready for it to feel that intense. I truly felt like my hand would fall off. And to make matters worse, I had a second round of penicillin to endure. The only thing that saved me on that one is it was half the dose of the first one.
As pain medication goes, I chose an epidural. I have no illusions on my threshold of pain and knew that I would need something to help me out. Boy was that the way to go — it was a miracle! I was so impressed I had to text my mom and friend about how wonderful it was. After that it was a waiting game, and that didn’t last all that long. It was strange though, seemed that every time I looked at the clock it was 4o minutes past the hour. How an entire hour had passed each time is beyond me, but I wasn’t complaining! After our nurse’s schedule had switched it seemed everything was in order to run at the speed of light. Our nurse didn’t even think that it would be that quick, heck — the doctor didn’t either. She came in to break my bag of waters and found it had already happened. Which I did notice myself and said to my husband, “My water just broke or I just peed myself.” Luckily it wasn’t the latter.
The doctor left us saying she would be back around 11pm. This was her prediction for my birth time. Then, the nurse started “getting her table ready” for the birth. However, in no time I was feeling pressure. Even faster, I was feeling the tale tell sign of “bearing down” and called the nurse. She was shocked to see that I was ready to start pushing. I have to say that the pushing part isn’t easy, but it isn’t impossible, either. You just never know how long it’s going to last, so I can completely see how some women don’t like it.
Miracle upon miracle I only pushed for about 45 minutes, maybe about 7 times (give or take). I’m not completely sure how many and we missed a few because the nurse was running around getting everything ready and calling the doctor. It felt crazy, wonderful, unbelievable, and amazing all at the same time. When I saw her face I think I was put into a trance, because I didn’t know what to say or do. Being my first child, I was bewildered and in awe over the fact that the tiny little baby came from me. It’s so true that it takes a while for you to recognize that she’s your baby and came from your body. Both my husband and I were overwhelmed (in a good way). I don’t think that either of us were really ready for it all, once it happened.
They gave her to me and I was elated! Little tiny baby girl was all ours and we were parents, actual parents. Ah-mazing!
Time Recap:
1:00 pm Arrived at Hospital
3:40 pm Started Meds
4:40 pm Bag of Waters Broke Naturally
6:40 pm Dilated 5cm
7:40 pm Second Round of Penicillin
8:20 pm Started Pushing
9:05 pm L.L. was Born!
1:00 am Made Our Way To The Recovery Room
Awesome! Thanks for sharing and happy she had a fairly easy arrival!
Wow! What a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing it (and all the pictures!) with us!