Last Sunday at about 3 o'clock in the morning, I woke up with the worst contractions I could imagine. I grabbed a paper and pen and started to write down every time I got one, and just waited for them to get close enough for me to feel like they were actual "labor pains".
The day went on and I kept timing them. They hurt so bad that they would make me cry! After I got out of the shower, I had one so bad that it made me fall to the ground and just bawl my eyes out. I finally told my husband, "I need to go to the hospital!".
We went at about 1:30 in the afternoon, and they hooked me up to a monitor and "checked" me to see if I had dialated any. I was at a 3. So they chose to admit me, and bring on the epidural!
I have to say, the epidural was the scariest thing for me. My husband held my hand, he said I was making it purple, and I cried, not out of pain but because it honestly freaked me out.
Finally I couldn't feel those horrible contractions anymore, and I just chilled in the hospital bed. I had a lot of family come down to share the experience with us and give us support.
As the day went on, they would keep checking me and I wouldn't dialate any more. So they decided to put me on the medicine Pitocin to see if that would help my contractions get bigger and closer together so that I could get past a 3.
For about 5 or 6 hours, I stayed at a 4. The doctor would come in and tell me my options, and by this time, they thought my chances of a c-section were 50%-50%. (Other factors were that I was a week overdue, and they could tell that the baby was a little big).I really didn't want a c-section, the thought of that freaked me out as well. Of course, I cried a little about that, too. (Labor is a very emotional thing!!!).
Because I was so scared, we called my husband's cousin, and he, my grandpa and a friend of my husband's cousin came and gave me a blessing. I felt so much better afterward, and the thought of the c-section didn't scare me as much anymore.
At about 10:30 that night, they decided that I was going to have a c-section. They got my husband dressed for the O.R. and numbed me a little bit more. As they were wheeling me off I kept thinking "This is so not how I imagined this going at all!".
The whole experience in the operating room was surreal, and I only remember bits and pieces. My husband stayed by my side and held my hand, and I could tell he was nervous, too.
Finally, at 11:16 pm, Owen Cody was born!!! He weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and was 21 inches long. He is a tall little boy!
Later, in the delivery room, they told me that Owen was distressed while still in the womb, and so he had a bowel movement and accidentally breathed in some of the meconium- baby's first poop, which is sticky and black, almost like tar they say. Now, you can imagine, that's not a good scenario! They immediately took him to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit, and I didn't even get to see him. It was so hard. In the morning, they told me I could walk up to the NICU and see him, but after that c-section I was in a lot of pain! I didn't care though, I was determined to see my baby. I had to see him all hooked up to tubes and IV's, there were so many wires I didn't know what went to what. Nothing is harder than seeing your little baby in a position like that.
Cody and even had to wait until about 5 o'clock the next night before we could even hold him for the first time.
Eventually they weaned him off of the ventilator, on to oxygen tubes, and then on to an IV. My job then, was to start nursing him to get his blood sugar up so that we could take him home. That meant that every time he woke up, they would call me and I would run up to feed him. I did not sleep hardly at all that entire week. Between feeding, pumping so that my milk would come in, having visitors, getting up to pee all the time (I know, too much info, but seriously, after surgery even little things like that are so time consuming), etc. I maybe got 4 hours a night, and that was split up.
I was telling people that it was the hardest week of my entire life. After going through such a different (than what I was planning on, but when do things like that ever go to plan?) and trying labor, and then seeing my sweet baby hooked up for so long and not being able to do anything about it, I was emotionally and physically exhausted.
Finally, on Thursday, 4 days later, we got to bring Owen home. When they told me we could I cried because I was so relieved and happy. That meant that he was healthy!
Now our family is home together, and he is the cutest, sweetest baby and everything that I went through was so worth it because it was for him. It's amazing how much you love your kids!!!
The other day, I saw Owen munching on his sock, so when I called his name, this is what I got. Him looking at me, sock still in his mouth, and a "What?" expression on his face. Such a goof!
