Finally... my birth story!

Okay... here goes finally! We were scheduled for induction at 7am on Saturday morning. Madison, as I have mentioned before, was super excited to go to labor so we told my parents to meet us at the hospital around 8-9ish. That way she could hang out and be part of it for awhile. They got us right into a room and started my pitocin at 7:30. They didn't check me at this point, so I'm just guessing that I was still 4cm, 80% effaced. The doc came in to see me at 10:30 and I was at 4.5cm, 90%. Basically, the pitocin wasn't doing a darn thing! It had only minimally increased my contrax... they were still quite bearable, but with more regularity than before. So the doc broke my water for me. That didn't change anything right away. After a bit, Curtis left the room to take Madison's Simba out to the waiting room for her. She had left it behind when she went to the cafeteria for some breakfast with Grandma & Grandpa. Of course, now that I was left all alone, the contrax came on hard and heavy! I was near tears clutching the bed rails when the nurse walked in around 11ish. I had already told them that once it got too painful I would probably want an epidural, so she asked me if I wanted her to get the anesthesiologist. Guess it was pretty obvious... Of course I said yes. I think... if I remember correctly... that the epi dude was there when Curtis got back. I was pretty dizzy by that point from contractions that were extremely intense and only 1-2 minutes apart (start to start... very little break in between!) So I was bawling my eyes out, shaking like crazy and squeezing the crap out of Curtis's hands trying to stay still while the guy put in the epi. Finally it was in and started to take effect. It only ever really had a chance to dull the pain around my middle. Seriously... I think I could have walked as my legs felt fine. But it did definitely dull the pain of the contractions and that was fabulous. I could actually breathe and think straight again. I could still feel them, though... it was weird. My little computer thing had messed up with Madison and I ended up with a double dose and was completely numb for the whole thing... definitely not this time! Anyway. Once I got settled back in the nurse checked me and I was 9.5-10cm. Dr. was surprised! He said that many people claim that breaking the water won't speed up labor, just make it harder... clearly this was not the case for me! No wonder I was in so much pain... I was going through transition while they were giving me the meds. So... we start pushing and he is coming right on down the birth canal and I can feel the whole darn thing. I was still only getting relief around my abdomen... which was fine. The nurse waits until he crowns to call the doctor back in... what the heck?!? Okay, now, don't push until the Dr. is in here. Hmm... no doctor. Still no doctor. Oh, well, he just went down to the cafeteria. For those of you not familiar with this particular hospital... it is in the basement on the complete opposite end of the hospital! (Birthing Center is on the 4th floor) So we had to wait for him to come back up... and he didn't even bring me a snack! I was hungry. Once he finally got there (no real pushes from me, but I clearly could see that Jonah's head was inching its way further out... I had a mirror), I was able to start pushing again. A few more pushes (ouch! I was still feeling it all, and I wasn't quiet about it!) and a little tiny cut later, I had a gorgeous baby boy on my chest! I didn't exactly scream, but I did grunt and yell a bit. It freakin' hurt! But it was amazing all the same... I didn't feel anything with Madison, so it was actually pretty cool getting to feel the birth and watch it. My scar tissue from Madison's birth wasn't stretching which was why I had to have a little cut. No biggie... it was nowhere near as bad as what I had with her! I ended up with a 2nd degree laceration this time, so no donut pillow or sitz bath for me! Woohoo! I would have welcomed the pillow though... Some more pictures of my cutie are coming in the next post! I'm resizing a ton of them right now. K