I woke up around 2:20am Saturday with very different contractions than what I had been having. I timed them until 3, then woke Ben up. They were pretty close together, and since they were a lot stronger, I got anxious and went ahead and called Destinee to come stay at the house with Ginger.
We got to the hospital around 4, and they monitored me for a couple of hours. There wasn't enough change in that time to satisfy them, so they sent me home. It was very frustrating, because I had more contractions closer together after I left the hospital, and on the road to Rogers than I did in that last half hour in the triage bed. Sheesh.
(I was 50-60% effaced and 2 1/2 cm dilated)
We picked up Ginger at Destinee's work, because we caught her before she was supposed to take her to my cousin Jessica's house. I expected Ginger to be all clingy and want to stay with me. She surprised me. She looked at me and wailed, "I wanted to play at Karlee's house!" LOL
We dropped her off, and went home and monitored contractions all morning and afternoon until we went back. I am very thankful Ginger wanted to go and play, because I would have hated for her to see me in that condition. I don't know if it's because I am older, or God erases your memory on purpose, but I do not remember my back labor hurting as bad with G as it did with Lucas. It was awful. Ben had about 5-10 minutes in between them, and he would have to rub my lower back as hard as he could to get me through them. We switched from the heat pad to a cold washcloth between them as well to help.
We arrived back at the hospital at 4PM (By this time I was 80% effaced and 3 cm) and they monitored me again for two hours.
It was so different for me with both kids, when I had Ginger I was 100% effaced and at 3, they admitted me, I had some Demerol, and my epidural by the time I was at a 4. The nurse told me this time they don't admit you until you are at a 5!
I prayed so hard when they came back in to check me, and hallelujah I was at the magic number!
The nurse came in to start my IV. Lucky me, I had three tries with three nurses before they got it done. I swear, I am laying here with horrible back labor contractions and that needle hurt worse than anything. Go figure.
Then the Dr. comes in to examine me. I have no idea what he did, but it felt like he was trying to pull Lucas out. It was awful. I just bawled when he left. I felt so picked on. And then glory be, they came to get me and I had to walk to my room! Ain't I special??
*sarcastic grin*
So now the waiting begins. The Dr. with the drugs was on his way. BUT, we had to wait until they ran the first IV bag through and my labs came back ok. I'm not sure what the labs had to show and I didn't ask. I think that took around 45 minutes total.
Sometime during all this, my Dr. comes in to.....take a guess.....break my water! Can it get any better? I really wish I had had the guts to say no, I wanted to wait until I got my epidural. But I was too chicken. So I just sat and numbly nodded.
It was the weirdest feeling ever. I actually enjoyed it. Can you believe it? I am in pain, and I am laying there actually wanting to laugh because my water breaking felt so funny. I am one strange cookie!
Well, since that water was not contained anymore, there was nothing to keep my contractions from really coming. And boy, did they come! They were so close together I hardly had time to take a breather between them. I kinda feel like I had an out of body experience around this time. I remember moaning and telling my mom I didn't want to do this anymore, and Ben and mom trying to help rub my back during the contractions, but it was like I wasn't there. Pain makes you feel strange things.
(The facts here are fuzzy, but they decided to give me some pitocin. Ben said that was before my epidural. No wonder the contractions came hard after that. But I don't remember it being that way.)
Two funny notes during all this: My Dad and Ben's Dad was talking on the couch during this (I felt so embarrassed later, I had them, my Mom, Mom in law and Sister all in there, and there I was making a lot of noise about the whole thing but they assured me I could have been worse).... anyway, at one point my Dad said something to the effect of "He's here!" and I looked up hoping to see the drug Dr. No luck. They were talking about something else. He got in big trouble for that!!!
During the next 5 or more contractions, at the end of them, more water kept gushing out. It was the coolest feeling ever. It is so silly how much I enjoyed it. K, I know, I am sounding more crazy as we go, but we have all known this about me for awhile, so why fight it?? LOL
I still don't know how long it took the drug doctor to get there, but he finally arrived. The Lord was gracious to me and made the contractions slack off so I was able to relax enough for my drugs.
He told me to let him know if I could taste metal, had blurred vision, or a ringing in my ears. I kinda laughed and said that YES I did have blurred vision, but that's because I had my glasses off. He laughed as well and said to not worry about that then.
I had two totally different reactions to my epidurals. With Ginger, I went completely numb, from the waste down, could not feel a blessed thing. And forget about moving anything. I had two dead legs. They could have cut my leg off, and I would have not even blinked an eye. With Lucas, I could still move my legs and toes, but nothing hurt. I really liked it. I made me feel more prepared somehow.
The only bad thing about this one was I couldn't stop shaking, and my heart rate went up, which made the baby's go down. That worried them and the nurse sat and monitored me for a bit.
When I finally was able to calm down and stop shaking, I tried to concentrate on getting some rest.
About the time I started getting drowsy, the nurse, who by the way was absolutely AMAZING, she was the sweetest person....came in to give me my catheter. When she was done she said she needed to examine me. I told her I was going to try to take a snooze after that, and she laughed and said, "Now watch, you are going to be complete and ready to push!"
She was right. You should have seen her eyes pop! She said she couldn't believe it. I kinda whined about my nap flying out the window, LOL and then got really nervous/excited when she started buzzing around calling the aids and the Dr. and told my mom to go get Ben.
The room went into action as they got me all set up, and then the pushing began. He said he wanted me to practice. We did one set of pushes. Then another. Then he told me to cough. Cough? I did. He said, "No, I mean cough!" So I did, and out he came!! I could not believe how fast things progressed once I got my drugs to Lucas being born- I got my epidural around 9pm, and he was born at 10:03!!
They had to work on him a little bit, my mom said he was a bit blue. The nurse had to take him to the nursery just for a bit because of his oxygen, but he came back pretty quickly and I was able to hold him and nurse him right away. He nursed like a pro, it surprised us all- especially me!!
The family all came in after that, and passed him around, and then it was time for bed. I was so full of energy I could not believe it. I didn't hardly feel tired. Ben said I was nuts. The nurse brought me in some snacks, and I ate them all. She even ran down to the nurses station and brought me back a slice of cheese pizza- she was such a sweetheart!
We got settled into our new room and crashed. Sunday AM-through Monday afternoon when we left was full of events. Lucas was a tad jaundiced so they had to monitor his blood, he had his circumcision, which I was so nervous about, but they said it went great and we have not had any problems with it, thank you Lord! I talked to so many nurses over paperwork, from my discharge papers to his, to the birth certificate info....it went on and on.
The breastfeeding got a little rough but we have kept at it and it has gotten easier and better every day. I cannot believe he will be a week old tomorrow! Our little man is here, and I am so in love.
Can I be completely human here for a second? I had to admit to the Lord that I was a little mad at Him, because I had prayed so hard for my labor and delivery, and I wondered why he allowed me to have such a hard time. But He's God. I had actually told myself a couple of days before I went into labor that if for some reason something went wrong, that God would be with me and He would give me the strength to go through it. He gently reminded me of that, and I cried. I also believe that even though it was awful, the end result is sooo worth it. More than there are words available.....
my baby Lucas
