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I went out to couples night at Grimaldi’s, not realizing it’d be my last night out for a while! I kept complaining about how uncomfortable I was and felt that I was ready to have the baby. Since it was Labor Day weekend, my family was coming into town, so I figured what better time! Little did I...

lilly-ashley

Finally finished my labor story!

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MY HEART

hortonhearsalil

I actually just started tearing up in the middle of the marshall center lol

My Labor Story

I was lying in bed and all of sudden, I felt a small gush. This happened around 330 am. I instantly thought I peed on myself, as I had unfortunately suffered from urinary incontinence nearly the whole pregnancy. I quickly (not so quickly cause I was huge and sore), got to the restroom. When I sat down the water came down like a flood! I wanted to make sure it was my water breaking, so I (embarrassed to say) caught a bit on my finger and made sure it had no smell. It didn’t. I called for my husband, as I sat on the toilet with a MILLION thoughts running through my head - scared, excited, scared, sleepy, hungry, did i mention scared? - and he did not answer. So I got up as I dripped across the floor and went to doorway of room and yelled his name and said it’s time. My husband jumped out of bed and began frantically collecting our bags and putting in the last few things we needed.

Fast forward to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital and since I pre-registered, I was immediately taken to my room. We were so excited because a nurse we had previously helped me when I had a 34 weeks pre-term scare, was tending to us during the beginning portion of labor. I changed into the hospital gown and nurse had to confirm that my water had broke. It continually gushed and it actually did not stop coming out until I had the baby. The nurse checked to see how far I dilated (so uncomfortable) and I was only at 1 cm (STILL! I was only 1 cm a week before this happened). So then came the bad news. I found out I had to be augmented (??) which means they needed to speed up the process by giving me pitocin. Don’t judge me but I went in knowing that I could not have done it without an epidural. I have the pain tolerance of a 2 year old. Due to the fact that I had pitocin, my contractions came on very quickly and VERY strong. I tried so hard to hold out on the epidural but by the time I was 4 cm dilated, I could not take it any longer. Nurse called the anesthesiologist and began prepping me for the epidural. My husband had to sit across the room while this was taking place but he was able to watch it. I did not even look at the needle and was told to relax as he begun prepping the area for insertion. I remember thinking, how the heck can I relax?! The contractions were a bloody nightmare and he was about to lodge a big needle between the discs of my spine! Let me just say that no one ever told me about the epidural insertion, it hurt so bad. The man must have poked my back 7 times at least and kept saying lean over more and relax. Finally he got it in there. I will say that I did not experience immediate relief. My upper legs began to tingle. Within 2 minutes after the epidural is set up, nurse (a new one that is not quite as cool as the first one) comes in to do the catheter (AWKWARD). I felt it a little. By about 5 or so minutes, the epidural was working in full force. The contractions were so much more bearable and I just waited with great anticipation for the arrival of my prince. My cervix began to dilate rather quickly. Around 7 or 8 cm, the babies heart rate dropped so low. Normally his heart would beat at a rate of 140+ BPM but it had dropped all the way down to 60. The alarm beeped and instantly I began to panic. I was worried that the baby was not going to make it, and selfishly I thought that I had been through these horrible 9 months with no reward (by reward, I mean the baby). I also thought that this may have meant that I would need a c-section. The nurse came in and rolled me around and eventually his heart rate went back up. At this point, I was so afraid that this was due to the epidural, so I did not administer myself anymore medication (they give you a clicker that allows you to give yourself a bit more of the epidural medication). This led to a full on panic attack and I could not stop shaking. It took a couple hours for me to calm down. My husband was rubbing me (I think my hardcore shaking freaked him out but he was trying to play it cool for me), my sister tried to calm me down, the nurse tried, heck, I tried to calm myself down, but my emotions overtook me. Once I saw that he was at his usual heart rate for a steady amount of time, I slowly began to calm down. Oh and did I mention that you cannot eat? I was so hungry and ice was not cutting it. I was allowed to chew on gum, but the nurse would not allow me to suck on the lollipops that I had packed.

It was pushing time! The OB was still at home at this point,which totally surprised me, its actually normal. My doctor had an emergency so was unable to deliver me. I was so worried about having to go through this experience with a completely new face. Right when I had begun to push, my mom walked through the door. My husband was down below helping the nurse keep my legs up and my mom stayed up above the cover and just was the ear of encouragement (she also rubbed my hair which is like my favorite thing in life). I am like 120% sure that when it came to pushing time, my epidural had completely wore off. Not only did I feel every terrible contraction, but I could feel his head. They tell you to push as if you are having a bowel movement, and to make sure I breathe. It was so much harder than it sounded. I super wish I had took a birthing class. It took me 50 minutes total to push the baby out and of that 50 minutes, it took 45 minutes to just get the head out. The very last push was by far the hardest. The OB had to cut me, not once, but twice. I felt every bit of it and I certainly yelled at the doctor. Her annoying response was that she is just trying to help me, not hurt me. LIAR! Anyway, at this point, in my head, I had given up and did not think I could do it. My husband kept saying you are doing excellent, I see the head. Can you imagine hearing that over and over for 45 minutes? Yea, I was not so politely told him to be quiet. I felt so hopeless. Once the head came out, it was such a relief. My hubby said I nearly kicked him across the room with that final push. He had no idea I was that strong. The shoulder down took no time to come out.

So..the baby is out! I requested to do skin-to-skin, which I highly recommend for everyone that has that option. When he came out he did not cry immediately. Now that I think about it, he did not cry much at all. I read that skin-to-skin helps in regards to that. I stuck him right in my hospital gown. He was all bloody and everything, but that was the least of my concerns. As I tried to enjoy the first experience of laying eyes on my baby and deal with all the emotions that overwhelmed me, the OB was down there tearing me up. About 15 minutes later, she delivered the placenta. She kept pushing down with great force on my stomach repeatedly. Talk about ruin the moment. She also also had to stitch me up in three places. I tore in the worst place imaginable (take a guess, it has a ton of nerve endings), and had the episiotomy (which for some reason that I still do not understand was done by 2 cuts). I had really hoped to avoid that, but no matter how many kegels I did, I still had to get cut. The OB did give me lidocain while she did the stitches, which hardly helped. So back to the baby, when I first saw him, I just could not believe we created this, that he was mine forever. He was so little, dirty, had tons of hair, big ol juicy lips, and had his eyes were wide open. God blessed me with this gift to care for forever. I could not believe it and I still cannot believe it.

After 9.5 hours of labor, my baby boy was here. He was born at 6 lbs 11 oz and 21 inches long on August 30, 2014. I ended up staying in the hospital for two nights. What took place after the labor, was an adventure in itself which is another story for another day.

I can say that my baby is totally worth it all!!!

#mumblr #labor and delivery #preggers #pregblr

Hardest one yet, tackling my beautiful mom! #coloredpencil #drawing #art #practicemakesperfect

#art #practicemakesperfect #coloredpencil #drawing

Had a rare and random urge to draw and decided to try out colored pencils for the FIRST TIME ever (so I'm no expert). I think I like them and it only took me a couple hours to complete (unlike oil paint). This is my cousin when she was little, as you can see she is a doll! #drawing #coloredpencil #art #stillexploringcolor

#stillexploringcolor #art #coloredpencil #drawing

My last #bumpdate? #maybenot #wishfulthinking #37weeks #babybump

#bumpdate #wishfulthinking #37weeks #babybump #maybenot

Just completed this #oilpainting. Yes she is #pregnant! This is inspired from our Puerto Rico trip this summer. 18x24 #art #painting #beach #love

#art #pregnant #painting #love #beach #oilpainting

In my last month! Lord give me strength. #9months #36weeksandsomechange #babybump #homestretch #bumpdate

#babybump #bumpdate #9months #36weeksandsomechange #homestretch

Baby's room is nearly complete! I got a bit carried away with all the jungle animals. (Thanks to my awesome hubby for putting all this stuff together and to @shalaylaj and Barbara for helping me get organized) #nursery #babyboy #junglethemed #loveDIY

#babyboy #nursery #junglethemed #lovediy

Happy Sunday! #funday #babybump

#babybump #funday

Wishing I was still here! #beach #bumpday #humpday #mothersinprotest #maternitypic

#mothersinprotest #maternitypic #beach #bumpday #humpday

My #28week #bumpdate pic! #babybump #beach #PR #homestretch

#babybump #pr #bumpdate #28week #homestretch #beach

#PuertoRico, you are beautiful!!! #minivacay #sothankful

#puertorico #sothankful #minivacay

tattooedpreggomama

If I can recommend anything it’s these posters by Liz Cook. They are all hand drawn and provide all sorts of info including: * Nutrition * Children’s * Seasonal Veg * Yoga * Natural Cleaning Solutions * Women’s Healing Herbs * Natural First Aid Remedies (The photos are only samples of the entire poster) Get one at: http://www.lizcookcharts.co.uk/index.php I swear by them!