Natural Childbirth is Over Rated!!

This is going to be super long, and probably full of TMI, so sorry. I went to my doctor's appointment on Wednesday morning not expecting anything to have changed. We just took Xander with us so that we didn't have to inconvenience anyone for no reason. He checked me and I was dilated 2 cm. He let me decide what I wanted to do, so I said that I wanted to be induced. We headed over to the lab to get some blood work done first. There was another pregnant lady who got there just before us, so she got her stuff done first and then got the last available room. We had to wait in the waiting room for a room for about and hour and a half. I got all set up and then Grandma and Grandpa Lindsay came and got Xander. The doctor came and inserted the medication to get my contractions going and get everything nice and soft. He did this at about 11:30. It started to work immediately. They just felt like cramps, so I was doing good. A little while later the doctor came and stripped my membranes. I then went and walked the halls to help get things moving even more. I had to take my IV drip with me because I was getting Pitocin and antibiotics. I felt pretty stupid roaming the halls of the hospital in my robe and pushing along my fluids. Especially because there were several people from my ward there giving a blessing. Brandon came with me at first, but then he went back to the room to play Solitaire. They have old pictures and stories framed all over the walls about the settling of the valley. I took my mind off of the contractions by looking at the pictures and trying to get name ideas. A few hours later he checked me and I was at a 3.5 and they wanted me to wait until I was 4.5 before getting the epidural because they didn't want my labor to slow down. So, I roamed the halls for another hour and then was able to get my epidural. The anesthesiologist had only worked there for three weeks and they didn't have the type of instrument that he was used to, so he had to make do. The epidural ended up only working on my right side. That doesn't mean that I only felt half the pain, it meant that I felt both sides of the pain on the left side. I tried laying on my left side to get it to spread, but the baby didn't like that and his heart rate fell. They were pretty busy, so he had to go to the OR for a few hours, so he couldn't help fix it right then. The doctor came and stripped my membranes again. He barely got in there and my water broke. They had to place an internal monitor on the baby because he kept moving around and losing the heartbeat. It was a little screw that they put into the baby's head to make sure he's okay. I can't even tell where they put it in. The contractions were coming pretty hard and fast now, about 1-2 minutes apart. I was not at all prepared for a failed epidural, so I had no idea how to manage the pain. By the time I got to 8 cm, I was ready to be done. Brandon and the nurse helped me focus and breath through the pain. I finally got the hang of it and I even slept through a few contractions. I was 9 cm when the anesthesiologist came back in and gave me another shot of medicine. They had me lay on my left side so that it would spread to that side. When I got to 10 cm I was good and numb. This was not a good thing because I was too numb to push. So, I had to wait about an hour for the epidural to wear off. This was an hour of pure bliss. Brandon enjoyed it, too, because I wasn't squeezing the guts out of his hand and he could follow the basketball game better. All of the sudden my epidural wore off and I started pushing. I was making slow progress and was really starting to swell. By then, the pain was unbearable and I was so tired that I couldn't push very effectively. The baby's heart rate was doing good and it was even going up each time I pushed, which is a good sign. Then all of the sudden they had me stop pushing and they rolled me onto my side. I didn't know this until after, but his heart rate started to drop and he was struggling. I was struggling as well and I wasn't brave or quiet about my discomfort. The doctor asked the nurse for a vacuum, but she got the wrong one, so she went and got another one. It still wasn't the right one, but he tried it anyway. It kept slipping off, so he threw it, and yelled at the nurse telling her to find the one he wanted. She finally go the right one and he was able to be suctioned out at 11:01 pm. I tore a little, but it could have been a lot worse. It took the baby a few minutes before he cried, and that was kind of scary. I found out later that his head was over 4 cm above average and that was why I was having a hard time getting him out. I also found out that the doctor had a crew with a bed ready outside the door to take me to the OR for and emergency C-Section. I was so relieved that he was there and safe, and that he latched on immediately. I can't believe that some women would go through natural childbirth voluntarily, because it was a nightmare for me.

After I got back to my room it was nice to be able to walk around and not still be numb from the epidural. Brandon went home to sleep because we knew we would both sleep better that way. They were concerned about how much I was still bleeding the next day, so they gave me some pill to get my uterus to clamp down. About 10 minutes after taking it, my body went into teeth chattering shakes. I couldn't get control and my palms started to itch as well. Add this to the cramping, and I was kind of scared. Brandon went and got the nurse and she got me a warm blanket and that helped a little. I guess I had a bad reaction to the medication and none of the nurses had ever seen that happen. They still made me keep taking the stuff, but I never had a reaction quite like that first one. I was supposed to go home that night, but they decided to make me stay just to keep an eye on me. So, we headed home on Friday morning. I really hope that I get amnesia soon, because I don't know how excited I am about doing that again. I am very grateful that I am blessed to have given birth to two healthy boys. Even though I had a bad experience, it was still amazing and I wouldn't trade the outcome for anything in the world!

If all is going according to plan, this week your baby is locked and loaded -- head down in the birth canal, waiting to make his grand entrance into the world. Even though he's fully formed, his immune system is still immature. He's going to use the rest of his womb time wisely, taking in important antibodies from the placenta. He'll continue to gain weight until he is born, and his tiny little nails will keep on growing -- some babies are born already in need of a mani/pedi! His skull bones haven't fused yet, which is best considering the cramped space he'll have to squeeze through before all is said and done!