So are you ready for the real baby story now???? I'm very sorry I haven't gotten online to do this. But the combination of the lack of sleep, still being quite sore (laying down feels MUCH better than sitting), and the fact that I would rather stare at Ethan than the computer have prevented me from updating my blog until now.
Here it is:
On Thursday morning we went to the hospital at 6:30 for our appointment to be induced. For the first 3 hours nothing really happened - they just strapped 2 monitors to my stomach - 1 to measure my contractions and another to watch Ethan's heartbeat. They also checked me and I was dialated to 4, which meant I could get my epidural whenever I said it was unbearable. At 9:30 a.m. they began the Pictocin - increasing the dosage every 20 minutes. For the first 3 hours I couldn't feel most of the contractions because they were so mild - even though the monitor said they were 4-5 minutes apart. Around 1:00 I could really start feeling the contractions... and I was dialated to 5. The resident who checked me suddenly wondered if Ethan was breech - because she said either he was bald or she could feel his butt. Not good, because if he was breech then I would have had to have headed off for a C-section right then. So they wheeled in an ultrasound machine and did a quick ultrasound and saw that, thankfully, he was in the correct position. This created lots of jokes about Ethan being bald and taking after his dad. :) (Side note: he wasn't bald - she had felt his forehead) A little later the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and I asked for the epidural, thinking I would get it right away. Well, I had to wait another half hour for the anesthesiologist to come out of surgery... and in the meantime the contractions were getting more painful. Finally, though, he showed up and we got ready to do the epidural.
First of all, getting an epidural is not fun. He gave me 2 shots of local anesthetic in my back so that he could administer the epidural - which is essentially a little catheder (sp?) that goes into your spinal column and continuously gives pain medication. Getting the local shots hurt SO BAD!!! But then I couldn't feel him putting in the epidural, so that was good. Long story short, an hour later I had no pain relief - the epidural had gone into a blood vessel so it was not working - and in the meantime the contractions were getting worse. So, the guy (reluctantly) did another epidural - which meant enduring the 2 shots again, because he dropped one vertebrae lower on my spine. I think that he was pretty much positive it had been in the right spot the first time, and that I was in the 5% that an epidural does not work for. About 5 minutes after this second one was administered, I began to feel my toes tingle and going numb. Thank the Lord - the epidural was working!! Within probably 15 minutes I could no longer feel my contractions - which the moniter said were 1 1/2 to 2 minutes apart. Since I was now feeling perfectly fine, I got REALLY hungry! But I couldn't eat anything except ice chips. All I had that day was some toast at 5:00 a.m.
Now that the epidural was for sure working and I really couldn't feel anything, they broke my water. At this point I was dialated to 6. They were waiting until the epidural began working because it usually kicks labor into a much higher gear. They stuck this thing in me that looked like a crochet needle to break the water bag. I couldn't feel a thing... not even the water coming out... quite bizarre. So then they let me hang out for a little bit (I was chatting with my mom and Tom), then they came and checked me again (which was when I kicked my mom out for good).... and I was dialated to 8. At 5:30 when they checked me again I was dialated to 10... which meant it was time to start pushing. One thing about getting an epidural though, is that women are usually ineffective at pushing because they don't feel the "urge" to push. So generally they turn of the epidural once you are dialated to 10. I, however, promised the nurse I would be the best pusher in the world, so as not to feel what I assumed was probably the most painful part of the whole process. So, from 5:30 to 7:30, I was pushing at most every contraction. It's super hard work - and you have to push while holding your breath. But after 2 hours of pushing I was completely wiped out and he wasn't moving, so I told the doctor to go ahead and use the forceps. It was apparent that Ethan's head was much bigger than anyone expected. They got the room all "baby ready" and got out these metal things that looked like giant silver salad tongs. What I thought would be my biggest fear happened, but it was completely fine at the time. The doctor had to cut me to get the baby out. It completely creeps me out, but I was more than ready to not be in labor anymore. At 7:55 Ethan was born after being "guided" (as the doctor said.... though Tom said he was really pulling hard) out with forceps during a contraction while I was pushing. Although it wasn't "painful" because I had the epidural the entire time, there was an indescribable amount of pressure at the end. The doctor said afterwards that in 2 more contractions he was going to have to do a C-section since Ethan wasn't moving.... because the forceps didn't work the first few times. So, the kid was huge. 8 pounds, 15.5 ounces (the nurse joked that if he hadn't peed all over right away that he probably would have been an even 9 pounds!!), and 22 inches long. Everyone, even the doctors, thought I would have a 7 to 7.5 pound baby because I hadn't gotten that big.... yeah, whatever!!
After all that, our parents were all waiting outside, but it was another hour till they could come in because I still had to get stitched up and they had to clean the room. They were all VERY ansy!!!
Once the epidural wore off that night, the nurse helped me to the bathroom and tried to make me pee. Didn't happen. Let me tell you though - it was like having the period from hell (at least for the first night)!!! They literally don't give you a pad in the beginning for the blood - they use a diaper!!! It's insane!! So, a couple more times the nurse helped me to the bathroom and I still couldn't pee even though I felt like my bladder was going to explode. So they used a cathater (sp?) like they use when you have an epidural to drain my bladder... I was SO thankful!! By morning I could pee on my own, but VERY little.
At 2 in the morning that first night, they moved us into a postpardum room because they were so busy.... we got the last bed available in the postpardum rooms, and, lucky us, it was shared with another couple and their baby (one of only 2 semi-private rooms in the maternity ward - the rest are private). We had the nurses take Ethan so that we could get some sleep for a couple of hours because by 4 am I still had not slept (which meant I had been up for 23 hours). As soon as they took Ethan, the other couple's baby started crying... and he cried for the whole 2 hours that Ethan was gone. Lovely. So, I ended up only getting an hour and half of sleep by breakfast time, and no more the rest of the morning either.
Visiting hours at the maternity ward were from 1:30 pm - 8 pm. And we literally had visitors the ENTIRE time - except for 15 minutes around 6:00. At 7:30 we had 8 people visiting in our room... and all I could do was count the minutes till 8:00. Once everyone left I just started crying from complete exhaustion. That night I ended up getting about 4 hours of sleep. Then the following day we headed home.
Now that you have the birth story, I need to lay down. I will update again soon with how things have been going since.... He's been a really great baby so far... not very fussy. :) Also, thanks to everyone for your cards - it's really meant a lot!
