Friday, January 4, 2013

The Birthing of Sophia

Finally, I'm doing it!  I'm writing about my labor!  This took a while, so here we go...

As with most of my labors, it was a long one.  Dinner time the night of Oct 30th I started having good back labor, it kept me up most the night.  They were so irregular though that I convinced myself they were just 'practice contractions', as I have had so many of those also.  I dressed Maya up in her pink dinosaur costume and took her to story time at the library the next morning.  Sometimes I would be feeling okay, but every 10-15 min or so, BAM!  Back labor.  I remember sitting in the chair at the library and thinking that I had no business being there.  Driving home from the library, I actually had to pull over once because my driving had slowed to a crawl due to so much pain from back labor.  I tried my hardest to take a nap that afternoon, but the pain just wouldn't let up, nor would it progress.  As you can imagine, after already being in labor and hurting so frequently for 12+ hours, I was EXHAUSTED.

 The kids came home and it would be trick or treating time in a few hours so we were getting things ready while i continued in pain.  Feeling to tired, irritable, emotional to make dinner we went and picked up Little Caesars.  Driving was once again, very difficult.  While in line to get the pizza i just prayed and prayed that I wouldn't have a contraction in there, because I wasn't sure if i could act natural.  I decided that I would go trick or treating anyway, it's not like I would get any rest staying at home.  So we went trick or treating with a family who we always go with, and coincidentally, we have shared our last 2 pregnancies together.  She trick or treated with her 2 month old, and stayed behind with me while I labored at the end of every driveway in my neighborhood.  The men took the kids to the doors while I hurt, and she understood.  We got home about 8, the kids were in bed by 8:30 or so.  The contractions were still just not picking up.  I told John "I'm going to bed, this is stupid".  And then i'd have a contraction and say, "there's no chance that I can go to sleep".  I did the whole I'm going to bed, I'm not going to bed thing for about an hour.  I was completely convinced that I wasn't in labor.  Then John started timing them, and it wasn't looking very promising.  I was just so exhausted.  We were going on about 17 hours of this.  I had been trying to stay in 'gravity friendly' positions to help labor long enough, I just wanted my bed.

 I asked John to come lay in bed with me.  Not long after I layed down, I started shaking really bad.  John asked me if I was cold, of course the answer was ,"no".  I was starting to get worried, having heard that you shake during transition.  John looked it up and told me that it just meant I was in 'active labor'.  ABOUT. FRIGGIN. TIME.  at about 10 it was getting pretty bad, John finally said 'it's time".  I rolled over to get up, stood up, and my water broke.  The funny thing with this is that my entire pregnancy, I told myself that my water will break at home with this one, because it goes fast after your water breaks, and i didn't want to get an epidural, so it needed to go fast.  Anyway, we get to the hospital and the nurse is just terrible, horrible.  She could NOT get my IV in, she could NOT Draw blood.  They had me laying there poking me, monitoring me and answering questions for an hour.  It was horrible.  To make it worse, EVERY SINGLE TIME I had a contraction, she would find a reason to touch me.  From adjusting my hand so the iv would work better (yes DURING A CONTRACTION), to 'fixing' my hospital gown, she would touch me.  But John and I made such a good team.  We hardly talked at all.  I would wiggle my finger at him when a contraction came, and he would hold my hand, when it was over he would let go.  He did everything so perfect.  We were so in sync, it was just awesome.  When we got to the hospital, I was a 6!  yea!  After being at the hospital for about 15 min I told John, "never mind, I want an epidural".  Then by some miracle, I found strength and told him, never mind, don't tell them.  Although while I was in labor, I believe I had to reject an epidural 3 times, and that really made me angry.  Way to sabotage nurses!  Anyway, this story is a jumbled mess, sorry!!

 After being 'monitored' for an hour, I said, "I can't do this anymore", and took myself off of the machines and sat up.  The (stupid) nurse got me a ball to sit on.  Once I sat up, I went into transition pretty fast because holy crap.  The pain was so intense and I was trying so hard to find the ability to relax, but it was just barely there.  During this time, I thought of my sweet friend, Rachel A LOT.  Knowing that she's done it, and Abby has done it, and Qait has done it, my sister had done it so I could to. This might sound cheesy, but I just felt the strength of these women helping me out.  I am not going to lie though, I definately had an "oh crap it's sooooo to late to get an epidural moment". John came and sat behind me and pushed on my back, trying to help with the back pain (why must I always have back labor?). 

After a little while, my body just took over, and it was almost shocking.  This was my first labor without an epidural, so I have never experienced the whole, "my body is taking over and I'm pushing thing".  While sitting on the ball, my whole body would push for a second, it would push on it's own so hard, that a grunt would come out of me.  John was telling me, "try not to push".  And I was like, "you are an idiot, I am not even pushing, it's my body" (just in my mind though).  So the nurse called the dr to come in asap and told me, "let's get you back in bed because you can't have that baby if you are sitting on it".  And for the sake of being completely honest, my mind replied back, "no shit sherlock".  (come on, swearing is SO allowed when you are in labor!)  So I'm in bed, my body is pushing, and everything is just so intense and i want it over.  I ask John if he can see anything, but of course he can't.  Little did I know that if he was able to 'see' something, I would be able to FEEL something.  So after just a few minutes, Sophia starts crowning, this was the moment I'd heard about, and the moment I'd feared.  When she starts crowning and I start pushing I just kept yelling, "it hurts! it hurts!".  It's a little embarrassing after the fact that I did that, but let's face it, it HURT.  Luckily, she was out pretty fast. And that moment when you finally get to meet that little baby who you waited for SO long for, and who made your life SO miserable is the best moment-ever.  EVER.  Memories of that moment are what make you think, "maybe i COULD have another baby".    As I lay there holding her, and looking at her I told her, "thanks for coming out".  The dr and nurse thought that was pretty funny, but seriously Sophia, at a week late, THANK YOU for coming out.  Sophia Hazel Davies was born Nov 1st at 11:45ish pm.  And she is GREAT.

3 comments:

  1. I am in TEARS!!! I'm so happy for you, so touched that you thought of me and your sister and my sisters. I'm so moved by you and John working together, his love and support. And that you felt your own strength. I love you so much!

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  2. That is a great story! I was knocked out for the important bits of my labor and my babies were so small it probably wouldn't have been that painful, but my water broke and I had those contractions. I was trying to hard not to have the babies before we got to the hospital it's a weird feeling. You are just so not in control anymore. She is adorable and I am so glad we got to see you guys for a little bit at New Years. Hopefully we will see you guys again soon. ;)

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  3. I loved this! And I nearly cried--especially that you thought of my sisters and me and gained strength for yourself and trusted that you could do it!

    Also... I am so mad at your doctor and nurse. STUPID! Ugh! I kind of want to SLAP them!!!

    So glad that you and John had your own force field against them. :) It is wonderful to have a husband who is so in tune during labor...words can't express!

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