Anyways, I woke up, could not get comfortable, could not roll over...easily, felt like I was going to be sick and had the hardest time going back to sleep. I remember lying in bed trying to be quiet so as not to wake up Stephen but I failed miserably, or so I thought. Apparently, he was responding to me in his sleep cause the next morning he remembered none of it :-/. I guess, he too, had given up on me going into labor, lol. Well, I finally got back to sleep and my alarm went off, about an hour later. *Of course it did* I got up, got ready for work, very slowly and uncomfortably and thought twice about going in, but I wanted to save as much time as possible for maternity leave, so against my better judgment, I went into work. After about 10 hours of the same old thing, being busy at work, not wanting to eat, being consistently uncomfortable and realizing just how close I was to my due date, I realized, 'This could legitimately be labor!' I got very excited and also realized that I had my weekly appointment in about 3 hours! I also noticed that my 'cramps' were in fact contractions. I was able to time them and write something down that had a pattern to it....EEK, HALLELUJAH! I tried not to freak out and over think it cause again, this has happened before, I didn't want to alarm anyone and we were incredibly busy, so really, I didn't have time to time/track anything after about 15 minutes. The morning flew by and 1:30pm came before I knew it, I told my co-workers before I left that I would be back but that I was in labor, lol! They both agreed and said to hurry back, they wanted to know what the doctor said, as did I, in all honesty. I was excited and nervous to see what she was going to report. Some of the things I thought were, "Had I progressed any? Had I dilated anymore? Was I, in fact, in labor? Was she going to send me straight over to the hospital, cause if so, I needed to pack a bag (yah, i never packed one of those bad boys)?" Well, turns out I had progressed, dilated and effaced a little, just a little. Not enough to send me next door and apparently also not enough to send me home, instead I was sent back to work. I did however, tell her that I thought I was in labor and she just smiled and said, 'If that is the case, I will see you sooner rather than later, now won't I?' *Oh, how I hate obscure answers. I mean, FREAKING just tell me that I am in labor and you are ready to have this baby out of me as well!* Well, I left the office, went back to work and very quickly got significantly more miserable. I was then sent home from work. I was told by my boss that I would be more comfortable at home, but really, deep down, I think she was terrified that I was going to have Liam at the bank and well, if you knew her, you would know just how much that would freak her out!! LOL. So, home I went. On my way home, I got Kinleigh from daycare, called Stephen and my mom and told them what was going on and then told both of them NOT to panic and start calling their entire phone book. I did not want to deal with 100's of texts/emails/phone calls etc. Kinleigh and I went home and I tried to relax. Stephen thought about canceling his piano and tutoring students but I convinced him not to cause I knew he would just stress me out (in addition to himself). My mom came over when she called to check on me and I had to put her on hold cause I had to ride out a 2 minute long contraction while Kinleigh was screaming in the background for more juice, of course! *I swear that nani was waiting in the driveway for my approval of arrival cause within about 2 minutes she was in our living room. That or she was the genie on 'I dream of Genie?'* Either way, I was thankful for her showing up!
Nani came to the rescue and I now had someone to write down my contractions, take care of Kinleigh and talk me through the contractions, it was nice, to say the least! God bless mothers :). Around dinner time, I finally grasped the idea that this was it, Liam was coming and it was happening :). I didn't know when exactly, cause well, my water hadn't broke and I was only dilated to a 3 at my appointment, but I knew that he was going to be here and that day was my last day at work for the next 3 months...
We got to the hospital, they checked me in, wheeled me up to the L&D ward (which, this whole process seemed like it took FOREVER) and got me set up. I was told to change into one of those
She told me that they could give me an hour of sitting in the tub, walking around, bouncing on a exercise ball to see if I progressed any further and if not, they would have to send me home. *I was not going home* I sat in the tub for an hour...greatest. hour. ever! Can I just say that sitting in that bathtub and going through the contractions was the most relaxing thing EVER! Next Adams kiddo will be born in a tub. Okay, sorry, random thought done. Back to the story, my hour (really it was an hour and a half, our nurse was awesome and believed me when I told her that I was not leaving and to get me out would require security, haha) came and went, I got checked again and I had progressed 1.5cm, HECK YES! They asked me if I wanted an epidural and they asked right when I was having a contraction, so of course I said, 'yes.' In all honesty, I wanted drugs this go around, I was not going to try and be a super woman (more power to those of you that do it, you truly are super woman)! I was stoked about my epidural :) They got me comfortable in bed and called for the anesthesiologist, oh happy days! I waited and waited and waited and waited...in walks the hero, or so I thought...
This guy walks in, introduces himself, goes through the normal speech about epidurals, their risks etc. and I proceed to sit up and get prepared for him to give me the good stuff! *I just knew that I was going to breeze through the rest of this 5.5cm, asleep (It was now 11pm and I had been in labor for 24 hours, I was exhausted).* BOY WAS I WRONG.
Dingbat 'anesthesiologist' (he was actually an anesthetist and had misrepresented himself when he told me he was an 'anesthesiologist') didn't do the epidural right and I knew it THE MINUTE he stuck that dang needle in my back. I felt everything and that is not what is supposed to happen. I felt the needle go in, I felt it go deeper, I felt him 'try' and find the right place, I felt it come out and it ALL hurt. I then remember looking at Stephen and saying, 'he did it wrong, it didn't work.' I prayed that I was wrong, laid down like they told me to and waited for it to kick in, and waited and waited. When midnight hit and they had upped the dosage of the epidural as much as they could, to try and get me numb and after me telling EVERYONE a dozen times that it didn't take cause the only thing that is numb was my left leg, they finally called him back and he said that there was nothing he could do. *The words that I had for him at the moment were not nice and I am so glad that he did not come back cause I would have said them, been embarrassed and felt awful.*
Can I just say that THE hardest thing about this whole process was mentally preparing myself for something that I did not want to do...a labor without drugs. I wanted drugs, I was okay with drugs and I was not getting drugs :-/. The pain was also pretty bad, uncomfortable (mainly because I was confined to the bed due to my numb leg), intense and coming on fast, really fast and really strong. But, really the hardest thing was mentally making myself overcome the fact that I was going to have to do this all on my own and not only were these contractions bad but I had to prepare myself for the pushing...OMG.
That preparing happened for 3 hours, I never completed it because well, Liam decided it was time. But, I mean, would I have ever 'prepared' myself? No, probably not.
But before that, those 3 hours went by at a snails pace. I was the most tired I had ever been in my entire life, I couldn't roll over due to the needle in my back for the non-working epidural (yes, the nurses couldn't take it out, a Dr. had to and well the next one that was going to be around would be the one delivering Liam. So frustrating.), I was in a lot of pain, I kept thinking about having to push without drugs and at one point Stephen snapped at my mom and I thought they were going to start fighting (which didn't happen, I was just being hormonal, go figure). I kept saying, 'I can't do this, there is no way, I am not super woman, I don't want to be super woman' and my amazing husband just kept counting through the contractions, telling me where they would be, walking me through it and telling me that I could do it, it would all be okay, women do it all the time and well, at this point, we didn't have any other option.
Well after 3 hours of hardcore labor, it was time. I had that feeling, moms you know what feeling that is, no need to go into detail here. I told EVERYONE and well lets just say that nobody was jumping at this. They left me laying there for about 10 minutes before doing anything. LISTEN PEOPLE, I will push him out with you here or without, END. OF. DISCUSSION. Finally, they told me that they had to wait for my doctor and that she was about 2 minutes away. WHAT? *When you get to 'that point' there is no waiting, period.* Well needless to say, God stepped in, slowed things down, my doctor showed up, she broke my water (yah, it never broke on its own and I went through the entire labor with it in intact, which I was then told that this can make labor that much more intense and painful, oh awesome.), he slid down immediately, which I felt and was seriously THE coolest thing ever and well, the thing I had been dreading began, the pushing. I looked at Stephen, he told me that I could do this, I had a contraction, he began counting and I got very quiet, breathed and pushed. I told myself I would give myself 5 pushes and after that, if there was no Liam, I would demand a C-section. 5 pushes was all the energy I had left. Again, God stepped in and during the middle of push #3, Liam was out and on top of my chest :) *Thank you God!* I felt EVERY little thing and it was by far the coolest experience OF MY LIFE! I don't remember any pain after she broke my water, instead I guess the adrenaline kicked in and my determination to be done and of course, to meet my son happened!
I was in awe of what just happened, my healthy baby boy, I was so proud of myself for doing what I just did and I couldn't believe that this had just happened cause the morning before I woke up thinking I had food poisoning, lol.
Liam cried immediately, he was completely ready to be born cause he was not covered in that layer of white stuff (I cannot remember the name of it at the moment, it is late) and he was big and healthy! They cleaned him up, wrapped him up and set him on my chest :) I was beyond elated and soooooooo exhausted. I just wanted to roll over with him, snuggle up and fall asleep. Well, that didn't happen, until about 9am, 2 days later, lol! He got taken care of, weighed, dressed, bathed etc. and I got prepared to be moved to our other room which I was sooooooo ready for! We got to that room around 6am and all I kept thinking about was sleep.
Around 7:30am, Liam was brought back to be with us for the day and Kinleigh showed up around 8am, before she headed off to school. I wanted her to be the first person to meet him and made everyone hold off until lunch time! She was beyond excited and was soooo good with him, it was seriously the sweetest thing ever. Her and Brittany left for school and then the flood of people started coming. All I remember from the next day was all the people that came, the lack of sleep that I got, even at night cause of those dang nurses that felt the need to come and check on me every 4 hours and how I wanted to go home to my own bed. Luckily, going home came sooner, rather than later. We spent a total of 30 hours in the hospital (from the time I checked in to the time I checked out) as compared to the 52 hours we spent when we were there with Kinleigh and I was ready to go!
Stephen and I left with Liam on Thursday morning feeling that our family was complete with our sweet baby boy and we have never felt any different since! God bless my sweet little man!
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