Our son has arrived! Labor and delivery definitely didn’t turn out as I had expected or hoped for. The recovery process is going to be way longer than I wanted, but our beautiful baby boy is here and he’s perfect in every way. I can’t believe how cute he is. And it’s crazy to think that we MADE him. 
I went into early labor on Tuesday. Wednesday we went to the hospital because I had bleeding and cramping…turns out the bleeding was okay and the cramps were actually contractions, but I wasn’t dilating quickly enough for them to admit me. Thursday afternoon, my contractions became 3-5 minutes apart, so we trekked back to the hospital and checked in. I was 3cm dilated at that point (on Wednesday I had been 2.5cm when I was sent home). When I got to 4cm, I ordered the epidural. I was terrified of getting it (the thought of a needle getting stuck in your spine is a little scary!), but it really was not nearly as bad as I anticipated. I would definitely recommend it to any woman!
They gave me pitocin to speed along the dilation and I couldn’t even feel my contractions. The epi was bliss and I was more comfortable than I’d been in weeks…but that was short-lived…
By 4am, I had completely dilated and began to push. I pushed for 1.5 hours when the doctor came in to see how I was progressing. C still hadn’t pushed past my cervix, so the doctor ordered a c-section. I was devastated and started crying. I had really hoped to avoid a c-section because of the recovery time. I was also so exhausted at that point that I was just super emotional. They capped the epi to prepare me for the transfer to the OR, where I was to receive a stronger medication to completely numb me for surgery. Then…the epi wore off.
O.M.G., the pain of C being stuck against my tailbone combined with contractions and being told not to push…I really thought I was going to pass out from the pain. I have never experienced so much pain in my life. It seemed to take forever to get to the OR. People were coming in and out and drawing blood, prepping me for surgery, and somehow I signed a consent form during that time even though I don’t even remember being able to open my eyes. Hubster was awesome and I couldn’t have done it without him holding my hand – I thought I would die! I finally got taken to the OR, where they put some stronger stuff in my epidural and I got some relief. Before I knew it, there was a significant amount of pulling and tugging (along with searing vaginal pain because the epi doesn’t reach there and they had to pull out C’s head). Hubster was able to stand up to look over the draping and saw them pull C out. He cut the cord. They brought C over to me so I could see him before taking him to the nursery, but my eyes couldn’t focus from being so tired and having so much pain so I barely even saw my baby! Hubster left with him when they went to the nursery. C had expelled meconium in the womb and had some in his lungs, so they had to monitor him and suck it out.
It took the doctor about 20 minutes to finish the surgery. When he was done, he told me that there was no way C would have come out vaginally. Not only was he facing up, but he would not have fit through my pelvis. It made me feel better emotionally that even if I had tried more pushing, I wouldn’t have been able to get him out. At the same time, though….I’m guessing that means I’ll have to have a c-section with every future baby because C’s only 8lbs 4oz and my pelvis was too small for him.
I got wheeled to recovery and it took them FOREVER to get me some pain killers. I was there for an hour and the whole time I was thinking how much I just wanted to see my baby. Finally, Hubster was able to come in and brought C with him. He laid him on my chest so I could at least look at him.
I think the hardest part about having a c-section is not being able to do everything you want for your baby. For example, I couldn’t hold him for a while. I wasn’t able to leave the bed until the following morning (24 hours after surgery), so the first time I changed his diaper was that afternoon. I can’t stand up with him, so someone always has to bring him to me/take him from me when I’m changing positions. It’s sad!
We’re so glad that he’s finally here! He’s awesome and we adore him. :)
