Knowing that we had to be at the hospital at midnight on September 19 gave me time to plan. I am a HUGE planner and the birth of our baby would be no different. On Sunday afternoon we took a nap since we assumed it would be our last nap for quiet a while. I was in desperate need of sleep since my eyes had not closed for more than 30 seconds the entire week prior to this eventful day. So after our nap I made sugar cookies to hand out after she arrived. Originally they were to have an R on them, but little miss planner forgot to buy the icing to do that!
Around 7:00 Adam declared that it seemed like forever before we were going to leave. Which were my thoughts exactly. It was a hurry up and wait process. So with the cookies bagged up, the clothes in the car, the car seat installed, and two anxious soon-to-be parents in tow we headed to the hospital a little after 11:00. On the way we had to stop at the store for Adam to buy chewing gum. Chewing gum is his drug of choice when a big moment arrives in his life. Upon arrival I signed all sorts of papers (which probably said they could do things to me that I don’t want to know about….plus they asked if I had a will….looking back on it I probably should have questioned why they needed to know that…). By 1:00 a.m. I had gotten the IV and had 4 viles of blood drawn. Angie, the nurse, did a great job on the IV and it wasn’t too bad (especially compared to what was to come). I notified the blood lady that I didn’t like needles and with NO compassion in her voice she said, “I am sorry” and proceeded to take almost all of the blood in my left arm. From then until 2:00 a.m. they monitored Reese’s heart rate and then started pitocin. When we got to the hospital they said I was already having contractions which explained the dull pain in my back. We were told that we should try to sleep….So I stared straight at the ceiling while Adam tried to sleep. By 6:00 a.m. I decided that I wanted to get the epidural over with. No necessarily because I was in a huge amount of pain, but because I thought I could rest easier if that was over with. Of all times in my life that I needed someone to be understanding and nice this was the moment of all moments. But of course that did not happen. Adam was asked to leave the room and the epidural guy came in… Nurse Angie, God bless her, probably still has bruises on her shoulders from me squeezing them. The epidural guy gave me one deadening shot and proceeded to complete the epidural process. I am certain that he did not wait long enough for the deadening medicine to take effect. So it was far from the most enjoyable experience of my life. Plus I am pretty sure it made him mad when I told him how painful it was. I am not sure if he was having a bad day or what, but if we ever have another baby he will not be the one to administer the pain medications. Within minutes my face was numb and my left eye was droopy. The nurse thought it would be a good idea to tell the epidural guy since it seemed to be related to the medicine.
Well if he wasn’t mad before he for sure got mad then! He was really rude about the entire ordeal and informed us that it had nothing to do with anything that he had done. From what I understand these epidural people get really upset when things get blamed on their procedure. So the numb feeling went from my face to my hands and eventually to my lower body. I had always been under the impression that epidurals numbed you from the waist down, but that was not the case with me. It numbed every part of my body at some point. By 9:00 we were at 3 cm. At 11:00 when we were still at 3 cm we told everyone to go eat lunch since there was no rush. Dr. Ballard projected that Reese would not arrive until 5 or 6 that afternoon. From 11:00 to 2:00 we progressed to 6 cm. When they said 6 cm I started putting on my makeup and calling all of the family to come back to the hospital. By then the epidural medicine had worn off and he came back and gave me a very large dose! With that dose my face became so numb I could not keep my eyes open. Anyone who came to visit from 2 until 3:30 I am so sorry that I couldn’t socialize. I could not feel any of my upper body. When they checked me at 2:00 I was completely dilated, but she wanted to give it more time for Reese to drop. So finally around 3:30 we started pushing. Dr. Ballard and two nurses, Haley and Ashley, were with us. Adam told them right from the beginning he didn’t want to see anything. I remember one of them saying, “Daddy wasn’t kidding he really doesn’t want to see anything”. He was as far to the top of the bed as he could get, and was leaning across the bed in case he passed out. He stared directly at the monitors and occasionally looked at the clock in front of us. I asked him multiple times if he was okay. In between contractions I saw him stuffing new pieces of gum in his mouth and sipping on a Mellow Yellow. He claims that those two things help when he isn’t feeling so good. The epidural medicine was so strong that Dr. Ballard took the battery out of the machine so that my face/hands were not numb. By 4:10 the epidural had almost completely worn off. I requested more and was informed that getting more would slow down the process. Dr. Ballard guessed that at the rate we were going Reese would be here by 4:30. The woman is good. At 4:25 she stepped over to a table and put on another layer of scrubs and at 4:28 Reese was born. She had the cord wrapped around her neck and had swallowed 10 cc of fluid. So I held her for just a second and then the nurses started working on getting the fluids out. She didn’t cry for a long time which made me very nervous. I continuously asked Adam if she was okay.
Well if he wasn’t mad before he for sure got mad then! He was really rude about the entire ordeal and informed us that it had nothing to do with anything that he had done. From what I understand these epidural people get really upset when things get blamed on their procedure. So the numb feeling went from my face to my hands and eventually to my lower body. I had always been under the impression that epidurals numbed you from the waist down, but that was not the case with me. It numbed every part of my body at some point. By 9:00 we were at 3 cm. At 11:00 when we were still at 3 cm we told everyone to go eat lunch since there was no rush. Dr. Ballard projected that Reese would not arrive until 5 or 6 that afternoon. From 11:00 to 2:00 we progressed to 6 cm. When they said 6 cm I started putting on my makeup and calling all of the family to come back to the hospital. By then the epidural medicine had worn off and he came back and gave me a very large dose! With that dose my face became so numb I could not keep my eyes open. Anyone who came to visit from 2 until 3:30 I am so sorry that I couldn’t socialize. I could not feel any of my upper body. When they checked me at 2:00 I was completely dilated, but she wanted to give it more time for Reese to drop. So finally around 3:30 we started pushing. Dr. Ballard and two nurses, Haley and Ashley, were with us. Adam told them right from the beginning he didn’t want to see anything. I remember one of them saying, “Daddy wasn’t kidding he really doesn’t want to see anything”. He was as far to the top of the bed as he could get, and was leaning across the bed in case he passed out. He stared directly at the monitors and occasionally looked at the clock in front of us. I asked him multiple times if he was okay. In between contractions I saw him stuffing new pieces of gum in his mouth and sipping on a Mellow Yellow. He claims that those two things help when he isn’t feeling so good. The epidural medicine was so strong that Dr. Ballard took the battery out of the machine so that my face/hands were not numb. By 4:10 the epidural had almost completely worn off. I requested more and was informed that getting more would slow down the process. Dr. Ballard guessed that at the rate we were going Reese would be here by 4:30. The woman is good. At 4:25 she stepped over to a table and put on another layer of scrubs and at 4:28 Reese was born. She had the cord wrapped around her neck and had swallowed 10 cc of fluid. So I held her for just a second and then the nurses started working on getting the fluids out. She didn’t cry for a long time which made me very nervous. I continuously asked Adam if she was okay.
Finally they got her cleaned up and I got to hold her. We were instantly in love with her! This was the best picture that was made of that moment...
Adam went out to tell everybody she was here and okay. About an hour later the 4 grandparents came in to see her and then Adam took her to the nursery.
I was put into a wheelchair and pushed to our room. We got a lovely corner room with more space because we had so many sweet family and friends waiting to see her. When they brought her from the nursery the nurse told me how to use a bulb syringe “in case she gets choked or can’t breathe”. WHAT? Oh my goodness I would have gone into complete panic mode had that happened. We sent her to the nursery that night in hopes of getting some sleep; however the blood lady reappeared at 4 a.m. wanting to take more blood! The next night she came in at 2 a.m… it was like a bad dream. Being woken from sleep to have blood taken! Between the blood lady and Reese coming in to nurse every few hours we didn’t get a lot of sleep. It is amazing how lack of sleep can make you completely delirious. I now know why it is used as a method of torture.
Everybody kept telling me that the moment I saw her I would forget all about the IV, epidural etc...Well I agree to an extent... I am absolutely in love with her, but having a baby is an experience that can not be forgotten:) However, the more time that passes the less tramatic the entire process seems to be.
