Birth story - part one.

  I'd wish I could have gotten on here three weeks ago to write this - where did the past three weeks go?! - but it's been tough. I honestly didn't know how hard it'd be to get anything done, especially when I'm alone and Rich is at work, with a newborn - they sleep a heck of a lot, but wow... It's hard. *lol* More especially since I'm breast feeding, so that takes up a huge chunk of my day, and when he does take a nap I need to try to do stuff in the house. Oh the house... it's horrible. I'm hoping to have it cleaned this week, but we shall see.

  Onto the birth story! Let me say this in advance - I don't remember a lot of it. Honest. I had to two shots of a pain med and it knocked me out and made me so fuzzy headed that I have to ask Rich questions about the whole first day, so this may be a bit sketchy. *lol*

   We got to the hospital monday morning at 12am like they said, but weren't ready for us so we sat in the lobby waiting for about thirty minutes or more. (Let me backtrack to the car before going in, my sister called so my niece and nephew could talk to me and say they were excited about the baby coming, which made me bawl, I so wished they could have been there to see him afterwards.) Finally we were sent upstairs to start the ball rolling. I got changed into the beautiful hospital gown and jumped into bed - which, by the way, was beyond uncomfortabe since the bottom half of it came off. It needed a lot more padding. The nurse started off by asking a bunch of questions, put in the IV (first one in my left forearm blew - she should hav elistened when I said the right hand is easier to get), and then came a painful part - the Cytotec.
  Since my cervix decided it wanted to be like Fort Knox and not open, they had to shove this pill, Cyctotec, up in my who-ha, which had me in tears. My OB is a man, and he didn't hurt me that bad, but since thenurses had smaller hands it hurt more. Yikes.
  Anyway, so they put that Cytotec up in there and then decide to tell me I'm stuck in bed for two hours - hello, I had to pee, but couldn't now. Since it was 2am by then, we all hunkered down to sleep until they came in to check me in two hours. The room was freezing and I couldn't sleep well because of it, that and I started having contractions. They started off just at that annoying feeling and quickly went to painful, but bearable. Between 4-5am I couldn't take it anymore and buzzed to go to the bathroom, get them to turn the rooms heat up, and get checked.
  I don't remember what I checked out at, but I told the nurse I wasn't comfortable so she offered me a shot of Stadol, which I gladly took. She said it'd take the edge off and make me drowsy  - which I was fine with, I wanted some sleep. So she shot me up, and at first I didn't feel anything, but she'd been injecting it really, really slowly... and then my hand burned. I got fuzzy headed. And a little warm. And maybe nauseaus. It was nice. *lol* After that we all decided to go back to sleep until my OB came in around 7am to break my water and check me. Rich and Mom said that I kept asking if they were ok, and asked the nurse when the breakfast would be served becaus eI wanted them to go eat - just not in the room with me since I couldn't eat. *lol* Hey, I was concerned for their comfort!

  There is some more fuzzy memories here for a while... I know I slept, but kept waking up to check on everyone else. I remember waking up and seeing my hands gripped on the bed railing when I was having a contraction - which were getting more strong and frequent.
  My OB came in around 7am to check me and said that I'd softened and was dialated to 1cm. Woohoo! He said B'ed be there late that night, but before midnight. Ok... sure. Then he broke out the "crochet needle" and broke my water. Talk about the most interesting feeling! And creepy. I'm laying in bed and water just gushes out of me and doesn't stop. Ever. Rich got it on his shoes, I kept apologizing to everyone because it made a mess, and asked when the hell they were going to change my blankets and bedding because it was just gross to be sitting in that. *lol*
  After the OB left I was still hurting, the contractions picked up since my water was broke, and the nurse offered another shot of Stadol, and said I could have my epidural whenever I wanted. I opted for both. Yes, both. While she called for the epi-man to come do his thing, she shot me up with another thing of Stadol, and wow.... I don't remember much for nearly 12+ hours after that. *lol* I remember it kicked in quickly, t ook the eduge off the pain, and I fell asleep waiting for the doctor.

  My epi-doctor was an older guy, probably around 60, and you could just tell he was one of those doctors who didn't care about what my opinion was, just his own. Yes, I noticed that through my drugged up stupor. I also noticed my new daytime nurse, who just so happened to be too damn happy for my liking at that time. *lol* (Sex and the City fans thing of when Miranda goes in to have baby Brady and she has that happy nurse that Carrie has to tell to shut up - that was like mine.) She put on that stupid finger thing that monitors your heart rate, upped the blood pressure cuff to go off every 5 minutes (I had bruises on my upper arm for over a week becuase I had to wear that awful thing all damn day), I'm leaking fluid all over the place, I have an asshole epi-doctor, I'm drugged up and she wants me to sit up and lean over on Rich.
  Ok, so it would have been fine to do so if I didn' thave all that crap on me, Icouldn't move! I took off the finger thing, and she kept telling me I needed it on so they could monitor me during the epidural. Ok... I couldn't articulate to her in my stupor that I was going to leave the stupid thing on, I just needed it off so I could use my hand to get up, but she didn't get it. Rich did. And he got how pissed I was at the happy nurse, more so when I took at him and said something I'm sure was along the lines of "She's too damn  happy, make her shut up."
  Anyway, so I get in the sitting/leaning over position adn I start shaking - I know there is a needle coming my way and I don't like it. He cleans me up, numbs me (which is honestly the worst part), and then puts the meds in to test it's in the right spot which burn, see I'm ok and then puts the catheter in to deliever the meds. I start getting the warm fuzzy feeling in my legs and am able to somehow move back onto my back.
 
  After I'm good and numb the too-happy-nurse says it's time for my catheter to be put in, so she does that whole do. I could feel this weird sensation after it was set, but figured it went more numb soon after that. I remember going to sleep, Rich andMom watched tv and updated people via phone. Rich took pictures and some video of me trying to talk to him, but don't remember much. The nurse checks me, but, again, Id on't remember what I was at or anything.
  I do remember that my right leg was pretty numb, but my left started to get that tingly feeling like it was waking up, and I could feel the catheter more now and even "squeeze" it on the inside. I thought this was odd and mentioned it. I think I was dismissed, but I kept on everyone about it. More especially when I started feeling pain on my left side only. It started as a small twinge, and progressed to full on having to breathe a big harder through them. Finally the nurse believed me when I said I was feeling everything on one whole side of my body and not the other. So the jerk of an epi-doctor was called back in....

  And now that it's after midnight, and I have a sleeping Braxton inbetween me and Rich, I'm going to curl up and go to sleep myself. I'll try to get on tomorrow at some poit and type up some more...