Having a Baby - My Experience (Part One)

Photo Source (No, this isn't me.. And no, it was not this peaceful.. Lol)

Labor and Delivery.

Having a child is one of the most amazing experiences that has ever happened to me...

But, it is also one of the worst.

NOTE: If you are NOT pregnant, nor have you ever BEEN pregnant, but would LIKE to have children, DO NOT READ THIS POST. You've been warned.

People do this all the time. Having babies. It's natural. It's a miracle. It's amazing...

Yes, yes, and.... um... Not always...

I will tell you about my birth procedure. I'm sure that it wasn't the "normal" birthing even that everyone else gets to experience.. Why would it be? Have I ever been "normal"? Nope. Never. Not even once... Well, there was this one time in 7th grade... Oh wait.. No, that was a dream.. So I'm back at zero.

I did not go to the hospital that night intending to have my child. I was having an issue with seeing... My blood pressure was beyond scary high when I got to the emergency room, and they sent me straight up to labor and delivery.

"Awesome!" I thought this to myself as we were going up there because we were going to make sure that the baby was ok, I'd get some meds, and then we'd go home. Awesome. Nope. Not awesome. I went up there, was checked in, weighed, and my blood pressure was taken, and then I had to pee into a cup.. (Ugh. Those cups!) After that, I was told, "You aren't going to be leaving until you've got a baby in your hands."

0_0 - ...what?

I wasn't ready. Emotionally, I wasn't ready... Physically... Well, I had the flu hardcore at that point, so I couldn't breath through my nose to save my life... And I hadn't eaten sine about 10 hours prior... (Did they ever mention that if they induce you, they can't give you food or water until after you deliver?? Ya.. No one told me, either..) We had barely gotten the crib up a couple of days earlier, and I still had not gone to the store to get the remainder of things that I needed that were not covered by the baby showers I had. Um. I would not like to mention that we were less than a week from our due date, either... Bad planning... I know...

Well, here we go. My husband and I looked at each other, and that was that. It was decided. I will have a baby before I get to go home again.

At this point, I was terrified of the needle. You know, the one for the I.V.? Ya, I am not at all particularly fond of that.. Wasn't then, either. But, that's the first step to being induced (besides you being stripped naked of all your clothes, and modesty..). So, there's the needle. It's in... OW. Grrr. And here come the medications. The first one was magnesium sulfate... Yucky. This medication was given to lower my blood pressure, and keeping me from having a stroke (yes, it WAS that high). Let me just say that stuff makes everything taste like metal. Water, ice chips, what very little liquids I was allowed to have, it made it taste like booty.. Icky icky. (Also, be advised that this could change the flavor of your breast milk, so keep that in mind if you plan to breast feed and are given this for your blood pressure..)

The next medicine was up.... Pitocin. This starts the labor. And boy oh boy, did it start. I was going to try and be big and brave and not take any pain medications, but decided once the contractions started, and they had been going on a few hours, that I was too miserable being sick, hungry, and tired, and unprepared, and oh ya, IN PAIN to deny the medication any longer. They have meds that they can give to you to take the edge off of the labor pains, but don't cut it off completely. That sounded nice.... I went a few hours on this medication, every twenty minutes, and then after a while, it only worked for five minutes, and then I was in pain again....

Ok, baby... You win.

"I want the epidural."

I was terrified. I have quite an aversion to needles... Like, for real... So, I was absolutely scared to the bone. But honestly, I was in so much pain, that I was willing to cut my spine in half myself, so a quick needle prick in the back would be a better compromise. So the anesthesiologist came in, and I talked with him a couple minutes to make sure that he could clearly see and feel where he needs to go in, even though I was so fat. He could see and feel it clearly, and told me I'd be a good candidate.. So I told him to go for it. Honestly, I didn't feel anything. Apparently, they numb the area first, and then stick the cathing needle into your spine.. Who knew?

Immediate. Relief.

It was lovely.. Don't get me wrong, I could still feel the contractions, but they weren't not the least bit painful.. Just........... Tight. So weird.

18 hours later, it was time to push. Now, up to this point the whole nose stuffed up completely wasn't much an issue as it was annoying, but now it was big girl time, and I couldn't breath through my nose, and had a cough like a mad man. Pushing a small person out of an orifice in my body was not turning out to be as easy as I had thought without being able to take a deep breath without coughing.  And my awful substitute doctor (my actual OB/GYN was in surgery at the time..) was getting angry at me... And at the nurses, for calling him 15 minutes too early because I had to take a break to catch my breath... Can you imagine!? Trying to pushing out a baby and having people being angry at you for your lack of progress? (From starting to push, to having my child out, it was 30 minutes... NOT bad at all.. jerkface) Sorry if I feel OXYGEN WAS NECESSARY TO MYSELF AND MY CHILD.

-____-

Any who... I heard one of the nurses say they could see the head... I told them just to pull him out then... They said that wasn't how it works... Fair enough... So I finished pushing... And the second he came out of me - immediate relief. Not feeling of pressure, no feelings of bloating... Just... Relief. It IS that instantaneous. I had a baby. This baby was mine, I made him, and I have him... And he was perfect...

They sewed me up... (because again, the doctor was awful and would NOT cut me. ><) By the way, they cut your epidural the second your baby comes out... So you will probably feel them sewing you up down there if you need it, and they will probably get angry at you for pointing it out, and for you asking them to numb the area first.... Well, if you're as lucky as I was.. .. .. ><

I don't really remember the first few hours after the whole thing happened. I was really out of it.. I remember him sleeping on me for a while... and I remember having some family there... And they changed his first poopy diaper. (Thank goodness!)

This was only the beginning of that hospital stay. I will write out the second - and probably third parts some other time... But for now...

..to be continued..

-Ashley