*I* Gotcher Labor Day
Greetings gentle readers!
Thanks as always for your continued support, and not giving up on me. It’s been one crazy ride but worth every second! Today I’m actually feeling semi-more-than-half awake, so I am attempting to blogify my last few weeks.
I must warn you though…I may need to stop this at any given time and finish up later if my angel calls. She is snoozing contentedly at the moment. And I must confess I’m looking at her more than the screen. You’ve seen the pictures, I presume. I mean come on.
So lots of you have been asking me about the labor itself. What was, one wonders, the Mayor’s Labor Day like?
Well, I don’t want to lose half my readership, or all of my male readership, so I will attempt to sum up a few quick definitions so you can all get the gist of things in an efficient, bloglike manner.
Waiting: What the Mayor and partner-in-crime did for 23 hours whilst apparently 75 other babies were born *naturally* at the Birth Center, hopelessly delaying any and all medical personnel from each stage of the Mayor’s Labor Induction (sorry JD, that’s what the form said)
Five: Number of nurses it took to properly perform the farm animal maneuver necessary to assess the Mayor’s progress. FIVE. Oh, how I wish this was not the case. If you don’t recall this maneuver from previous bloggage, good. Degrading and painful. That sums it up nicely. Boo-yah.
Contractions: What the Mayor was having for 3 weeks up to Labor Day, and what she was having naturally 1-4 minutes apart upon admittance to the Birth Center. With help, these were boosted from a 2 to an 8 on the Mayor’s pain scale over said 23 hour period. Since they steadily got stronger, the Mayor was afforded no sleep during her wait. Though her water broke on its own and contractions were right on top of each other for over an hour, the Mayor still wasn’t dilating enough. She was, however, unable to talk and being reminded to breathe through them by her helpful mate. Turns out clenching and holding one’s breath aren’t very helpful!
…:::the more you know:::…..
Epidural: That spine thingee they finally gave the Mayor that gives you a moment of ‘HOLYCRAPNEVERMIND!!’ followed by hours of ‘ah….can’t feel a thing!’ (and unholy teeth-chattering shakes, it turns out) in order to make labor more bearable. The Mayor didn’t even see the needle but her partner did and went awfully pale. He was a trooper throughout, though, and the Mayor wouldn’t have done half as well without him. In fact, he was the main reason for her falling on the right side of
The knife-edge of panic: What the Mayor felt when baby’s pulse suddenly dropped for the third time (the last time was after the nurse gave her another dose of the meds causing this problem despite the Mayor telling her NOT to and asking her to page the doctor….) and people rushing around and telling the Mayor to get on her hands and knees to get the baby more oxygen, despite the fact that HELLO! her legs were numb and she couldn’t move them due to the epidural so with help she was maneuvered into this position. On shaky arms and numb legs she danced on this knife edge. Her loving mate soothed her and kept her sane at a very crucial moment since once you cross that line and panic, there’s no getting it back……and finally….
C-section: What the Mayor opted for 23 hours into labor after baby’s distress and the doctor’s fear that perhaps the umbilical cord was tangled and causing the decrease in her oxygen supply…..(though her pulse dropping coincided with every new dose of the meds)…who knew? But the Mayor was no longer taking chances and signed her bikini-line away. It was the weirdest experience of her life. To be able to feel yourself being swabbed with iodine….(WARNING TO THE SQUEAMISH SKIP THIS PART)….even feel yourself being cut open and poked around in, yet it doesn’t hurt……just…..very, very weird. And awesome to be able to be AWAKE to hear that most precious of sounds:
my baby’s first cry. Back to first person now. This was rapidly followed by Mommy and Daddy’s cries of joy. And Doctor Big Hands at long last holding her up above the curtain separating us and saying “Look who’s here!”
I’m getting all misty thinking about it.
And her highness is just waking up, so I gotta run. But I have to tell you about the most wonderful moment in my life yet: when the nurse brought her over to me as I lay there on the table….she held her screaming face right up next to mine….through my tears I said “Hi, baby girl” and the second she heard my voice, she turned her little red face to me and stopped crying.
That’s when it hit me.
I’M A MOMMY!!
That she knew my voice for some reason just blew me away.
More soon but my angel beckons…….