My labor... of love...

Today is going to be about me... since I was technically there.... but if you don't want to read a labor/birthing story... then you probably shouldn't read this...

It was a year ago today that I went in for my doctors appointment. It was the last day that I worked at a normal "job". It was hopefully the only day in my life that I weighed 201 lbs (ummm we will see about that.) It was my last day without my little side kick... sort of. I guess he was very much a side kick at that point, but things changed forever on this day...

When I went in to the docs on my lunch break my blood pressure was high. This was weird because my blood pressure had been picture perfect throughout my whole pregnancy. He had me sit in the room for five minutes to see if my blood pressure would go down and I assure you that I was not sitting still. How can you tell someone who is hugely pregnant to sit still for five minutes so that her blood pressure can go down, when she knows that if she can keep this blood pressure up then she can have a baby? So no, I was jumping around a little behind the closed door. Five minutes later the blood pressure was still high (no way!!!) and doc said, "Lets go have a baby!"

So I drove down to Trent's work (we were a one car family at the time...) and we headed to the hospital. By the time that I had gotten registered, hooked up to an IV that had some strong penicillin running though it (that stuff hurt bad.... my arm) for my strep B going on, my blood pressure was NORMAL!!!! Go figure. They decided that since I was already there and hooked up to machines that they would go ahead with the induction.

So that was what was going on in my life a year ago from today... I'll go ahead and tell you tomorrows tale since tomorrow it's all about Tru...

The pitocin started at 4:00 PM, and it was a long night. Finally around 8:00 AM the next morning I was at a 10 and ready to start pushing. My doctor came in for the first few and said, "Well, I think that you're going to be pushing for a while, so I'm going to go to my other office to see patients and if you deliver I'll have one of my associates come do it." Gee thanks...


Two of the longest hardest hours of my life happened here. I pushed with everything I had for two hours.... and nothing! They thought that I couldn't feel how to push so they turned down my epidural so that I could feel it. Thanks... They even brought in a mirror thinking that if I could see baby's head that I would be able to push him out... ummm nope. Sorry. He was stuck for good.


The next two hours were the hardest of my life. They don't even compare to the two hours pushing. They decided that I needed a doctor to come and evaluate why the baby wasn't coming out. So I laid there, at a 10, with Tru "right there" stuck as could be, my epidural turned down, suffering every minute when a contraction hit and I was told NOT to push... ya, those were the two hardest hours for sure. Thank you doctor for driving across town and leaving me with your associates who were obviously busy.... it took two hours for a doctor to come and assess me.

Don't be fooled by the picture, I was not a happy camper at this point...


"Ummm, I think that the baby's head is stuck." REALLY!!! No way! That was the assessment that I waited two hours for. They then decided that I would need a c-section to get this little (big) boy out. That's when the tears started. I wish I could say that I was so happy when Tru was born and it was such a tender and special moment, but it wasn't. I had never in my wildest dreams thought that I would need a c-section. I don't know why I didn't think that I would need one, I just didn't. I was pretty upset that I would not be able to have him "the other way" and I cried through out the whole delivery. One nurse said, "Is she crying because she's in pain or just because she's emotional?" "Oh she's just emotional..." I called my sister in the recovery room after the delivery, still crying about how I was so mad and I didn't want a c-section. I'm still sad about it, that this is the way I might have to go in the future.

The associate asked if I wanted to wait for my doctor to drive back to the hospital to do the c-section or have her do it. I said that I didn't want to wait... So they wheeled me in and we did it.


My doctor came in at the end when they were stitching me up and said, "Why didn't you guys wait for me???" There was silence for a minute and a nurse said, "She didn't want to wait for you, she asked the other doctor to do it." Needless to say, both doctors billed me for the delivery... I wont be using that doctor again ;).


So the moment finally came. A c-section is different than I thought it would be. Talk about being in a vulnerable position. Completely strapped to a table with your arms out like you're on a cross. Big blue screen so that you can't see a thing that's going on. And no, they don't just cut you open and pull the baby out, the baby still needs to be delivered. There was a nurse up by my head pushing on my stomach to try to get him out. It was not what I had pictured at all... At 12:42 PM Tru came into this world.



Out he came!!! All 9 lbs 5 oz of him! He was due Oct 25th so he was even a week and a half early and so big. He was beautiful! Poor boy had a swollen face and a HUGE bruise on his head from being stuck. I remember my nurse came up to me and hugged my head (awkward, but that's all that was available for a hug) and said that we had made the right decision to have a c-section. That moment I was grateful that we could do this, and that he had made it here safely. Tru was okay, I was okay, we would be fine.

Bruised baby head...

Ahhh, I think that every woman fears this first birthing experience. You really just don't know what to expect. Those who did not fear their first birthing experience, you are a stronger woman than me. Through out my whole pregnancy I wanted to at least go into labor and see what it was like to go into labor. What was it like to have contractions? I'm sad that I may never know this experience. Now the big question is do I even want to attempt to do this again in the future or just have a c-section. I don't know if I'll even have a choice, but it's so hard. The risk involved with a v-back scares me. At the same time, c-sections are no fun. Recovery is horrible, at least it was for me. Do any of you post c-section people have an opinion on this? Anyway, that's my birthing story for all of you.




And here we are today. I wanted to take a few pictures outside but as you can see, a cat came by and the last thing that Tru wanted to do was look at the camera. I sure love my little boy. I'm so glad that he is part of our family and that I get to be his mom.