Not.
Everything about Richie's birth story was the opposite of perfect. But in the end we got a perfect baby.
After taking Lamaze I thought everything would go so beautifully. I would one moment begin to labor and blissfully breathe through the contractions in comfortable positions around our home--in bed, on the couch, in the tub, etc. Then my water would gently break. We would go to the hospital and a few hours later after pushing a couple times my beautiful newborn would gracefully emerge from the womb. No drugs. No drama. Just perfection.
Yes. Have a good laugh. I am.
On the 21st he was due and I started having contractions. At one point I wasn't sure if I had peed or broken my water. Excitedly, I hurried off to the hospital. They checked me. Yup, I was definitely having contractions. Nope, my water was not broken. And I was only 1 cm dilated. Go home.
So we went out for dinner for my little sister's birthday and I started timing contractions. 6 1/2 minutes apart. The next day back labor begun. The pain was excruciating. If you don't know what back labor is, count yourself lucky. It's when, instead of facing your spine, they face towards your belly so the back of their skulls get jammed against your sacrum during every contraction. It was so much worse than any kidney stone I ever endured. So out of desperation I took some pain meds and continued to watch Downton Abbey and time my contractions. The next day they were 4 mins apart. By this time I had been contracting for 3 days. YUP. Three days of early labor!! Gah!! That night I woke up at midnight and listened to Justin sleep while I lay wide awake timing contractions every 2 minutes apart. Finally I broke down and begged him to take me to the hospital.
When I got there the nurse, who was on crutches, took over an hour to check me. I was DYING. It hurt sooooooo bad. Finally she checked me... 2 cm. My thoughts were obviously, "are you KIDDING me???" The doctor said to wait til I was in true labor to admit me. The nurse checked me again and my water broke. I think she might have broken it for me our of pity. Finally they admitted me. They also realized I had a fever so it was not a good situation. While I was going to the bathroom I passed a kidney stone.
After enduring so much pain I begged for pain meds. So they gave me some through an IV. It was super strong, but didn't mention til LATER that it only lasts 10 minutes and they can only administer it every 20. Awesome. Finally I begged for the epidural. The worst part of the epidural? Justin had been rubbing my back so much my skin was raw and when they scrubbed my back with the alcohol I thought they were stabbing knives all over my skin.
I got the epidural. It only worked on 1/2 my body. So I had to lay there and turn from side to side. I was bounced from nurse to nurse until one lady... Katherine? I can't remember he name... finally settled with me. She was amazing and super sympathetic. My contractions weren't progressing so they gave me petosin. Then Richie's heart rate dropped. So they gave me a different drug.
We played that game for hours. Speed up contractions, slow them down. Over and over. I had been admitted at 3 am. Then at 6 pm they told me I should probably get a C-Section.
I was so worn out but I wanted to get Richie out so I agreed. All at once I became terrified that I wouldn't live through it. Why? I don't know. Maybe all the drugs. Maybe the sleep deprivation. Maybe all the pain I had lived through for the last 4 days... It didn't occur to me that hospitals do C-Sections successfully EVERYDAY. But I was concerned I would die. So I told Justin to remarry to take care of the baby. He thought it was a little hilarious but humored me by agreeing.
So I got a C-Section. I was shaking horribly from the epidural and fear. My shoulders were tense, I fought back tears, and the doctors jabbered on about their vacations and families. I couldn't understand why people weren't more concerned that I was going to die! Finally, with a ton of pressure, I felt a bowling ball lift off my belly and I could somehow breathe again. They all exclaimed, "What a beautiful baby!! Look at all that hair! He's gorgeous!"
Then they rushed him away to get cleaned out and checked. I told Justin to go with him and do skin-to-skin immediately (something from Lamaze had to stick, skin-to-skin was all I could salvage at this point). They wheeled me back to L&D after stitching me up and I waited there for almost an hour. Justin texted me 2 pictures of our baby. He was so gorgeous but all I wanted to do was sleep. They asked me if I wanted drugs to knock me out so I could sleep. I declined and told them I wanted to breastfeed. Finally, after 2 hours I got my postpartum room and got to see my little baby.
A lot of moms told me that with your babies it's love at first sight. I'm glad they had that experience. However, I did not have it. I thought he was adorable and tiny and perfect. But I didn't fall in love right away. If we're being real, what I really wanted was a huge plate of french fries and pie and 30 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Instead, I got a few saltine crackers and a couple hours of sleep before I had to feed again.
We stayed in the hospital for 4 days. Richie had to get antibiotics in the NIC-U. I tried to sleep. I was super discouraged because I was having trouble breastfeeding and Richie was colicky and Justin was antsy to leave. At one point I broke down in tears because everything had happened so backwards to what I wanted. The nurses were amazing and supportive. They gave me so much encouragement.
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This was the end of June. The heat wave was happening. Every day was over 100 degrees. The hospital lost power at one point. I was terrified to leave. But the time came and with apprehension we left. Which brings us to the next post...
Everything about Richie's birth story was the opposite of perfect. But in the end we got a perfect baby.
After taking Lamaze I thought everything would go so beautifully. I would one moment begin to labor and blissfully breathe through the contractions in comfortable positions around our home--in bed, on the couch, in the tub, etc. Then my water would gently break. We would go to the hospital and a few hours later after pushing a couple times my beautiful newborn would gracefully emerge from the womb. No drugs. No drama. Just perfection.
Yes. Have a good laugh. I am.
On the 21st he was due and I started having contractions. At one point I wasn't sure if I had peed or broken my water. Excitedly, I hurried off to the hospital. They checked me. Yup, I was definitely having contractions. Nope, my water was not broken. And I was only 1 cm dilated. Go home.
So we went out for dinner for my little sister's birthday and I started timing contractions. 6 1/2 minutes apart. The next day back labor begun. The pain was excruciating. If you don't know what back labor is, count yourself lucky. It's when, instead of facing your spine, they face towards your belly so the back of their skulls get jammed against your sacrum during every contraction. It was so much worse than any kidney stone I ever endured. So out of desperation I took some pain meds and continued to watch Downton Abbey and time my contractions. The next day they were 4 mins apart. By this time I had been contracting for 3 days. YUP. Three days of early labor!! Gah!! That night I woke up at midnight and listened to Justin sleep while I lay wide awake timing contractions every 2 minutes apart. Finally I broke down and begged him to take me to the hospital.
When I got there the nurse, who was on crutches, took over an hour to check me. I was DYING. It hurt sooooooo bad. Finally she checked me... 2 cm. My thoughts were obviously, "are you KIDDING me???" The doctor said to wait til I was in true labor to admit me. The nurse checked me again and my water broke. I think she might have broken it for me our of pity. Finally they admitted me. They also realized I had a fever so it was not a good situation. While I was going to the bathroom I passed a kidney stone.
After enduring so much pain I begged for pain meds. So they gave me some through an IV. It was super strong, but didn't mention til LATER that it only lasts 10 minutes and they can only administer it every 20. Awesome. Finally I begged for the epidural. The worst part of the epidural? Justin had been rubbing my back so much my skin was raw and when they scrubbed my back with the alcohol I thought they were stabbing knives all over my skin.
I got the epidural. It only worked on 1/2 my body. So I had to lay there and turn from side to side. I was bounced from nurse to nurse until one lady... Katherine? I can't remember he name... finally settled with me. She was amazing and super sympathetic. My contractions weren't progressing so they gave me petosin. Then Richie's heart rate dropped. So they gave me a different drug.
We played that game for hours. Speed up contractions, slow them down. Over and over. I had been admitted at 3 am. Then at 6 pm they told me I should probably get a C-Section.
I was so worn out but I wanted to get Richie out so I agreed. All at once I became terrified that I wouldn't live through it. Why? I don't know. Maybe all the drugs. Maybe the sleep deprivation. Maybe all the pain I had lived through for the last 4 days... It didn't occur to me that hospitals do C-Sections successfully EVERYDAY. But I was concerned I would die. So I told Justin to remarry to take care of the baby. He thought it was a little hilarious but humored me by agreeing.
So I got a C-Section. I was shaking horribly from the epidural and fear. My shoulders were tense, I fought back tears, and the doctors jabbered on about their vacations and families. I couldn't understand why people weren't more concerned that I was going to die! Finally, with a ton of pressure, I felt a bowling ball lift off my belly and I could somehow breathe again. They all exclaimed, "What a beautiful baby!! Look at all that hair! He's gorgeous!"
Then they rushed him away to get cleaned out and checked. I told Justin to go with him and do skin-to-skin immediately (something from Lamaze had to stick, skin-to-skin was all I could salvage at this point). They wheeled me back to L&D after stitching me up and I waited there for almost an hour. Justin texted me 2 pictures of our baby. He was so gorgeous but all I wanted to do was sleep. They asked me if I wanted drugs to knock me out so I could sleep. I declined and told them I wanted to breastfeed. Finally, after 2 hours I got my postpartum room and got to see my little baby.
A lot of moms told me that with your babies it's love at first sight. I'm glad they had that experience. However, I did not have it. I thought he was adorable and tiny and perfect. But I didn't fall in love right away. If we're being real, what I really wanted was a huge plate of french fries and pie and 30 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Instead, I got a few saltine crackers and a couple hours of sleep before I had to feed again.
We stayed in the hospital for 4 days. Richie had to get antibiotics in the NIC-U. I tried to sleep. I was super discouraged because I was having trouble breastfeeding and Richie was colicky and Justin was antsy to leave. At one point I broke down in tears because everything had happened so backwards to what I wanted. The nurses were amazing and supportive. They gave me so much encouragement.
This was the end of June. The heat wave was happening. Every day was over 100 degrees. The hospital lost power at one point. I was terrified to leave. But the time came and with apprehension we left. Which brings us to the next post...
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