Before, During and After Delivery

Yesterday I posted about my water breaking and the events that took us through the first part of getting Carter into the world.  Now, I'll share some more....

Once I had the epidural in place the anesthesiologist waited for a bit to see how my body reacted.  My legs slowly got very heavy.  I could, however, feel my feet, which was nice because I had some sensation. I don't know if it was the side I was lying on or what but my right leg from my hip down to my foot was completely asleep.  Have you ever woken up and your arm had fallen asleep so badly you had to shake it around with the other hand because you literally couldn't move it? Well, that is how my right leg felt.  I needed Jarod or a nurse to move it for me if I could feel it fall out of place. It was so strange!

My parents and Jarod's mom came to the hospital around 8:30 or so and hung around until about 9:30/10.
Since Thanksgiving was the day before my grandmother happened to be in town still because she randomly decided to stay another night at my parent's house.  It was great to have her there as well.  My mom was enjoying watching the monitor that tracked my contractions.  They were still not evening out.  I would have 3 or 4 in a row and then it would be minutes before I'd have another one.  It continued in this pattern for a long while.

After my parents left we tried to get some sleep.  I don't think Jarod got any sleep at all. I'm pretty sure he was checking on me every 10 minutes.  I was very sleepy from the hard work my body was doing but I also think the Epi had something to do with it.  There were moments where I couldn't keep my eyes open even I tried to.

I think it was around 1 or 2 the OB came in and checked me and I was 100% ready to go, but the contractions were still wacky.  The nurse came in and checked in on me every now and again and around 3:30 or so she said she was going to call the OB and talk about doing pitocin to try and get the contractions closer together.  She said she didn't want me to be pushing for hours upon hours.  I told her I appreciated that! Around 4am she hooked up the Pit. and we watched and waited to see what would happen.  Not much changed...

She came back around 5:40 and said that she was going to have me start pushing at 6am.  It was crazy to hear that news.  I felt excited but overwhelmed.  Would I be able to push? Would I have the energy? I was already so exhausted.  We watched the monitors and at this point I had one small part of my abdomen on the left that could feel the contraction.  I was thankful that I couldn't feel the whole thing because what I did feel was intense.  However, I didn't mind feeling the some of the contraction because it helped me pay attention to when I would need to push.

The nurse was awesome in telling me when to push and where to put my energy.  I had Jarod on my right holding my leg and the nurse on my left holding that leg.  I used my yoga breathing and focus point across the room- the zipper ribbon my hospital bag- I pushed and pushed and she told me I was doing great.  I was relieved to be told I was an excellent pusher. It made me feel like I was doing what I needed to be doing to get our little baby out.

Before I knew it 7am was here and anther shift change was happening.  A different nurse came in and I was bummed because I loved the one that we just had.  However, this one turned out to be great, too.  She kept cheering me on and I had Jarod telling me what a great job I was doing. Pushing wasn't as hard/bad as I thought it was going to be, I mean it did hurt my head now and again when I really put my all into it.... oh and I did throw up.  I could feel the baby's legs in my stomach when I would bend forward to push.  The fact that I was STARVING and getting legs in my stomach made me nauseous and before I knew it I was asking for a bucket.  Ick. It happened 2 more times after that.

At one point the new OB for that shift came in and chatted with the nurses. I don't know exactly what was said as I was working on pushing when I could.  I had been pushing by now for about 2 and half hours.  I had no clue.  I was so focused and in the zone that it really didn't feel that long.  Before I knew it the OB was there in front of me and different tables were being wheeled into the room.  The OB sat down and watched me push a few times and then started talking about how we don't know why the baby isn't out yet.  She said I was a fabulous pusher and he should be here by now.  So this meant a few different things, was his head just stuck under the pelvic bone, was his head too big?  She talked to us about the use of forceps or suction.  After a few minutes, because I would push when I had to push, we came to the conclusion that using forceps would be best.

As soon as we gave her the go she was speedy getting everything together.  I was cleaned several times over and then I saw these big metal tongs that looked like they belonged in a salad bowl, being inserted, and once things were in place and I had to push, things got moving.

I saw her lean back real far, which made me nervous because I thought she was going to hurt my baby, but I had trusted her at the same time because she's delivered hundreds of babies.  I just had to focus on doing my part. Within seconds she got the head out and the rest of his body came flying out in one smooth motion.  He was placed on my chest and I heard someone shout 8:32!

Turns out he was sunny side up.  The OB said if he was facing the right way I probably would have only pushed for 45 minutes/an hour. Craziness.

The feeling that I had when he was put on my chest I can't quite put into words.  I looked at Jarod and just gasped at the beautiful life before us.  I was able to rub him and talk to him and kiss him before Jarod cut the cord and they took him away.  I made Jarod follow and take pictures with my camera.

While he took pictures the OB stitched me up.  I could see that there was a lot of bleeding happening and she was talking quickly to nurses instructing them to give her this or that or go get something.  She was working very quickly. They gave me a shot of Novocain and then they pushed the button for my Epi again to help me not feel any pain.  It made me wonder what kind of damage was done. Turns out I had 3rd degree tear and two tears on the inside as well- which I assume are from the use of forceps.  It seemed like she was stitching me up forever... it was actually like 30/45 minutes, which is a long time in my opinion.

I turned my attention to my husband turned father and our baby boy lying down on the warmer.  I was nervous about was going on with me and I didn't want to think about it.   I watched the nurses dry him off and check on his vitals.  They were all very excited to put him on the scale because they kept trying to figure out how big this baby was going to be.  After they registered the 9 pounds 6 ounces Carter peed while lying on the table... that's my boy!