sorashell

familyaffair_pagetwo

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familyaffair_pagetwo
sorashell, Jan 10, 2008
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Journaling Reads~
I guess you could say that my labor started out as all things in life should; with a good massage. Chris and I had gone over to our friend Shellie's house for dinner and a massage on May 14th. She had finished me up and was starting to work on Chris, so I went downstairs and started talking to her partner while she was making dinner. When I stood up I felt a small gush of fluid, and knew immediately that my bag of water had sprung a leak...Every time I moved it leaked more, so being the anti-dramatic person that I am (moo), I sauntered upstairs to ask Shellie if she had a maxipad I could have, and by the way, Chris, when you're done with your massage we need to go to the hospital and have a baby. I have to say, I was very calm about the whole thing, but then again that could be from the massage.
Chris and I had come in separate cars, so I told him to finish his massage and I'd meet him at home. Once there I called the Dr. and my mom, signed on the May Mommy board and gave a heads up, then waited for Chris to get home. Apparently he couldn't relax enough for his massage, so he left right after me! At this point I was having pretty strong menstrual like cramps, but no contractions that could be timed, but since my water had broken I could go to the hospital and get set up. We arrived at 9:00pm, and once we were admitted and in a room, the contractions started coming a bit stronger and I asked about an epidural. The nurse told me that I was only dilated to 1 1/2, but she'd put in my order. I ended up getting it at around 11:00pm., it didn't hurt a bit, and after that it was smoooooooth sailing! I don't know if you all are familiar with my Theory of Moo, but in a nutshell, every time I was afraid of something I thought of myself as a big, brown-eyed ol bossy cow, dumb and placid, calmly doing whatever needed to be done and not thinking about anything scary to do in the future. My affirmation for this was to say "Moo!." Everyone thought I was nuts, and we cracked up every time I said it. I've got to tell you, a little levity goes a long way in a scary situation! The other thing I did was anytime something hurt, I'd say, "It's all good!" I guess that was my attempt to brain wash myself, but it worked too.
I spent that night watching late night TV, listening to my husband snore in the chair next to me and having the nurses flip me over about every 2 hours. The epi was great, except that it effectively paralyzed my left leg (the right one was okay, though!). I can definitely see the benefits of a more natural birth where you're not hooked up to so many monitors and can move about freely, but I was sure glad for that epidural! By 7:00am I was only dilated to about 4 cms, so they upped the pitocin, we called our parents and told them they could come any time they wanted. They arrived about an hour later and were admitted to the room. It's funny...The nurses said I could have no more than 3 in the room at a time, but I found a way to connect with all of them at different times and spent half the night listening to their problems. When the whole family descended upon us they turned a blind eye to the party until it was time to push, then they let me keep my husband ;-) , my mom, my MIL, and my SIL. The dads were kicked out, much to their relief!
My contractions started to actually get painful around 11:00am, and I felt a lot of rectal pressure from that point on until it was time to push around an hour later. The nurse checked Sophie and determined that she was sunny-side up which explained the back labor I was experiencing before the epi set in. We pushed for about 20 minutes with me on my side, changing sides every other push....She eventually turned the right way, and then it was on! I didn't make any noise, and even though it hurt like hell, I felt like I was just working really hard. Chris was an incredible coach! I told him on the way to the hospital "Honey, don't be one of those husbands that yell when they're counting...It really bugs me." He gave me a blank look and said, "Counting?" I realized then that the poor guy had NO IDEA of what his job description was, so I told him, "Your job is to not leave my side, encourage me, tell me I'm doing a good job, and you love me, and help me count to ten three times during a contraction." He took his job very seriously and I was so focused on him that it made it so much easier! At one point during a contraction he forgot how to count, and after the contraction was over we were cracking up!
All in all it took me about 40 minutes to push her out, and let me tell you, I never worked so hard for anything in my life! I am a very low-keyed person and when I got a look at the pictures my MIL and SIL took, I was amazed at the intensity on my face. It was a truly amazing experience, and I'd do it again in a heart beat. When they put her hot, slick little body on my chest it was absolutely the most awesome feeling I've ever had. Being a mom is the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I'm really glad I got to share the birth with so much of my family.

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