Labor, delivery, and our PRECIOUS MIRACLE pt.2

The epidural medicine was given around 8ish, but the weird thing was that it numbed all the way up past my chest. The Anesthesiologist said he gave me less than a normal dose, and that he would turn it off for the next hour to let the medicine wear off a little. Since I now had an epidural, I was confined to the bed. I couldn't even get up to go to the restroom. This is not what I had planned my birth to be like. In the meantime, my Dr. came by and decided to break my water bag (well, what little fluid I had). She checked me and said I was 3cm. Not much progress if you think about it.

So the Anesthesiologist came back and by then the medicine had worn off completely and I was feeling the hard contractions again. He gave me more medicine, but this time it only numbed half of my body. I could still feel my contractions on the right side. He said he could move the catheter, but I told him no that it was fine. In some way I felt like this was a compromise. I could progress, but still feel the pain. I know call me a Masochist.

And so for the next few hours I labored in and out of sleep, all the while my blood pressure going crazy, and his heartbeat dropping at times.

Tuesday, September 7 - Happy Birth Day
Around 1:00am the nurse came in and said because the baby is under a lot of stress, they needed to give me a saline solution infusion. Just basically giving the baby some fluid to help relieve some of the stress he was going through. I thought for sure that at any minute they were going to tell me I was going to need an emergency C-section....but God had His hand on Josiah the whole time. Joel and my mom watched over me and the monitors while taking short naps. This was a long process.

At 3:00am the nurse came back in and checked me and said I was 8cm. I woke up Joel and had him call my mom (she ran down to her car for a short nap) Whoo hoo! Finally!!!!!! By this time the epidural had worn off completely and I was starting to feel the hard contractions again. The nurse said she would check me again at 5:30am to which she did, and found me at 10cm.

Showtime- 5:30-6:57 am
Immediately she started making preparations for delivery. She called the Dr to tell her I was ready. Sometime during all this, I started feeling like I needed to push. The nurse told me not to push and just breath through it. Right...tell that to your body when it just takes over. The nurses were running frantic as me and another patient were ready to push at the same time, and the other patient's doc was not there either and they had to call the ER doc to deliver her baby. I waited for half an hour for Dr. Chandler to get to the hospital, all the while needing to push.

She finally got there around 6:15. During the time I needed to push, I felt like I needed to pass gas. I was mortified, and so I told my Dr. and nurse, "I'm embarrassed, What if I need to pass gas?" To which they replied, "Hello, we've all had babies"....One more embarrassing thing, the pediatrician walked in to wash his hands....and all I could think about was pulling down my gown. It was rather embarrassing. I know they say modesty goes out the window when you have a baby, but not for me. When it came time to push, the nurse told me "okay you're having a contraction, you need to push"...but I simply told her "No I am not having a contraction, and I don't feel like I need to push!" We went round and round until she finally let me push when I felt like it. I was grateful. She was worried about the baby as he had a BM in the womb.

And so it began...

I pushed for 45 minutes with the best labor coaches you could ask for; my husband and mom! I couldn't have done it without them. When I felt like I couldn't do it anymore and I wanted to quit (yeah right...like you could really quit in the middle of it all), they encouraged me. At 6:57 am, Josiah entered this world as a newborn baby. As soon as he came out, I immediately forgot what the pain felt like. It's like, I couldn't remember. It was the weirdest thing.

I can't say that my first glimpse of him brought me to tears, because it didn't (that came later, and by myself), but I was happy . It moved me more to see my husband teary eyed as they put Josiah (all green and alien looking) on my chest. Joel didn't know what to do when they took Josiah to be cleaned, and so I encouraged him to go with the baby. He was as proud a father as any. My total labor was 28 1/2 hours, but so worth every second of it.

Giving birth to Josiah was definitely an experience that will never be forgotten, and though there were many complications, he is healthy baby boy. My heart fills with more and more love every passing day for the two men in my life; my husband and my son.

Until next post,