Just yesterday it was the middle of November and now, all of the sudden, it's December 30th and the beginning of a new year is looming only hours away. It has been about 6 weeks since I have updated this blog but the time could easily have been a year in itself to me. So much has happened it's hard to process it much less write about it. But first and foremost, I am happy to report that I became a mom, my hubby became a dad and Moses, became a brother. There is so much to catch up on, I am not quite sure where to start. I guess I will begin with December 12th. On that day, I gave birth to my daughter, Penelope Grace at 5:26am. She weighed 7 lbs, 9 oz and was 20 inches long. As much as books, doctors, friends and family would like to advise about the birthing experience, nothing can really prepare you for the actual experience itself. After experiencing child birth first hand, it is my humble opinion, that no amount of books read or Lamaze classes taken, can prepare a couple for the single most emotional experience of their life! And people think getting married is emotional but marriage has nothing on the birthing experience and becoming a parent.
I, like many moms to be, thought I could prepare for birth by coming up with a birthing plan. In Lamaze class you learn to start thinking about what kinds of things you want present, or done while giving birth. This can be having ice chips on hand to having your husband massage your back between contractions or finding a focal point to burning a candle. Basically, it is a one page wish list of how you want your birth to go. It has requests like, no drugs, or yes, give me a lot of drugs, or instructions to nurses like, watch out for my husband because he might faint.
I worked on my birthing plan but little did I know I would deviate from it entirely. In fact, I didn't even have time to print it out and give it to the nurses! I was preparing to have an induction on Tuesday, December 13th. Since I had gestational diabetes I knew my doctors wanted my daughter out before the 40 week mark. (An induction is when doctors give you drugs to start labor). Some people think inductions are awesome and others dread them as they think it makes labor longer and only ends up in a csection. I won't debate the pluses or minuses. I will only tell you my hubby was concerned for me because he was worried that I would be induced only to have a csection and from the videos he watched he didn't want me going through that pain.
Sometimes inductions don't get the labor going and end up in a csection so many people get turned off. For me, I knew I had to follow what my doctors said as I really didn't have any other options except for a csection which I didn't want to do because its essentially surgery. All I had left was to pray that my girl would want to come early and oddly, she listened to my request as on Saturday evening on December 10th my labor started.
It was about 8pm when I got hungry for my nighttime snack. I decided to make some air popped popcorn despite it not always agreeing with me. But alas, was hungry and so I proceeded to dump a ton of hot sauce on the popcorn. As I sat down to eat my spicy treat, hubby and I discussed Tuesday's induction. We both mentioned we hoped she would come on her own. I made a point to pat my belly and told Penny she was welcome to come anytime because on Tuesday the doctors were forcing her out.
With that request I finished my popcorn and fell asleep on the couch. When I awoke at 11pm to go to bed my tummy felt weird. I thought it was constipation and began to insult my intelligence for eating a snack I knew to give me stomach problems. During the night I got up to pee several times which wasn't unusual but I got up even more than usual. What was different about these stirrings was that my stomach felt heavy. I still didn't think anything of it, thinking it was the darned popcorn I shouldn't have eaten.
However, when I awoke at 8am on Sunday, December 11th, which coincidentally, had the distinction of having a lunar eclipse happening at the same time I awoke, my stomach felt so off I immediately prayed to the "Poop Gods." I asked them to please let me pass the popcorn before getting induced on Tuesday because I didn't want to be one of those girls who "shit" all over the place while giving birth.
I wasn't up for but an hour before I realized the pressure on my tummy felt like period pains and wasn't period pains a sign of labor? So I got hubby's iPhone which had an app for tracking contractions and started tracking my pain. I only had to record 3 or 4 of these pains to realize that there was a method to my pain. The contractions progressed all morning. It got to 11am and I knew that this was it, that I was in labor. So I called my friend, Rhonda to see if she could take care of my dog and began to locate the bag I had packed a few weeks before.
By 2pm, my pain was really bad, my contractions were within the 5-1-1 range which is when they tell people in Lamaze classes to start getting ready to go to the hospital because it means you are in the second phase of labor. Hubby wanted to wait as he felt I still had a long time yet (because in Lamaze they say you can stay home for a while instead of being uncomfortable in an hospital room) but the pain was really bad. I finally insisted to hubby we go because I needed drugs and I needed them right away. So hubby put me in the car and drove me to St. Joe's.
I had my maternity "fast pass" card (a card that tells admitting that you already filled out all the hospital paperwork and all you have to do is drop the kid). There was no one in admitting except one other couple and that lady was pregnant and in labor as well. The first words out of my mouth to the attendant (who already seemed frustrated at the thought of having to deal with two pregnant ladies) was "I need drugs and I need them now!" She smiled and the other pregnant lady sitting in a wheel chair smiled. The admitting lady got on the phone and started to freak out to someone saying she didn't have anyone all morning and now she had two ladies in labor. As someone who deals with chaos a lot at work, I couldn't understand why she was so stressed out over the two of us. It wasn't like the place was busy, it was just the two of us.
Anyhow, she got another wheelchair and put me in it. She started wheeling me to the elevator up to delivery. The other lady had her husband wheel her up. Hubby was close behind. In the elevator, I am crying, screaming and generally miserable. I happened to notice the other lady smiling and I thought I was a big wuss. If this lady is in labor and isn't crying, I must be a wuss. I even tell her directly, " How are you smiling and not crying? I am in pain here. How come you are not screaming?" She and her husband smiled at me like I was this insane wussy lady while i huffed and puffed through a contraction.
The elevators doors to the 3rd floor open after what seemed like the longest elevator ride ever. We are wheeled to the nurses station and a bet of nurses swarm the two of us. We learn that we are the only two ladies in the ward right now and that the nurses hadn't had anyone to attend to all day. So we were the first two customers of the day essentially. I was sent to room 5 and the other lady to room 10. I get undressed and hop into bed. Luckily I had been in labor and delivery a million times thanks to my stress tests so I wasn't scared. Intense pain made up for being scared. My contractions were happening every minute and half now and all I knew was that I was in agony. I confirmed with the nurses that I wasn't one of those "all natural" women and that this was the time to get drugs. The nurse smiled and said lets do an examination. So after a trip to my nether regions she told me I was only 1cm dilated. Only 1cm dilated I sighed. I was in all this pain at 1cm dilated. Again the wussy notion cam ever me. The nurse said they normally send people home at 1cm but since I was in pain they would get me some drugs. Good, I thought.
To be continued...
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