We decided to have Dr. Rushing induce me on Friday morning, since my mom would not be able to make it sooner than her scheduled ticket of July 20th. Why wait any longer than necessary? And, I have a friend with a birthday on the 15th and another friend w/an anniversary on the 15th, so I wanted him to have his own day, even if it was Friday the 13th. Although, that superstition is lost on me because of my faith in Jesus Christ. Anyhow, the day went as such:
We woke up on time, but I was moving really slow. I don't know if I was dragging my feet intentionally or what. I asked Dapo to stop at McDonalds, because I knew once I got to the hospital I would not be allowed to eat until the baby was born. They tell you not to eat before you come in (because of the Caesaren risk) but I was not going to be hungry AND in labor. We arrived about 7:15 am and checked in. It wasn't long before Belinda, the Pastor's assistant, came in. She had told me she would be there at some point during the day, but I didn't realize she was in it for the long haul. I was taken to my room, given a gown, and put in bed. They started the IV drip, and fluids. The nurse asked if I wanted an epidural, and I said no. She then asked am I totally against it or just not wanting it now. I said I was "pretty much totally against it". Which, in retrospect, wasn't very definite. Wendy (the RN) hooked up the baby heart monitor and contraction monitor to my belly and left the room. Dapo had gone to get our belongings and Belinda and so I was alone in the room. So, I watched the screen, and it looked as though I was having contractions, but I didn't think they had administered Pitocin yet. When Wendy came back in the room I asked if she had started the Pitocin yet and she said, no, that is you, honey, not me. I said that maybe I would not need the drip after all and she said that I was still getting the drip, because the contractions I was having were way too weak. But, I was thrilled to have "started contracting" on my own.
It was about an hour before the Pitocin started producing painful contractions. I had read a book entitled Supernatural Childbirth, and had hoped for a painless childbirth. When the contractions came they caught me by surprise and I was hardly able to breathe through them. I really had not gone into it prepared for a natural childbirth. By hour four, I was asking for something to take the edge off. As it turns out, there is no "edge" to labor, and after about an hour of demmoral (sp?) I asked for an epidural. Dapo was supportive of anything that would distance me from the excruciating pain I was feeling. Really, all the demmoral did was make me sleep off. I woke myself up several times snoring, and saying things from the odd dreams I was having. For instance, the night before Dapo and I had got the family chicken meal from Publix (a supermarket in the South). They have two types of potato salad in the deli to go with the meal. One is Southern and one is the New York style. Dapo once bought the NY and I have since asked him to get the Southern style. One dream I woke up saying "and I want the NEW YORK potato salad" to which Dapo, not realizing my dream-like state, replied, "but, you like the Southern potato salad". That woke me up. I also dreamt about men in coats bringing me Oreo cookies. I should note these dreams took place around the noon lunch hour.
I don't remember much once I was given the demmoral, something I would change if I could go back in time. I would basically sleep until a contraction, and then say "ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow" through the contraction. I had no plan, no breathing, etc. I kept telling the nurse I had to go to the bathroom, which she kept telling me that those feelings were not going to go away until after I had delivered the baby. She said it was the baby making his way down, and putting pressure on that part of my body. I really only remember complaining all afternoon about needing to go to the bathroom. Finally the anesthesiologist arrived, and gave me the epidural. I remember leaning forward...all dopey like. I remember having a contraction or two while he was working on me. And, then he said I'd feel a shooting pain down my leg, which I did, but did not care about. With the epidural, I had to get a catherter because I would not be able to have the sensation of when to urinate. At this point I had an IV in my arm, a blood pressure taker on the other arm, an epi in my back and a catheter in my front.
After awhile on the epidural, the demmorol started to wear off, and I felt much better. I was progressing rather slowly, though, with only going from a 5 to an 8 in four hours. Because the baby was off to the side and not aligned straight, the contractions were not "being effective enough" and they decided to do an internal monitoring to check those. I was not looking forward to another cord hanging from my body, but thought the contractions were too painful to be not doing their job. Since I mentioned I was still feeling the contractions, and was incessant about my need to push and go to the bathroom, they had the anesthesiologist come back to give me another something else. I felt the cold water sensation go down my back, and then I really started to feel much better. I did ask him how come I couldn't go to the bathroom, and he said because I don't have any legs (which was true, they were a bit numb). Besides, he said, I might have the baby in the toilet. I retorted, well isn't having the baby the goal here?? Nonetheless, I did not feel like going to the bathroom for the first time all day. I bet the nurse felt better, too, not having to hear about it. Aftger that, I had a slight fever and also had had high blood pressure all morning (if you backtrack in my blogs, you will see I had a health blood pressure throughout pregnancy. When I checked in this morning, I had 156/92. Yowsa.) I asked for a wet washcloth to try to bring my fever down.
About 45 minutes after that happened, I thought the medicine had worn off because the nurse had come in to increase my pitocin dosage, and I told her are you sure I can't go to the bathroom? She reiterated for the umpteenth time that I was going to feel that pressure until after birth. I said, I really want to push, are sure I can't? She said, well, maybe you've progressed, let me check you. This was about a quarter after 3. She did, and I remember hearing her say "oh, yeah, you're ready". The next thing I know the bed is folding down, stirrups are being raised up, the Doctor is being called, the Batmobile turns up. She told me what I was going to do and how I was going to do it. The contractions never did get very close together, and I had to wait for each contraction before I could push again. She wanted three pushes for a ten count on each contraction. So, the first set was more like a practice set. It wasn't until the third set I really reached deep and found the strength to push hard. I probably pushed about 5 or 6 times of 3 each. I pushed for forty minutes. Dr. Rushing did arrive (like a mighty rushing wind) for the last two contractions. I heard Dapo say I can see his hair. Then, I can see his head, then the head is out. Although, he did not need to tell me the head was out, I was rather aware of that one. I could not get him out on the second to the last push, I was really starting to get tired. But Dapo's play by play was keeping me encouraged. Dr. Rushing helped massage the area where the baby's head was stretching. By then the people who weigh the baby and do the tests had joined us, and they were really getting excited everytime I pushed. So, I just kept trying to push with all my might. They set a towel on my abdomen, and I know from watching the videos this means I am really close to holding him. The last push on my contraction he came out. Dr. Rushing handed him to me right away. I was so happy to see him!!
He was SO cute! I noticed right away that he had Dapo's nose, and Dapo's eyes, and Dapo's lips, and Dapo's forehead, and he started to cry. It was the cutest little baby cry I'd ever heard. Dapo and I kissed and Dapo was just so happy, and so proud. I helped dry him off, and they took him and weighed him and etc. Dapo took pictures. They brought him back all bundled up. Meanwhile, they are stitching me up and getting the placenta delivered. I remember saying, I thought I was done with pain. But it wasn't very terrible, and certainly was pale in comparison.
What a precious gift from God. It has gotten late and so I will have to conclude for the night and try to jot more memories of labor and the hospital stay another time.
