Nothing But Xie

After a little over eleven hours of labor, my son is born at 4:34 am this morning.

It wasn’t what I had expected but then again I am sure it never is for women who are pregnant for the first time.  I suppose technically I had been in labor since 10 am yesterday but the contractions did not get regular until about 5 pm.  It was funny because I argued with my Mom on whether or nor I was actually having contractions.  I didn’t think I was.  My Mom (who took me to the hospital) was a in bit of a panic.  In truth I was also.  We had to turn around once because I had forgotten I had the only keys to our “family” car and my hubby had taken the two seater to work.  When I realized it we were about half way to the hospital in my Mom’s minivan.  So we turned around and dropped the keys off and set out to the hospital once again.

As we arrived at the hospital, I fretted over how I did not have my birth plan with me and how had not even gotten it approved by my Doc.  Truth be told after a few hours of painful contractions my “natural” birth plan flew right out the window.  I’ve been through gallbladder attacks and an ectopic pregnancy, both of which is supposed to be one of the most painful things a woman can go though.  Let me vouch that the contranctions were the most excruciating pain I have ever gone through.  I surrendered and conceeded to an epidural.  Yeah, yeah I’m a weakling but let’s see how you’d fair.

Let me tell you, legs eagle spread for all to see was very uncomfortable to say the least but as labor went on I quickly lost all modesty.  I just wanted my baby out quickly and most importantly,  safely.  It is difficult to explain, time went both quickly and slowly.  I remember my heart skipping a beat everytime the baby monitor moved and I could no long hear the reassuring, “Beep….Beep” of the baby’s heart.

The last time I remember looking at a clock it was nearing midnight.  My water had broken somewhere around here.   Then before I knew it about three hours had passed and the nurse and doctor were getting concerned of the increased heartrate of the baby and the fact that I had a temperature of 102°, which meant my baby did also.  Whatever was left of trying to adhere to my birth plan went right out the window with the risk of this little one’s life.  I told the Doc to do whatever was necessary to ensure the health and wellbeing of my child.  They lessened the meds they were using with the epidural so I could better feel when to help out with pushing.  Then they gave (can’t remember atm what it was called) me a med to strengthen the contractions and move labor on more quickly.

All I remember from this next stage of the labor was that I thought my head was going to explode or I was going to pass out for lack of oxygen because I was pushing so hard and I had to be reminded to breathe.  I knew I had to work hard as I could muster so my baby wouldn’t be in distress for longer the absolutely necessary.

I was a bit dazed when my baby boy was born.  For a second I couldn’t figure out why I couln’t hear my baby’s cry.  I remember frantically calling out, “Is he ok?”, “Is he crying?”, “I can’t hear him crying!”  Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I heard a very weak cry.  I burst into tears.  I barely got to see his face before they wisked him away to better clear his lungs and manage his raging fever.

As a safety measure, they put him on antibiotics for the fever as well as a preventitive measure for his kidney, but he is doing well.

I’ll write more as my new job of being the best Mommy I can be, will allow.  ;-)

Pic’s should follow soon also.  So stay tuned!