Birth story

Monday was my final doctors appt.  Monday the 14th. 
When my Dr asked what I wanted to do I said "get this baby out of me..." which translates to I would like to be induced please.

My options were Tuesday,  Thursday or Friday.  If I decided on Tuesday or Thursday he told me he only worked from 8-5, so I ran the risk of having the on call Dr deliver me if it was after 5.  I of course said I would get her out before 5.

The hospital was full for Tuesday but they put me on the waiting list. If I didn't get a phone call then I'd have to wait until Thursday.

Monday I night came and went and at 6 am on the dot I got the call. They asked how soon I could get there and I said "10 minutes if you want".  They told me to come in at 7, eat some breakfast and relax a little.

I quickly called Brad.  No answer.
So I called his mom, told her.
Woke up my mom, told her.
And tried 6 more times to call Brad.

Finally he called back and I was out the door to the hospital.

They started me on pitocin right away, and they moved it from 2...to 4... to 6...and then around 9:45 my doctor came in and broke my water.  The contractions prior to my water breaking were nothing... then as soon as my water broke man did they hurt.  I was still dialted to a 4 when he broke my water.  I was told I needed to wait it out.  The nurse told me she would be back in two hours to check me.

I asked her if I wanted an epidural that I needed to feel the pain, and it needed to hurt bad, but I needed to be able to sit still during a contraction.

So about 45 minutes went by and I decided to call my nurse and asked her for "one of those epidurals".  The pain was strong and Brad would watch the monitor and tell me when the big ones were letting down.

The lady came in about 20 minutes later, gave me my epidural and life got good. I could finally talk through each contraction and joke around.  I told Brad to go home get lunch because my nurse wouldn't be back for another 2 hours to check me.

Luckily Brad came back quicker than expected.   Because about an hour and 15 minutes went by and I knew it was go time.

Every contraction I had to fight to keep from pushing.   When the nurse came in to check me I was dilated to a 9. It was 1:30ish.  I told my parents,  and my nurse hurried and called to get a clean table and other help in the room. I don't think she thought I'd progress so fast.

She was in the phone calling to get everything ready while she and Brad held my legs.   I did about 3-4 contractions worth of practice pushes to get Kate past my pelvic bone.  Poor Brad is scarred because he had to help,  and saw Kates head.

Then the doctor came and three contractions later she was on my chest.  2:07 pm on July 15th 2014 she was here.  I sort of just looked at her in awe.  She was there.  Chubby cheeks and all. 

Brad changed her diaper, swaddled her and that was that.  Over all my labor was 6 hours.  I pushed for about 25-35 minutes.   I feel lucky.  I realize I am lucky.  Labor was easier for me than I expected.

I am one of those weird people who enjoyed being pregnant and enjoyed giving birth. 

My recovery so far has been good. My stitches no longer hurt, and my body has gone from firm and pregnant to squishy.

I am learning to love this new me.  Not be hard on myself.  Or my new body because it did something amazing and I will forever be grateful for what it did.

What hurt? 

Getting an IV and epidural did not hurt.  They both felt like bee stings.   What hurt the most is getting stitched up after.  Dang that hurt. I almost cried.