Labor: Is this really how it goes?????
Mood:
surprised
James and I went to our regularly scheduled 39-week appointment on Monday the 3rd at 8:30. We didn't think much of it...just another quick 10 minutes to check on the little one. When we got there, the receptionist asked who I was. I guess they forgot to pull my folder...I told her who I was and she asked "Are you pregnant?" I couldn't help but laugh and say "yes! I'm due next week!" She apologized but I said "no need...I find it humorous!"
We got in and Usha checked the heartbeat. She said it was lower than she liked. Also, in her 10 minutes of examining me, she said I had two contractions and seemed puzzled that I didn't even feel them at all. She sent me down to the specialist to do an ultrasound and hook me up to the fetal monitoring to see if I was in early labor! I thought she was a little nuts.
So we got down to Dr. Cohen's office and they gave me an ultrasound. All his parts were working normally but they said that he was on the small side!! Everything was measuring small and they estimated his weight to be 6 lbs 5 oz. He was in the 24th percentile for a 39-week old baby! Then we got hooked up to the monitors...our poor little son failed his first test!! That is what the nurse said! His heartbeat was really steady and they like to see it fluctuate a lot. I was having contractions about every 5 minutes and they kept asking me if I felt anything and I kept repeating "no!" The nurse was like "you don't even feel pressure or anything of that nature?" I repeated again "no, am I suppose to be?" I don't how these people think I'm suppose to know what to feel...I've never been pregnant before and I have no idea what is normal and what is not! Then they brought out what I was calling the baby tazer...it was a nosy, vibrating thing that was suppose to make the baby wake up...so they are tazing my stomach and nothing was happening...he was happy sleeping and that is what made him fail their little test.
So Dr. Cohen came in and said he wants to induce me. It was sort of surreal. He then said that he is going to consult "The Ush" and make sure she is in agreement! I about dropped dead laughing when he left the room because he referred to my doctor as "The Ush!" He got off the phone with The Ush and told us to go get our bags and head over to the hospital because we're going to have a baby...it was the weirdest thing ever...he said not to worry because the baby is fine but they are just being cautious in wanting to deliver him now. So we drove home...almost completely shocked about this whole experience. Here I am am, in no pain what-so-ever, the receptionist said I didn't even look pregnant, and we're on our way to deliver the baby! We got home and gathered our stuff. We figured this was going to be a long, drawnout process so we dropped off our rent check, went to CVS, tried to get gas (but some moron truck driver blocked the lanes!), and stopped at Dunkin Donuts for lunch.
We got to the hospital and started up on Pitocin (labor inducing drug) at 3 pm...13 1/2 hours later, Little Benny Boy made his grand entrance! We didn't have many hang ups during labor. I didn't get my epidural as soon as I wanted. When I told the nurse that I was in pain around 8 pm, she said, "most people aren't laughing and talking when they are in real pain so let's try to wait a little longer." I should have told her that was just my personality...but I didn't. I paid for it about 1/2 hour later when I thought I was going to die! Yes, I thought it was that bad. I got some sort of combination epidural where they first give you a shot for immediate pain relief and then they kicked in the epidural. It was smooth sailing from there on out! It was pretty relaxing...I'll have to remember not to laugh and make fun of myself if I'm in this situation again!
Then, around 4:15 AM when the nurse was preparing me to start pushing, James went to the bathroom and she was telling me how she was going to hold one leg and James the other. I told her that I didn't think he would like that...she said that was the coach's job and it will be fine. So he came out and she told him what to do. I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head! But he started with it....then half way through pushing you hear little James say "I need to sit down...I'm not feeling too good!" Poor James. I had to chuckle because I knew that was going to happen! It actually turned out well because he was able to pass me my water bottle when another nurse took over for him. Probably within a minute, Little Ben was here! During my last push, all the nurses and doctor were telling me to open my eyes...I didn't want to but they kept telling me too! I don't know why these people wanted me to see all of this stuff!!! Just take the little baby and give him back to me in 5 minutes all cleaned up and cute looking!!! That is exactly what they did...they handed us a perfect little baby with tons of hair!! It was such a happy time for both of us! And he weighed 7 lbs 5 oz...not 6 lbs 5 oz so I'm not a fan of those high-tech ultrasounds! Here I am thinking I was going to give birth to a Peanut, but Ben ended up being completely average!
We went down to our post-pardom room...Ben was shipped off to the nursery for his bath and whatnot. I ended up having some complications so they had to bring me back to the labor & delivery area. They gave me another epidural (but pumped some "good stuff" in it this time!) while they analyzed things...you don't want to hear about that because now it's all about Ben! In the long run, everything was fine and Benny Boy is healthy, happy and doing great and that is all that really matters!
a-ok
happy