Ever-After
Goals w/o plans r just wishes
Member since 6/09 2585 total posts
Name:
C
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Long, but successful induction! (3/7/11)
Before you were conceived - I wanted you
Before you were born - I loved you
Before you were here an hour - I would die for you
Welcome to the world, Jersie Jean,
Its been waiting for you
From the very beginning of this pregnancy, it has been textbook. I gained what I was supposed to gain and Baby Girl measured what she was supposed to measure. My symptoms were right on track, as well as her kicks and movements. So likewise, I just assumed EVERYTHING would go that perfectly. I thought my Due Date actually had some accuracy to it and I would be having a February baby. Well, I was wrong. I guess she had March in mind all along.
On my Due Date (Monday, Feb 28) my doctor saw that the baby was doing well and there was no reason for her not to be here other than that she was too comfortable inside my belly. Thank God she has a basic rule of not allowing her patients to go over 41 weeks! Without my induction, this baby girl would still be in my belly today. lol. It was scheduled for Sunday, March 6.
Even though we wished it could have been SOONER, we were so excited over the fact that we now had a day to look forward to. That morning was just surreal - putting our bags in the car and knowing that we would never walk back into our house the way we were about to leave it. The next time we were home it would be with our daughter and we would be a family. I don't think there's anything more exciting than that.
We got there at 8:30am and by 10am they had me on the cervidel (which is a method that is supposed to soften the cervix and prepare your body for labor). It basically looks and feels like a tampon, and that stayed in for 12 hours (yes, very boring day. We spent the time watching movies and waiting). By 10pm the cervidel was removed and we were very disappointed to learn that it did nothing - I was still only 1 cm dilated and my cervix was very thick. Ugh. At 11pm they got the Pitocin started (which brings on the contractions and is supposed to get labor going). The contractions did pick up. For those who don't know what it feels like, for me it basically was like menstrual cramps with more intensity. As the night went on they started to get really bad, so the nurses gave me enough pain medication to at least sleep for a couple hours. I got checked again at 3:30am (March 7) and had no change at all. I was checked AGAIN at 5:30am with the same result. By now I was in a lot more pain and my nurse suggested I get the epidural. I was afraid to because even though it hurt pretty bad, i felt that I could still deal with it. It wasn't nearly as bad as I knew it was GOING to get and the last thing I wanted was for it to run out before I "really" needed it. But the nurse assured me it would not. It would continue to pump into me and if it DID run out they'd just give me more. Plus sometimes if you are too tense it can stop the progress. So the nurse was hoping that if I was pain free and relaxed then they could up the Pitocin and get things moving. So by 8:00am, my new best friend, the epidural guy, arrived and took away my pain. lol. For those who are afraid of an epidural - DON'T BE!! I've always hated people touching my back (I tend to jump - I even hate massages for that reason). But it's literally like a pinch and that's all. Not painful at all. And within 15-20 minutes it started to work its magic.
By 9:20am the Dr arrived and broke my water. By that point I was 3cm dilated and 80% effaced -so things were definitely starting to move in the right direction. Within 10 minutes the contractions began to sky rocket, however, thanks to the epidural I felt nothing. By 11:30am I thinned out more but still had no further dilation. By 12:47pm I was 4cm and by 4:05pm I was 5cm. But at this point the baby must have begun to rest on a nerve because my right leg began to have some serious shooting pain. This was the kind of pain that I could not even describe in words. It felt like somebody was sawing at the bone. INCREDIBLY painful!! So my "best friend" returned and upped the epidural (it seemed to be favoring my left side so I had to roll over to get it to even out on both sides). Within a half hour, the nurse came rushing in because baby's heartrate had dropped. Meanwhile I began to overheat & blackout. The nurses had to cool me down fast and baby's heartrate came right back to normal. They checked and I was now at 7cm!!
By 6:48pm I was at 9cm and had begun to feel an awful pressure and need to push. This hour I have to admit was the worst of the entire labor. My husband was there putting a cool clothe on my forehead, feeding me ice chips, and helping me breathe through the awful pain. The thing is, my epidural WAS still working (and I thank the Lord that it was because I can't even imagine how this would have felt otherwise) but epi's don't numb the rectal area and that's where the pain was. It literally felt like I had to make the biggest poop imagineable and to NOT push hurt like hell. (sorry for TMI. lol). It really felt like it was impossible for me to go on much longer, but then - a miracle!!! At 7:30pm my doctor arrived and told me to start pushing!! The nurse explained exactly how to do it for the fastest results and I was DETERMINED to do it exactly right because after 34 hours of labor, an hour or 2 of pushing just could not be an option!
I literally pushed for 15 minutes. Strange to say, but it actually felt GOOD to push. This part was not painful at all (because once again, the epidural was doing it's job and the pain was no longer in the rectal area). It was still hard work though. My husband did awesome - counting along with my pushes, feeding me ice chips in between. Anybody else with a severely squeamish husband like mine, fear not. He did great! I mean, this is a guy who passed out after having blood taken, who had to leave childbirth class to get fresh air when the instructor pulled out a doll and fake pelvis to demonstrate birth. In the moment, he was able to shut all of that off and be there. He even watched the baby come out and thought it was beautiful. Anyway, so back to ME (lol) - they were having me do 2 pushes at a time, but suddenly they told me to do 2 more big ones. I figured this was it - her head was about to come out and then they'd have me push out the shoulders. I closed my eyes, gave it my all, and when I opened them the doctor had a BABY in her arms!! It was already over!
Seeing my daughter for the first time was like a dream. She looked like ME when I was a baby and the love I immediately felt was overwhelming. They put her on my chest and I cried so hard at the realization that after all that time she was really here!! She was crying just as hard as I was, but as soon as I started talking to her, she stopped, opened her eyes wide, and stared at me. I could see the recognition in her face - she knew me. I was completely and utterly in love.
After she was taken to be weighed and measured, I asked the Doctor if I needed to push out the afterbirth and she said that she already got it. lol. So, um, anybody who is a weirdo like me and afraid of pushing out the placenta, don't be. Mine just fell out apparently without my knowledge.
I did tear pretty bad, and i will admit that that first night was rough. I bled a lot and it was a huge struggle to use the bathroom like they wanted me to. HOWEVER, it was already starting to heal by the next day. Now, 2 weeks later, the stitches seem to be gone and the bleeding is barely there at all. I disagree with people who say that in the end you forget the pain. No, I definitely remember it quite well. But it doesn't matter. This baby girl is so worth every moment and i would do it all over again if i had to.
Soooo... without further ado, here is Jersie Jean. Born at 7:56pm March 7, 2011 weighing in at 8lbs3oz. My husband told me that when we got married he finally understood what if felt like to be willing to give your life for another person. He said he never thought he could feel that for anybody else - until Jersie came aong. He would die for her. At only minutes old, this little girl already had daddy wrapped around her little finger. Weeks later our love just keeps growing - we can't get enough of her. She definitely makes our lives worthwhile.
Message edited 6/18/2013 4:09:11 PM.
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lol
