This is actually my second attempt at writing Aric’s birth story. The first attempt is still in progress, as I’m putting all my emotion and disappointment into how that night went for me and what a failure I felt like. If you are interested, you can read it here!
But for now, here’s the puppies and rainbows version of how Aric came to be!!
At 7:30am, Timmy and I arrived at the hospital for our induction (scheduled at 39 weeks 3 days for pregnancy induced hypertension). At 8am, the doctor broke my water and my pitocin was started quickly after that.
Both the doctor and the nurse were in good spirits that I’d be delivering before the end of their shifts. I was skeptical, but enjoyed the idea of having a baby in the next 6 hours!
I was having some pretty consistent contractions that I wasn’t feeling right away, which was nice. Then, at about 9:30, the pitocin decided to show me just why women want to change the name of it to Devil Juice. Contractions were coming one on top of the other and they hurt! I could barely breathe through them.
At 10:15 I asked for the epidural, after being told they wouldn’t let it wear off before I really needed it and after being told it would help with my blood pressure (which was 156/105 at this point). At 10:30, the evil anesthesiologist showed up. Oh, no, I didn’t want to kiss him afterwards, the epi process was HORRIBLE!!
I have scoliosis, so he would have to insert the needle, then feel around for how the curve of my back goes. But I was assured the worst part of that would be the shot of Novocaine that came first.
LIES! HORRIBLE, AWFUL LIES!!
The Novocaine shot hardly hurt, but the damn doctor didn’t even give it time to kick in before shoving that horrid needle in my back. I felt it go between my vertebrae and I could feel him looking around for how my back curved. I was shaking from the pain.
He had to do it again.
Finally, after another round of unimaginable pain, it was all over. Once the epi kicked in, it was all gravy. I could sometimes feel the pressure of the contractions but no pain! It was nice. Oh, and it dropped my BP to 88/36. The nurse gave me a shot of something that regulated it to 130/70 for the rest of my labor. Timmy and I watched some movies from our Netflix queue while I was rolled from side to side each hour to kill time in between my naps.
When everything started, I was 1.5 cm dilated. At noon, after the epi, I was 2 cm. An hour later I was at 3-4 cm.
At 2:20, after steady, although less intense contractions (despite high amounts of pitocin), I was still 3-4 cm. The nurse mentioned that this would be an evening delivery, which got me disappointed, but I was still optimistic.
At 4:30, my new nurse (and my hero!) came in to give me a second dose of antibiotic (for the Group B Strep). This is when she mentioned to me that if I’m still a 3-4 cm dilated, we might be looking at a c-section.
At 6pm, the nurse made her own special batch of pitocin which the other nurses on the floor swore helped increase contractions and show progress in all their other women. SO she hooked me up to that, plus changed the position I was laying in to something that would help Aric slide down to where he needed to be. It was at this point that the nurse told me that he was sitting in there kind of crooked which could be the reason I wasn’t progressing at all.
She promised me that even if I made a teeny tiny pit of progress, there would be no c-section, we just needed to see SOMETHING happen.
At 7, she came in to check me. Still 3-4 cm. He was descending and his head was already turning into the cone-shape in preparation for delivery, but because he was crooked and sunny side up, he wasn’t hitting the pressure points in my pelvis to stimulate the cervix to dilate.
The next hour was a freakin blur! A bunch of people started coming in and out, apparently I met the doctor that was going to cut me open, but I have no memory of that!
While I was getting the epi drugs out and the spinal block in, I puked. I was so scared and overwhelmed and I didn’t even have time to calm down and talk to Timmy about what was going on. Besides, they had already whisked him away to change him into “Dr. Timmy!” (who was really hot by the way!)
At 7:45 I was on the operating table, and at 7:54, Aric Joseph was born. Timmy got to help clean him off and watched them get his stats: 7 pounds 13 ounces, 20 1/4 inches long, APGARS at 8 and 9.
They brought him over to meet me, then we were all taken to the recovery room. At 10pm, I was finally able to hold my baby boy for the first time.
He is absolutely amazing and a fast learner! He has been breastfeeding like a pro since the first try and is such a calm baby (for now anyway!!). After his first appointment today, he had already gained back 5 of the 13 ounces he lost in the hospital and was doing so well, the doctor told us we didn’t need to come back until his two month appointment!
Recovery for me is going well, too. The incision still hurts, but each day is better and better.
The whole process totally sucks, but it was certainly well worth it!!
