Oakley's Birthday

(You'll have to forgive me for making this so long. You know that whole Blog as a journal thing? I just wanted to get it all down before I start to forget. I really don't expect anyone to read this whole thing. There are pictures at the end :)

It all started Tuesday, when I went to the hospital to be induced. I, of course, could not sleep at all the night before because I was so anxious and excited.

June 10th
4:00 am
They told me to call in two hours before I was supposed to be there to make sure they had room for me. I was devastated when they told me they didn't have a single bed open and I should call back in an hour and a half. I sat in bed for a few minutes going over all the worst case scenarios-- like not being able to go in at all that day-- then gave up on sleeping and got up to get ready just to pass the time.

5:30am
I called the hospital again and was relieved when they said I could come in at 6:30, just half an hour later than scheduled. I could hardly believe it was actually happening.

6:30am
We arrived at the hospital and filled out all the paperwork, as I impatiently wondered what the point of pre-registering was. Then we were taken to the Labor and Delivery Room where I was hooked up to what seemed like a million monitors. The nurse put in my IV, and I was amazed at how painful it was, much worse than what I had imagined. After several minutes of the pain getting continually worse, I said something to the nurse about it. She looked at my arm and quickly apologized. Somehow she had blown my vein without realizing it. She didn't try again. She found another nurse to try my other arm. Between the pain and just being so nervous about everything I just about passed out and frantically told Dan to grab something and start fanning me fast. This made me wonder how I was ever going to handle labor!

After that was over, I was lying in bed waiting for the doctor to come in when I started feeling contractions. When they didn't go away Dan and I pulled the monitor over, figured out what all the different graphs were tracking and realized I really was contracting, every couple of minutes.

7:30am
The doctor came in, realized I had started contracting on my own and told me they couldn't start me on the Cytotek like we had planned because it could make the contractions too intense for the baby to handle. Instead, he started me on a very small amount of Pitocin and told me to get ready for a very long labor.

I spent the rest of the day contracting about every minute. Dan got lots of studying in, and lots of naps. I was too excited to sleep. The contractions were pretty tolerable. When they got too uncomfortable I would just get up and move around. It was just a long day of waiting. By the end of the day I was starving, all I wanted to do was eat. So I just crunched more ice chips. Good thing I really like ice chips! The movie Annie was on TV, which I hadn't seen since I was little, so that kept me kind of distracted.

After that, things are a little blurry. The contractions started to get more and more painful, so they gave me some drugs through my IV which completely knocked me out. It was nice to get a couple hours of sleep. That evening they announced I was finally dilated to 1 cm! The doctor broke my water, and my mom came over to the hospital around 9pm. Once the drugs wore off, they checked me again and I was 2-3 cm. I didn't want to get the epidural too early, so they gave me more drugs through the IV to take the edge off. I was out again for awhile.

I woke up in a lot of pain. The contractions were getting stronger and stronger and I decided it was time to ask for the epidural. Unfortunately, they had to call the anesthesiologist in from home, and there was a huge storm that night which had knocked over some trees and blocked some roads. As a result, it took him much longer than normal to get there. I was hanging on to the bed rails for dear life, feeling like I was going to die. But, I did not scream or yell or swear or anything like that. This was the only time I was mean to Dan. He was sitting on the recliner watching basketball while my mom held my hand, put a cool washcloth on my head and did anything she could to help. This did not make me very happy at all. I told Dan he was useless, and a log of lard would have done me more good than him (clearly the pain talking). He reluctantly came over, wondering what in the world he was supposed to do.

June 11th
12:30am
After about 45 minutes, the anesthesiologist finally arrived. I was in so much pain I really didn't care how big the needle was they were sticking in my back. I was glad they didn't make everyone leave the room for it. It turned out to be wonderful! The only thing I ended up feeling was the tiny little prick of the shot the doctor used to numb me before inserting the real needle. The IV that morning had been 1,000 times worse. After the epidural kicked in, I was able to get a few more hours of sleep.

2:00am
They checked me again, and I was dilated to an 8! After the epidural, things had really started moving. Now, the epidural had worn off, so I was in quite a bit of pain again while we waited for the anesthesiologist to come back and give me an extra boost of medication. I was so happy to see him, because the contractions were really getting strong.

3:00am
When they checked me this time, I was a 10! It was time to start pushing. I was still very comfortable from the last dose of medication, so I would push and then we would chat and laugh and push some more. It was pretty easy until about the last 15-20 minutes when the medication had worn off again. Dan was awesome this time :) He was very encouraging and supportive, in a non-pushy, not annoying kind of way. By the end, I was exhausted and in so much pain that I just had to get the baby out! The doctor ended up having to give me an episiotomy, but he didn't tell me he was doing it, so I just thought the pain was from the contractions and all the pressure of the baby. This was a good thing. I probably would have freaked out if I had known what he was doing while I could feel everything. Dan said this was the only part of the delivery that bothered him. He did not like watching the doctor cut through me like that, and said he couldn't get the awful image out of his head for awhile.

4:05am
After a very long day and night of labor, and just an hour of pushing Oakley finally arrived!!! The nurse told me to look at the reflection in the doctor's glasses to see the baby. This was perfect, I could see her being born without seeing all the scary details. I got to hold her for a second, then they weighed her and cleaned her up a bit before handing her to Dan. This was when I noticed the doctor stitching me up and had to ask why. That's when Dan told me about the episiotomy. One thing that surprised me was how the pain didn't just suddenly disappear once she was out. Some of that was probably due to the episiotomy and the stitches the doctor was doing. They took Oakley to the nursery for her bath and evaluation and Dan and I went right to sleep.

Dan had to get up two hours later and go to school. I rested in the Labor and Delivery room, waiting for Oakley. It was a strange feeling to have gone through all that but not have her with me. It almost seemed like it hadn't really happened. As soon as they brought her to me, I was on such a high. I didn't care how tired I was, I couldn't put her down.

Overall, the experience was incredible. Being the baby that I am, I still can't believe I did it. Before I left the hospital they gave me a shot, and I think I complained more about that than anything that happened during labor :) It's amazing how you just deal with everything as it happens and somehow get through it.

And now we have this little miracle who has completely stolen our hearts. I am amazed at how much I love her, more than I ever knew was possible. Dan laughs at me, but sometimes I look at her and just cry because I love her so much.

Since Dan had to be at school every day, he was only able to come over and see us in the evenings. Thank goodness I had my mom and my sister, and lots of visitors! By Friday, I was more than ready to go home. Here we are, ready to leave the hospital: