okay. it's been one week so I figured I had better get this down before I forget everything. I was feeling pretty healthy in my pregnancy and hadn't gained a ton of weight but was finding that each day past my due date was giving me increasingly more painful evenings. It must have been ligaments or something but the boy's head was obviously ridiculously low and since I am known for my "difficult to break" bags of water there was not much progress in the labor area. Even a full 9 hrs of false labor didn't move things along at all really. I realize that all babies come eventually but for me I was giving him a week and then he was out. Of course I ended up with an induction. So we go in tuesday morning and get hooked up to the evil pit drip. I spend the whole morning, early afternoon walking the halls. Very familiar as this is the third time I have done this. They have the contractions in a good rythm but I am only dialated to a 3-4 after about seven hours of this. The nurse explains that perhaps I don't have as many oxytocin receptors as some women which might explain why my body has difficulty going into labor on its own and why they have to crank the pit to double digits (which apparently they don't have to go that high with most women). Okay so, about 3:00 they break my water. At this point I am thinking of natural ways to handle the oncoming pain because I remember with blake that the contractions strengthened right away after they broke the water with him and I was asking for an epidural pretty soon after. ha! I walk the hall for 15 min. (jeremy is of course off site getting lunch at some fast food joint). ouch! I actually have to stop and bend and deep breathe over the hall rails. Okay, back to the room pronto and jeremy returns (about time). I try the birthing ball. More deep breathing and increasingly painful contractions. Jeremy says something "now that's an active labor face". Fine, be that way. I get in the bath. It helps but not like I have heard others attest to. I find it greatly annoying in the tease of help it offers; better than nothing but for sure not cutting it. I have never felt such a connection between the contraction and the dialation. It felt like a direct line straight down my body from the contraction to the opening of my womb. TMI and definately a wierd way too in touch with my own body moment. I ask for my drugs but she wants to check me first. 2 + cent of dialation in 35 minutes. I am now a 6-7. I think "crud, if I am dialating this fast I better get those dang drugs before it's too late!" So I get out of the tub and am shaking because I am cold/wet and then I have to "relax" while they do the epidural. Ha!! there were several times the anesthesiologist was explaining something to me about the process and asked me a question; I couldn't even answer. I just had to breathe and try to stay in control. I never thought I would get out of control but lets just say it would have been a much faster delivery if I hadn't had the drugs because I would have been MOTIVATED. My midwife Shana was awesome. She held me and said how strong I was and wonderful I was doing and would tell me when the peak of a contraction was happening so I knew it was almost over. I can totally see why people get doulas when they want to labor naturally, they are such an encouragement. Of course at this point I am still not laboring naturally but cranked to a 10 on the pit drip.
So, now we have an epi and I can relax a little. It took longer than I had hoped for the epi to kick in and then I was wondering why my right butt cheek had this too numb ache going on and then I felt a bit like I was being punched on the left side. Oh, so THAT is what people are talking about when they say one side didn't "take". I was feeling A LOT on the left side from not enough and slightly achy on the right from too much in one spot. However, I refuse to complain about it because it was way better than the full on contractions. So it must be like 5:00 now. I'm complete and can push if I want to. I don't really have the need to so they tell me to let the baby "labor down". That means just take his own time with the contractions to get lower in the canal. Okay, this is new to me. I'm at a10 and you want me to lay here and twiddle my thumbs? Apparently. At this point they bring in someone to "observe" the delivery. I had already signed NO to any students being in the room or part of my treatment because I remember being terrified about the damage being done when they let a student help stitch me after trinity was born. So I politlely say NO WAY and the observer leaves. As you will see in my sidenote, I had reasons for wanting only a few people in the room. I don't know that my mother was exactly happy with the decision for it just to be jeremy and I but she and my mother-in-law said they would abide by my wishes. lol. Oh so here comes the part where things always get wacky. The midwife suddenly feels it time to mention that she has a meeting she CANNOT miss so unless I want to lay there for an hour (5:30-6:30) her back up doctor is going to do the delivery. SAY WHAT?! If I wanted a back-up doctor I would have gone with the OB's who always seem to be on their own schedule first and not the midwives who are supposed to BE THERE for me. le sigh. well, after I adjusted my attitude I agreed to wait it out.
(SIDENOTE: this is the third time things have gone strange at the pushing point of my deliveries: Delivery 1 - trinity doesn't want to come out so all my family is kicked out and a circus of doctors/nurses attempt to help with my delivery. . .does not end well. Delivery 2 - blake is crowning but my midwife has recently transfered from chicago and needs a certain amount of deliveries observed by certain doctors until she can deliver on her own even though she has done it for 30 years. hence my waiting through the lovely ring of fire while several different doctors are phoned and one finally shows up with team of nurses to "observe". . .thanks for that. Delivery 3 - ready to push when midwife calmly announces she is so sorry but has a meeting and can I wait for an hour but oh by the way the nurse I have had all day is off at 7:00 and wants to see the baby so of course I have exactly 1 half hour to have the baby for everyone's convenience. . .what's wrong with this picture???)
So Shana returns and I kick mom out so I can get going, which is a good thing because now my epi which had been lopsided but mostly working was not working that well anymore so I am grateful to finally get to push. The laboring down worked because with each push she saw more of his head and out he came in like four pushes! of course there is always the drama of my children's shoulders threatening to get stuck. It's funny how everyone wants to go into panic mode at the slightest sign of travail. I am told to push as hard as I can and then do a slow grunting push (whatever the heck that means). This got his shoulders out but prevented him from shooting out like a cannon ball. Apparently I accomplished this amazing feat because later she complimented me on my "excellent" control. Can we be honest here? I followed her instructions but mostly I was wondering what this big push would do to my hemerroids which is where I was concentrating on the pushing feeling since I know those are at the bum and they always tell you to push down through the bum to get a baby out well. hmm. . .anyway, they throw the little guy on my chest. Well of course he is adorable but not eager to start crying so they freak and cut the cord (which I had specifically asked to let stop pulsing) in case he was in distress and they need to give him a rub down at the warming station beside us. You know he perked up right away and was fine (silly panicers. . is that a word?) but so much for my cord blood thinking.
Jer and I get about 20 minutes while they give me a few stitches and clean up. There are no extra nurses or doctors. It is quiet. the focus is just the three of us. . mom, dad, baby. . .I am happy. Third time must be a charm. We let the moms come in and have him weighed. 8 lbs, 10 oz. my smallest baby though not by much. I am actually suprised that he is that big. Nee nee was the closest guess. mil holds him while mom gets the big siblings. We all sit together for a while and admire the new addition. We kick around names since we hadn't settled on anything before. Jeremy is already calling him Isaac though he is open to options. by morning we know he is isaac but how to spell and what should the middle name be? I want to spell it Izak for a more playful take but Jeremy asks for the traditional. He says I can choose the middle name so all the current faves go by the wayside and we return to one from the first trimester: emmons. It's the name of the largest glacier on mount rainier (which is blakey's middle name. . .rainier). it was the origional way to summit the mountain and was named after one of the first men that surveyed it for the state/government. Isaac Emmons Diviney. It has a certain ring to it and I especially like the two double letter sets. Home again by noon the next day and the birth story is done. whew!
