Hello friends! I am happy to say that on Monday, I delivered a healthy baby boy! I thought I would tell the story for those who are interested, but I warn you that this could be long. It is just a really big deal and it was an incredible experience for me. Anyone who has had a child or seen one born can relate. Here is the scoop:
On Sunday night I called my doctor to see if I was going to have an induction appointment for Monday or would have to wait until Tuesday. She said I was good to go for Monday at 7am, so Kalyn and I made sure to have everything packed and ready to go. We cleaned up the house and laid down for bed at a reasonable time since we would be up early for an exhausting day. We had no idea how early or how exhausting at the time, but it was a little hard to sleep. We were just too excited to finally have our little guy in our arms!
Just before 2:00 am I woke up to pee (a very common occurrence when pregnant), but when I laid down to go back to sleep I noticed that I was starting to feel like I had cramps. Not small ones either. I couldn't sleep through it. Then I realized they were coming and going in regular(ish) intervals every few minutes. I thought, "Holy cow! I think I'm going into labor!" but I waited an hour before waking Kalyn up, because doctors like you to have contractions for about that long before going to the hospital. When it became a little too painful for me I leaned over and kissed him on the check and asked, "Are you awake?" He woke up and I explained what was going on. He told me he thought that might happen. So up we got and headed to the hospital.
By the end of the half hour drive I was starting to feel a little sick. We had to enter the hospital through the ER, because the main entrance was closed at that time of night. The receptionists there checked me in. After a couple minutes of giving her my information, I told her I felt like I was going to throw up. It must have taken her less than 2 seconds to get a barf bag into my hands. I suppose if you worked in the ER you would have to have barf bags on hand all the time. She got me checked in while a nurse from labor and delivery came to get me.
I got changed into a hospital gown and tried to make myself comfortable until the anesthesiologist came to give me an epidural. I was already dilated to 3 cm. Kalyn and I noticed one of the charts that was posted on the wall. It had a bunch of circles labeled "1 cm, 2 cm, 4 cm, 6 cm, 8 cm, 10 cm." Every time a nurse came in to check how far I had dilated Kalyn pointed to a circle on the chart. Luckily I was numb from the waist down, so I wasn't cranky about it and could laugh instead. My contractions started slowing down a little bit again after I had the epidural, so I was given some Pitocin to speed them back up.
I was surprised how quickly the next few hours passed. A nurse came to check on me a little bit before 11 am and said, "Let's check how far you're dilated, just for fun. You probably haven't moved a lot yet." But to her surprise, I was already at 10 cm. She went to get the doctor. I was told to expect about an hour of pushing since it was my first baby, but I surprised them again. He was born about a half hour later. They lifted my newborn son onto my belly while they rubbed him clean and dry with towels. I remember trying to comprehend that this beautiful baby boy had just come out of me. He was mine. I touched his head and looked at Kalyn. I think we were both tearing up a little bit. I was able to hold him for a while before they took him across the room to weigh and measure him.
It wasn't until later that I found out that I had 3rd degree tearing. On the very last push I tor all the way from the vagina to the rectum. Even when the feeling came back to my legs (when the epidural started wearing off) I felt pretty good, so I told the nurse I wanted to wait on taking any strong pain medications. I stuck to only a large dose of ibuprofen.
The first time I got up to go to the bathroom, however, I was feeling pretty ill. The nurse helped me to the bathroom and told me to pull the red cord on the wall if I needed help. I think I was in there less than a minute before I started feeling like I was going to pass out. A mixture of all the blood in the toilet, the massive changes in hormones, and the exhaustion were getting to me. I was able, with help from Kalyn and a nurse, to get back into my bed, but I was shaking a lot. Let me just say, I should have taken the pain meds when they were offered. By the time it was the middle of that night, I couldn't sleep because I was in so much pain. With some prodding from Kalyn to do so, I finally asked for some pain medication. It took a long time to start working. Kalyn must have been exhausted, because he fell asleep quickly. I laid there for 45 minutes trying to sleep, but gave up. I reached over next to me and touched Kalyn's arm to wake him up. I asked him for a tissue, but the real reason I woke him up was because I was sobbing and needed a good cuddle to calm me down. He made me feel better a lot faster than the medication, because I was finally able to sleep.
The next few days were a blur of visiting family and friends who came to show us their love and support. We got to share with them our new little addition. We love him so much already and are so excited to raise him. God has trusted us with one of His children and I'm so happy about it!
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