Labor and Delivery

So... I wanted to post more about my labor and delivery, so I have a record of it. I always enjoyed other people's stories, but if this bores you. You don't have to read it ;) Anyway... I was slowly progressing over 3 weeks. The first time I went into the doctor I was 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced. The doctor told us that from what he could tell, I wouldn't have to be induced and I'd probably go before my due date. We were excited about that. Then, the next week I was at a 3 and the doctor stripped my membranes. It was painful but not too bad. He said, "We'll make an appointment for next week just in case, but I don't think it's long now. We got excited about that, but then, there I was at our next appointment. The doctor checked me again and I was at a 4. He said he would induce me on Friday if I don't go before then. Then he said, "If you feel any consistency in your contractions AT ALL, come in. So that night, we planned to walk around a lot to get things going. We went to Gardner Village with my parents and looked at all the shops and stuff. I paid a lot closer attention to my contractions, but they weren't painful at all! Well, they were still 3-5 minutes apart so Isaac and I were debating going in. We decided to go in and it was about 10:00 p.m., but I felt SO DUMB because I was NOT in pain. Anyway, when we got to the hospital, we had to talk to the nurse to get through the door and she said, "You're pregnant, you can't come in." Jokingly of course, but I guess they were really really busy that night. Anyway, we got into the room and the nurse checked me(her name was Sarah Nielson HA!!) and I was at a 4+. She told us to walk around the hospital for an hour to see if I progress at all. It was funny because we had to walk the halls, and I wanted to SPEED walk so we could get something going. We really walked as fast as we could. I'm sure it was funny for some of the doctors and nurses to see this lady who is supposed to be in labor, walking as fast as she can. Well, we went back to our room, and the doctor checked me. He said, "I could call you a 5, what do you say we break your water and keep you?" Of course that was good news! That's when it hit me though, and I was a little nervous. Just as soon as he stuck that plastic thing up me to break my water, the painful painful contractions started WHEW!!! That is when I really appreciated my mom for going through the whole labor without an epidural 7 times!, I just couldn't imagine! That would be SO HARD!!! Anyway, as I was trying to breath through them while saying, " help me". They called in the anesthesiologist. I was just praying that I didn't have another contraction while he stuck that needle in me, I did, but I got through it. It was a funny feeling when he stuck that needle in my spine, but the numbness almost came immediately. Then, after about an hour, the doctor checked me again and I was at an 8! After another hour, the nurse said I had probably progressed a lot, but they were just going to let me "progress and descend" is what they called it. After about another hour, they checked me again and I was fully dialated. At this point, the epidural started to wear off, and I forgot to press that button. I guess I was a little distracted. Anyway, I pushed for 2.5 hours, I guess her head was having a really hard time getting past my pubic bone. Honestly, I really felt like I was just wearing myself out, and she wasn't moving at all!!! At that point, the doctor came in and tried the vacuum. He also had to give me an episiotomy. He tried to do it without a local anesthetic at first, but I could feel the pinching. The nurse suggested that the anesthesiologist come back and give me another dose, but I didn't want that at that point, I didn't want to have to wait, I just wanted the baby out of me! Anyway, so I pushed another few rounds with the doctor using the vacuum, and she was finally able to make progress. Right at the end, I remember pushing the 3 good pushes, but her head wasn't quite out yet, but almost, so I had to push at least 3 more good pushes. I remember that being REALLY hard because I had no breath left, but I knew I had to do it, because I could feel her coming out. Then when she came out, I heard Isaac say, "She's here!" and they put her on my belly. That was such a wonderful wonderful feeling. It was amazing to see her after 9 months of wondering what she would look like. So, one thing that nobody told me about was the nurses have to push on your belly to get all the blood out. YUCK!! That hurt really bad! I guess they had a hard time getting the bleeding to stop with me, So they had to put some pills in my bum(not fun) and put a cathetor in. I don't really know why, but I guess that's what they do to try and stop it, but I was a little bit frustrated because I thought the poking and prodding was done, but it wasn't. Anyway, it wasn't too bad. We had a lot of visitors at the hospital, and a great outpouring of love and support. We felt so lucky! I posted just a few really cute pictures of her, because we can't stop with the pictures!