The Delivery, Part 1

Wow. I swear I didn't mean to go this long without posting, but it's only just recently that I've felt like I could actually breathe a bit and think of something other than soothing crying babies, changing diapers, and trying to sneak in more than 4 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. But before I go into details, I guess I should start at the beginning.

October 31st ~ Halloween night. Was actually fun, though Christian, in an attempt to take off his monkey costume, ended up ripping the zipper, therefore making him the only non-dressed-up kid trick-or-treating around our friend Natasha's neighborhood. Soooo hoping that next year is more enjoyable for him. Anyway, I felt some contractions while we were walking around, but nothing overwhelming. And I had actually been feeling them on and off for a few days, but didn't think anything of it. Until around midnight. That's when they got to a point where I couldn't sleep. Pretty painful, but again, not overwhelming. Just painful enough to keep me awake and not allow me sleep. More annoying, actually. So, I stayed awake watching "Bones" until morning. At which point Walmir thought I should go ahead and call the doctor.

November 1st ~They went ahead and brought me in. 2 centimeters dilated and nothing else. And just as I was about to beg and plead (I was even prepared to shed tears on command) for my doctor to do something, anything to move things along, she up and stripped my membranes without so much as a warning! Ouch. She tells me that that usually gets things moving within a few days, and so I left happy.

By the time we got home, however, I was having some crazy contractions and these really did hurt. The pain shot all the way around to my back. And within the hour, they were every 3 to 5 minutes and getting seriously intense. So, I call the doctor again and she tells me to take an Ambien and try to sleep. I guess most of the time contractions get intense after stripping but then just stop. So, I pop the Ambien and attempt to get some z's. I'll admit, I was pretty tired at this point having had zero sleep the night before. But sleep? Impossible. Way too painful and way too often. So, after another couple of hours of this, I call the doc again and they tell me to come in.

We drop lil' man C off at Lacy's, where Natasha will pick him up a bit later, and head off to the hospital. I get checked and I'm still at a 2! Seriously?!? All that and nothing had changed? I would have been sent right back home then, except for that fact that my water had broken. And get this, I had absolutely no idea. No waterfall gush, not even a faucet drip. Nada. The only reason why they checked is because one nurse noticed one drop of water (or whatever) hit the floor when I was walking back to the bed. Thinking back on it now, and I apologize if this is waaay to much information, but the night before, I did notice a small drop of water (or whatever) on my bathroom floor. If I'm right, then Damon was hanging out in my belly after my water had broken for almost a full 24 hours before he was delivered. Which, may have been the reason why he ended up getting the Group Strep B bacteria.

But, wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. So, anyway, they check me in, and I'm still having fiercely strong contractions every 3 minutes. Time for an epidural since I'm doing a VBAC. Oh, but wait. My platelet count had been low during the pregnancy, so they need to check my blood first to make sure I'll clot when they shove that ridiculously big needle into my spine. So, they take blood for the test, which takes forever. An hour later, I'm at a 5. They set me up on antibiotics for Group Strep B. Test results come back. Platelet count normal. Epidural now? Sure, except the anesthesiologist is M.I.A. Obviously dealing with some personal issues, or maybe in the janitor's closet? Bow chica wow wow. Just kidding. Too much Grey's. Anyway, half hour later, I'm at a 7. And seriously hurting now. And hallelujah, here comes the anesthesiologist! And I swear, once those drugs were pumped, it was like heaven. Absolutely no pain. Contractions? Pa-lease...bring them on. I can do this all night, now. Really, it was sheer bliss....for about 15 minutes.

The doctor comes in to check Damon's heart rate and when it's supposed to be at like 150, it all of a sudden drops to 60...then 50...then 40. And stays there for over a minute. Next thing I know, a swarm of nurses enters the room and before I know it, I'm back in the operating room getting cut. Emergency C-Section #2. Which, I'll admit kind of bummed me out. I was actually looking forward to going at it au naturale. Anyway, they upped the amount of drugs (in order to numb me completely from the waist down) so fast that I got nauseous. And I mean, nauseous. So, I'm laying there on my back with my arms out to the side getting cut and the next thing I know, I'm puking all over the place. And all I can do is put my head to the side, so it gets all over the side of my face, all over my hair, and all over Walmir, who's sitting by my side. The doctor tried to put a basin under my mouth, but apparently it was a bit projectile. So gross, but kind of funny and something I want to remember. Anyway, poor Damon, there was meconium in the sac and the chord was wrapped around his neck. Apparently my body just does weird things during contractions, and it upsets my babies. So, the C-Section was a good call. Afterwards, the nurse wisks Damon off to the nursery with Walmir following, the doc stitches me up, I throw up some more, and then get wheeled back to my room.

Where I wait to see my lil' guy.... :)