Weirhere

Ok - this picture sucks, but I HAD to post it. This is the beautiful little face she pulls ALL the time. I love looking down while she's eating and she's had enough because this is the face I get. She purses those little lips together and scrunches her forehead. It's the sweetest way to tell me she's finished.

So the story of labor and delivery? I'm never sure if people really want to read all of that. Plus it's kind of a long day filled lots of the same. But since a few of you have asked I'll post the highlights.
8:00AM - My water broke while I was taking a tub. It's a very strange feeling and to be honest I thought I'd just peed my pants. Lost of pregnant women talk about their lack of bladder control and I thought it was finally happening to me. But 5 minutes later out of the tub it continued to break and my contractions started. So we rushed to get a few things together and head to the hospital. Jayson's one piece of advice for any of you expectant fathers - make sure you pack a bag too. We didn't have anything for Jayson while he was at the hospital. Well until family brought him some clean clothes. So Dad needs a bag too.

After being admitted to the hospital dilated to a 3 I just waited. I didn't have a birth plan. I don't think there's anything wrong with a plan I'm just not like that. I just wanted to see what it was like and take it as it came. The contractions were fine until about 2 or 3 pm. Then as one was coming I could already tell it was going to be a really big one. Um yeah it was HUGE and LONG. I didn't know how to deal with the pain and burst into tears. Kathy had just brought Jayson lunch and he sat on the couch eating it. When he heard me start to cry he said he felt like the biggest idiot because there wasn't anything he could do to help. He did stop eating the burrito and rushed over to me so I don't know why he feels stupid. That's the only thing he could have done and it's exactly what I wanted him to do. Anyway so the contractions got hard and I got some pain medication, but that wasn't enough to really cut the pain for me so I got the epidural.

My experience with the epidural? Well I guess it really wasn't ideal. They gave it to me once and with the trial dose I started to pass out and they had to keep giving me medication to bring my blood pressure back up. I guess that's a scary thing, but I was kind of out of it so it didn't bother me really. So they had to take it out and put it back in. The shot they give you before the epidural is the worst part, but for me it was totally worth it. I haven't ever been one who liked the feeling of being drugged, but I LOVED the way the epidural made me feel. My legs felt all warm and tingly - like when you first wake up. It was wonderfully comforting. A few hours later the contractions came back and they had to up my dose which was kind of drama, but it was much better.

Near the end they gave me pitosin because my labor hadn't progressed which was fine - I didn't have to feel a thing. Then around 8 they checked me and I was 9.5 and they said I'd be ready to push in a little bit. Around 10:45 I started pushing. I could feel a lot during the pushing. I'm not sure if it was because the epidural was wearing off again or if they'd turned it off so I could push. Either way I started. Pushing was hard and probably the weirdest feeling I"ve ever had. After my first set of pushes I burst out laughing. It just hurt too much and I couldn't believe I was going to push out seriously another human being from this little tiny hole. I don't know it was funny at the time. So about an hour later she was here!

They put her right on my chest all slimey and wonderful. I loved her little cry and feeling her tiny body against mine. There aren't words to express what it's like. It's exhausting, it's super emotional, it's the weirdest thing I've ever done, it's just crazy really. But it was a good experience for me. I loved my nurses and everything went so smoothly. My recovery has been fabulous. I'm walking around and I feel so much like myself again. Honestly I don't think it could have gone any better. I would definitely say I would do it again which was something I wasn't sure I would be bale to say afterward.

So there it is in a nutshell. For anyone expecting or planning on expecting it's probably one of the hardest things you'll do physically, but seriously it's not as bad or as scary as some people have made it out to be. And the benefits well outweigh the pain.