Labor & Delivery

I have been dying to write this blog since I left the hospital but as you can imagine I have been pretty busy…so…with Dane in his swing sleeping, Greg working on some sort of project, and my mother-in-law in the kitchen cooking us meals to freeze…I finally have some time to myself to reflect on the AWFUL day that is called labor…lol.  Before I begin on the events leading up to labor I would like to share with you a text message that Greg sent to a friend after delivery when she asked how I was doing.  This pretty much sums it up!

“Janelle is doing wonderful now and so is Dane.  She had a tremendously difficult time during labor. The epidural started to wear off just before she was told to start pushing. However, after an hour of pushing, the nurses switched duty and the next nurse said we shouldn't be pushing yet, the baby is turn the wrong way.  So we spent another hour turning Janelle so the baby would turn as well.  Didn't work, we thought we were going to have to do an emergency c-sec. The doc showed up and said that we would just need to push a couple more times. So here we are... Janelle writhing in pain, Greg is completely helpless, blood flying across the room from bursting capillaries, three strong pushes later and we had a son. Sort of surreal. This was all at 9:23pm, 24 hours after Janelle started labor.  Family was here till 12:30am or so.  Nurses were here till 1:30am. Janelle fed till 2am. We were back up @ 2:30am to feed. And then something remarkable happened, we slept till 7. And now Janelle and Dane are getting some much needed rest.”

So, there you have it in a nutshell from Greg’s perspective.  What I am confused about though is why the heck don’t people tell you how truly PAINFUL, INTENSE, and MISERABLE labor is?!?!  My gosh, maybe because it is still so fresh in my mind but labor truly lends up to its name-at least for my experience anyhow.  So, here are the events leading up to the worst/best moment of my life J

I had started contracting on Thursday, December 29^th, two days before Dane’s due date.  I was excited and scared at the same time because I remember thinking are these contractions or not?  They felt like period cramps and were really faint.  After talking to some friends we decided that they were contractions and my body was probably just preparing to have this baby.  So Friday and Saturday I still paid attention to my contractions and they progressively got a little stronger.  They would be worse at night for some reason and subside some during the day but they were definitely contractions.  I counted the length but it wasn’t anything long enough to go to the hospital.  Saturday was his due date and we were really hoping Dane was going to make his arrival into the world but God had other plans.

Well, Sunday rolls around and I still had the contractions but I decided that I needed to get out of the house because I was starting to go stir crazy just waiting in anticipation for this baby.  That morning Greg and I went to church, went to lunch afterwards, and when we got home we walked the curbs for 2.5 miles, I gave the dogs a bath, and cleaned the floors.  I guess this is what people mean when they say you will get a burst of energy right before.  After dinner that day we decided to rent a movie and watch it in bed.  Well, while we were watching the movie my contractions all of a sudden got a lot stronger-Im talking cant really sit still stronger.  I just ignored it because I wanted to labor at home as much as possible but when the movie ended and it was time to go to bed, I couldn’t lay down.  My “cramps” were too painful to lie down so I went downstairs at about 9:30pm Sunday night.  I started timing my contractions and they were pretty consistent about being 30-45 seconds long and 3 ½ minutes apart.  Now I know the doctor said you can come in when they are 5 minutes apart but I just left like I would rather do this at home than in the hospital.  So, from 9:30-3:00am I sat downstairs timing my contractions until I couldn’t take it anymore.  I went upstairs and told Greg that the hospital might be in the near future.  Trying really hard to suck up the pain I made a bath and sat in it while Greg counted and timed my contractions for the next hour.  We decided it was time.  And, it was then that I decided I was for sure getting an epidural…lol.

We got to the hospital around 5:30am Monday morning, January 2^nd.  With all the pain I have been through in my life I thought that the pain I was having was pretty significant.  I know that you have to be dialated to at least a 4 to get an epidural and so I was just praying that I was at least that.  The nurse told me-well you know with your first labor it usually takes 18-24 hours and you probably aren’t dialated much.  I wanted to tell her to keep her mouth shut and just check me.  Haha, but I didn’t.  Well wouldn’t you know that when they checked me, I was a 4!  I was so excited because she said usually you dialate a centimeter every hour and so here I was thinking that I would have this baby by 2-3 in the afternoon…boy was I WRONG!

6:00am- over the next 5 ½ hours Greg and I just waited, talked, breathed through my contractions, and sat very still waiting for the anesthesiologist to hurry up and come give me my epidural.  During this time the doctor came in and broke my water.  I was so scared because I didn’t want the contractions to get stronger without the epidural but I didn’t really have a choice.  Well I knew I had good fluid because they told me but HOLY COW!!  I thought the Nile River came flowing out of me!!  It spilled over the bed onto the floor and I was just amazed!  All in all though it wasn’t as scary as I had anticipated and I felt like I just had a warm bath J  Haha.  SOOO….the epidural guy FINALLY gets to my room at 11:30am.  I was dialated to a 6 now and so thankful he was there to relieve my pain!  The epidural went smoothly and within 5 minutes its like the heavens opened up and smiled at me!  The pain was gone and I was feeling SO good!  I thought to myself, why would anyone choose not to get one of these?  They’re amazing!

This is me after my epidural.  What happened to that smile??

So, over the next 5 hours I slept, talked with my family and Greg’s family, watched TV with Greg and hung out.  I was feeling pretty good, but also getting impatient because it was now 4:30pm and there still was no baby.  As I started to feel some lower back pain and my contractions coming back I asked the nurse if she could check me.  She said she would come back at 6:00pm.  WHAT?!  Are you serious?  That’s almost 2 hours from now, Im starting to feel pain again and freaking out, and Im exhausted.  I soon realized that the nurses concept of time and my concept of time were completely different.  With that being said Greg and I sat there for the next 2 hours praying and breathing as my contractions slowly came back and my epidural wore off…

Waiting for the fun to begin! lol

Now for the fun stuff.  6:30pm- contractions in full force, no epidural, and frustrated.  I asked the nurse if it was time to start pushing yet and she said no.  This is where I start to lose my mind from lack of sleep, lack of food, and extreme pain.  Over the next 3 hours I really cant remember all the details because I was seriously a crazy person, but I do know that it was awful.  I don’t think anyone can prepare you for the pain that you are going to be in labor because there are no words.  A friend said its like a bowling ball with spikes coming out and I like that description.  I probably starting pushing around 7:30pm and for an hour there was no progress.  Thank goodness the nurses switched because this next one had a little more smarts than the previous.  She told me that I shouldn’t be pushing because the baby was turned and he was stuck so we weren’t doing any good.  So for the next hour they turned me to try and get the baby to turn.  It didn’t help and at the end of this hour I was begging for a c-section.  When the nurse left I asked Greg, “If I demand one they have to give it to me, right?!”  The nurse was so good and told me that this baby was coming out on his own.  Although I hated her at the time I appreciate her now J

8:30pm- I start really pushing and making some progress.  Worst…pain…of…my…life… I thought my eyeballs were going to explode and I was going to pass out.  It was at this time too that I started to get sick.  Every contraction I would throw-up, cry, say I cant do this, and then push.  And that’s the way it went for the next hour.  Oh and my temperature went up to 100.3. During this hour I was in so much pain and delirious from the lack of sleep, food, and water that some things are a blur.  I will say though it was at this time that I started begging for a c-section.  I started telling the nurse to just cut him out of me because I was done…the pain had gone on long enough!  The Lord really provided me with a great nurse though because she told me that it was not going to happen.  She said, “You do not want a c-section.”  When she left the room I told Greg, “If I demand a c-section they have to give it to me right?!”  He simply said, “I don’t know” and gave me a kiss. J  I am so glad that they did not give me that option now because my recovery has been great but at the time it seemed like a great option.  So, once I came to terms that this baby was going to have to come out of my vagina, I still cried, but the time came where I knew I needed to push.  It’s a weird feeling but I knew that the end was near. 

So the nurse told me that I was going to have to wait 10 minutes until the doctor got there.  I told her that I didn’t care if she was there or not, I just wanted to get this baby out of me.  She told me that she couldn’t deliver without the doctor and so while I waited I’m pretty sure I said a few profanities :-/  The doctor comes in, I tell her to hurry up, and she immediately starts yanking on my perennials.  I mean full on YANKING (which I now appreciate because I didn’t tear).  And, about 5 minutes later baby Dane was born. J Immediately the pain was gone and there was this human being that had been inside me just moments earlier.  I cant say that I felt an overwhelming love for him instantly because it all felt so surreal and he seemed like an alien to me.  It was like I couldn’t believe that this little person was actually my son.  The moments of overwhelming love came later that night, but in the moment it felt like an out of body experience.  I do know that he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and I was praising God for getting me through such a difficult labor with a healthy baby boy.

Sleeping baby...one tired and SWOLLEN mommy :)

And, the rest is history….the doctor’s came in, cleaned him up, and gave him to me for bonding J.  Just an hour with Greg and I told hold our precious baby boy and nurse him.  Wow, what a gift!  Thus began my journey into motherhood.