this post and more posts to come. If you are uncomfortable with that, read with caution! ;)
We went to our weekly dr appointment on Monday, October 1st. I had made a little more progress than the week before. Which was encouraging. Dr decided to separate my membranes. Ouch! After my exam he said that if we wanted an induction then we could! Waiting for labor meant baby would only get bigger. So we said YES, let's induce...WHEN? He went and checked the calendar and said Wednesday, October 3rd would be our baby's birthday. It was extremely exciting and scary all at the same time.
We shared the news with family and friends and went home and got ourselves ready. That night I started having some contractions that were lasting one minute every five minutes. They were not extreme but uncomfortable. After an hour I called LD and asked if I needed to come in. The nurse said since I could talk through each one then to wait it out until they got stronger. I decided then that I probably could not go to school the next day. For one I needed a day to finish getting stuff finished and two if contractions continued I could not have handled it with 22 kids.
I spent Tuesday at home resting and doing laundry. Martin went to work to finish up a few things and keep himself busy. Contractions did not get any stronger that day. We ate chick fil a that night. We had planned on a nice night out but it ended up getting late and we couldn't decide what would be best on my tummy.
We were told to be at the hospital Wednesday morning at 5am. If you know us at all, you know we are not morning people. We knew that night would be restless due to anticipating waking up so early. Luckily though we slept fairly well. Our bags and car were packed before we went to bed.
We woke up ate a few quick bites and left the house. We stopped to get Martin a coffee from McD. We arrived at LD at 5:15. We had already pre registered and knew that we could just walk in and get started. But when they said that I didn't quite believe it would be that easy. But it was. They took us straight to the room and had me put on my gown. No meet and greet. Nothing. It happened a little too fast.
Side note-I have always been terrified of hospitals because of all the wires etc from IVs. My fear is they will get snagged and be ripped from the patient. I've never been in the hospital, had any kind of surgery, much less an IV.
So to say I was nervous was an understatement. The nurse started my IV at 5:30 but it didn't work. So she had to do redo it on the other hand. She took my blood and started my fluids. At 6:30/7 they started my pitocin and there was a nurse change. I knew who my nurse would be ahead of time. Tommie finally came in and realized the first nurse messed up my blood she took so she would have to do it again. YAY another poke. I quickly started feeling some small contractions. They reassured me that my wires were safe and my fears were put at ease.
At 7ish Dr Tadvick came in to break my water. It took a few tries (details later) but finally worked. Contractions continued to increase. They wanted me extremely uncomfortable before I got Demerol. Both sets of grandparents showed up around this time.
I finally got to the stage where I was hurting bad enough. I wanted to try and not get an epidural right away. Dr T said several times he thought I could do without. I knew though that if I had ANY back labor I would need the epidural. Sure enough after the Demerol and still feeling the pain ALL in my back they called the anesthesiologist. It didn't take too long for him to come.
Martin stood in front of me and held me still through my contractions as the anesthesiologist started the epidural. It hurt so bad. He kept telling me (with an accent) steady ma'am. Steady ma'am. I finally couldn't take it and said it was hurting. He told me those were contractions and I said again no it was the epidural. So he then took it all out. Ill never forget that pain. He found a different spot and tried again. Yes a second attempt. It still hurt but not as bad this time. The second time the nurse held me still giving Martin a break. I've always seen on TV that after given an epidural woman are happy and feel nothing. It was true. It happened. It was fantastic. But sadly, short lived. In about an hour, I could feel every contraction on my left side. It was terrible. I know contractions are bad. But when you go through getting an epidural and anticipating the relief, and it doesn't work, it's frustrating. Martin stayed by my side and mom and mom in law and sis in law talked me through each one. Dr came back and gave me some narcotics. It seemed to work. Sadly again, not for very long. This time I could feel it all on both sides. Every contraction. I attempted breathing through each one but evidently I was hyper ventilating. My face went numb and my hands were locking up and Martin couldn't open them. It was a little scary. Tommie coached me through my breathing so my hands got better. In the mean time we had a ton of support with us. Lots of family and friends. At this point I'm not sure who all was there and I really didn't care if they saw what I was going through.
I knew it was getting late. I was starving. The Rangers were loosing. I was only dilated to a 6 and not progressing.
They kept checking me but they couldn't tell me any good news. At 7:00 I finally was dilated to an 8. They said they would give me another hour to see if I get to a 10. At some point I got more narcotics but again didn't last and I could feel everything. AGAIN.
So lets recap. Admitted at 5 am. 1 toaster streudel in my system. 2 epidurals. Which wasn't working. 15 hours of hard labor. I was exhausted.
At 8:00 Dr T came in and said I wasn't going to progress any more. It was time for a c section. I was all for it. I was physically and emotionally drained. My medical staff was very helpful and knew what I had gone through and reassured me meds would work and I would not feel a thing.
I think they injected me at least 5 times before surgery. They wanted to be very sure I wouldn't feel anything else. Martin sat by my side. As he had all day. It was very quick and within a few minutes they were holding our baby boy above my head. He was perfect.
Martins sister was Levi's nurse. She took care of him immediately after and Martin got to help.
I immediately became nauseous and got sick. They had to knock me out to stop me from getting sick. Next thing I knew I was in recovery.
To be continued....
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