Giving Birth to Harper.
Part I
I'm "lol'ing" at the title of this. Sounds like a TV drama episode title or something. Let's keep it light, shall we?
Well, I have to say, I didn't have a bad pregnancy! I was actually really happy, excited, healthy.. The only thing I had was gallstones. Which suuuuuuuuucked! So I would have these "attacks", which I'm assuming, are similar to kidney stones, basically where the stone wouldn't pass or get stuck in the itty bitty hole it had to pass through. I had some attacks last 14 hours! The first time it happened I was petrified! Even though it wasn't anywhere near where the baby was. The pain was like right under the bra area, what I told the doctor was that it was like a belt of pain. You know how it used to be cool to wear the dresses and put a belt right under your chest? There. Make any sense? Anyway, the only thing I could do was change my diet, and even then I still got them. And the pain was CRAZY!
Anybody have AWFUL dreams while they were pregnant? Or, was it just me? Because I would wake up at least once a week crying from a dream I had. They were crazy. I tried everything. Not eating before bed, not drinking certain things, stop eating spicy foods (which is my bread & butter), all of it. Nothing helped. It was awful.
(this was me on my due date.. whoa!)
So, my due date was Friday, October 3. I was ENORMOUS. She had dropped, I was tired, my husband was tired, my feet and ankles were gigantic. I was extremely uncomfortable. Which, I'm almost positive, is the story with all women who are at the end of their pregnancies. And we just wanted to meet our little girl. I think I text my mom more in those last few days of my pregnancy than I had the entire time. It was Sunday night, I got my shower and laid in my bed. I had these weird pains in my back that went through to my abdomen, they weren't crazy bad, but they were very much there. I waited.. I got a few more. Then they started to come regularly. So I got my phone out and did the stop watch feature, so every time I had one, I would start it, then stop it when it ended, and start it again. It kept track of how far apart the contractions were and how long. I didn't tell my husband until he came to bed and he got SO excited. It was adorable. He wanted to run to the hospital right then and there. But, we decided to wait a little while longer. In the middle of the night they got a LOT worse to the point I couldn't sleep, but not as bad as I was expecting. So, my husband got me up and we went to the hospital. Of course, we text everyone we could and we were thinking "THIS IS IT!" Gah, I still remember how excited I was to be giving birth. Well, we got to the hospital, and me trying to be Super Woman when they asked how bad the pain was on a 1-10 scale, I said "like a 6?" Dumbie! (My husband's nudging me with the whole "make it sound worse than it was" look.) But, I was used to the gallstone pain and that was a totally different and worse pain at that point. So they checked me, said "sorry" and we had to go home because I wasn't dilated at all. AT ALL! I was 3 days past my due date. How was this possible?! So, we went home.
The contractions kept coming. At this point it's Monday evening and the contractions had not been any better. So we go back to the hospital about midnight. I was sure something had changed.. WRONG. Got sent home again. "How in the heck is this happening? Does she hate me already? My body is so pissed at me and isn't letting this baby come out.." is what I was thinking in my head. Heck, I probably said it out loud to my adoring hubby. At this point our whole family had been on edge and were waiting not-so patiently. I. was. miserable.
Went home, mind you both me and my husband have been awake this entire time. He couldn't sleep because of the pain I was in from the contractions and I couldn't sleep because of, well, the contractions. It was Tuesday at 5 am, and my water broke! Hallelujah! This time was it. Done and done. Let's get there, lie about how bad the pain was (because it still wasn't as bad as the gallstones), and have this baby!
"How bad is the pain on a scale of 1-10?"
"10! 11! 27!!" lies.
The doctor checked me. I was a whole one centimeter dilated. In 2 days. One. Centimeter... Ya'll. I was pissed. But, they let me stay since my water broke. Whit (my husband) is calling and texting our entire family. "We're at the hospital, we're staying! 1cm dilated. Game time!" We were .so. excited!
Now, I didn't have a birth plan. It wasn't for me. I'm a very realistic and go-with-the-flow person and I knew what could go wrong. I said "whatever happens, happens." I was never against a cesarean section, epidurals or any of that. So I just did what I knew I was going to do and just go with it. They put me on Pitocin. Screw. You. Pitocin. More on that later. They let me know at the beginning they cannot give me an epidural. It was all such a blur I really don't even remember why. I was fine with it, because, like I said, I'm a go-with-the-flow person and obviously I'm going to be Super Woman. They gave me the shot of pain medicine through my IV that they can only give you 3 times.
All I was really worried about (besides making sure my baby was okay obviously) was that Sons of Anarchy was on that night and I was not about to miss it! It was early, like 7am, so I had time. We were still in good spirits. So excited! Hours pass, no baby, maybe 2cm dilated around 3pm. All along still contracting every 2 to 3 minutes, but still hopeful and happy because baby is comingggggg.
Nurse shift change. "Hi New Nurse, I'm ready to have this baby. Let's get her out, please!" Now, let me tell you something about these nurses. They were probably my least favorite and they were all wonderful! I seriously loved all the nurses that helped with my labor. SHOUT OUT! But, they put the head of the bed all the way up, had me get up (which was NOT easy), turn around and hug the head of the bed on my knees and rock my hips back and forth. Full out, butt! It was the worst pain ever, then.
I was probably 5cm by the time the next nurse shift change came around 11pm. "Dangit, I missed Sons of Anarchy." No, just kidding. But, really, we did. No longer in the best of spirits, we were both starting to get upset. Still contracting. Nurse came in, checked me (which at this point, my vagina had had enough of!) and she said that a part of my cervix was still wrapped around baby girl's head. Now, I don't know what all that stuff means, all I know is that I asked her if she could just cut that part off. And apparently you cannot. Big no no. Big. Huge!
Now at this point all of our family had come and gone, and at one point or another they were all there. All took turns coming back to see me and give me a hug or make me laugh or something. My husband, mom and sisters were in and out the most. Made me so happy that our little nugget had so many people love her! We didn't have a name for her yet so we all called her Baby Girl Bowden.
I'm leaving you here today. I'll post the rest of the story in a few days. So, to be continued... (:
No comments:
Post a Comment