Every time I met with somebody new (nurse, nurses assistant, doctor...) during Adelaides prenatal care we would end up having this exact little exchange.
"Is this your first baby?"
"No, actually it's my third."
"Oh wow, so you're a pro at this!"
Nervous voice "Umm, in theory..."
But the thing is, I'm not a pro at this, you never know exactly how things are going to play out, and for me, every birth has been different. Ditto, I am learning, for the recovery part too.
By the way, this is all about Adelaides birth and mainly for journaling type purposes, so please, feel no pressure to continue if that sort of thing doesn't interest you.
At twelve AM on March 26th, Jordan and I checked in to labor and delivery at the hospital. All day I had basically been convinced that they would end up being too busy with women who can actually go into labor on their own, and that I would get sent home. Luckily, that wasn't the case. Around one they gave me a misoprostol in hopes that it would get things going. I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for days, but they weren't doing a darn thing for me, I was at about a one when we started this. Well the pill did the trick, and turned those pretend contractions into real ones, most seriously from about three AM onward. So around six I was given my epidural and was still only at about a three - in case you didn't know it already, I'm pretty wimpy.
Sooo, I was feeling pretty good, but I was a little bit nervous because the epidural didn't quite seem to be taking on my right side. This was the beginning of a pretty terrible three to four hours. The pain was just focused on this one spot on my right side, and then moved to the middle. Maybe that sounds better than having it all over the place, but it just felt like the red hot searing pain of a thousand beating suns burning the crap out of my hips area... not to be dramatic about it or anything. They called the anesthesiologist back to give me an extra little something but that ended up taking about an hour because everytime I contracted, Adelaides heart rate would dip a little bit (it turns out that the cord had been wrapped loosely around her neck, twice) and they wanted to make sure she was steady before upping my dosage and it took forever. Because of this, they broke my water around eight o clock so that they could put a little monitor patch on her head which didn't exactly ease the pains.
I did not bear this nobley I'm sorry to say. It was the first labor of mine where I had some sincerely bad feelings towards Jordan. You can't really blame a defensless little baby, so all my wrath became focused on him, I think that's pretty justifiable, right? Also during this time that they were monitoring Adelaides heart rate they made me get on my hands and knees and sort of, hug the back of the bed, which isn't easy when you're in unbearable pain, and doesn't feel like something you want to do when wearing a backless nightgown. Jordan kept me covered, but still... They also made me wear an oxygen mask which was just torturous. It made me feel so claustriphobic and made breathing harder, but they wouldn't let me take it off!
They were finally satisfied with Adelaides heart rate and gave me my boost of the feel goods which really helped... for about an hour. And then the same thing started all over again. Up to this point, I had mainly been pretty reasonable, but when it started again, all I could do was cry like a baby and I completely lost any clarity and ability to breath through the contractions which basically felt just unceasingly constant. Luckily I was finally 'complete' and was able to push that sweet and painful baby out. It was also fortunate that while I could feel all the horrible contractions, there was no pain of her actually coming out, and it only took about five minutes of pushing before she made her big debut.
When she was out I was so relieved all I could do was hug that slimey baby and cry and cry. Obviously having her with us and loving on her so hard, it was completely worth every pain over the last nine months. She's so sweet and good, she's a pretty good sleeper - during the day anyway, we're working on that. All throughout this pregnancy we have been completely convinced that in a few years we would have one more baby, Jordan really would like at least one boy to be on his side around here. But after that labor I am really going to be thinking long and hard about it before we decide to try again, IF we decide to try again.
Recovery has been pretty hard this time too, I didn't have any stitches, so I didn't expect it to be anything at all. After Matilda I was up and jogging again four days later, not so this time. Luckily Jordan was able to have another week off of work, and he has been absolutely amazing in taking care of all of us girls. I don't know what I would have done without him.
I'm nervous that this account sounds too whiny, but I wanted to give the bare facts if for no other reason than when we reapproach the subject I'll have an honest account to look back on. Despite the pains and difficulties we are SO thankful, we know we're incredibly blessed to have this beautiful, healthy girl here with us, we just love her to itty bits.
Although, I could live without having to deal with baby belly button issues, cringe and shudder.
Everyone all tuckered out after a looong day.
The idea was, Jordan and I would play a very civilized game of tennis while the girls rode their bikes around the adjacent and empty court. Sounds pretty ideal, right?
