Since three weeks has lapsed since Jona's arrival, I have started to feel a little panicky that I haven't done a better job of recording all these little moments that I hear go by so quickly. And honestly, I can see it happening before my eyes. This past Monday, Jona had a weight check at the Pediatrician's office and she has gained a pound and a half since her first visit and since that visit I swear this baby is chunking up like a Thanksgiving turkey. She eats constantly and it's starting to show :) (I love chunky babies!)
So first and foremost... delivery.
Ok, so I worked up to the very last day before Jona arrived. Now, this wasn't my original plan because I ended my school year intentionally a few days earlier than the rest of colleagues to get a few things in order before our due date rolled around. But just as I was about to crawl back in bed at 1am on June 7th, I felt a 'whoosh' of warm water that I had a sneaky suspicion what was happening. After a quick call to our OB doctor who confirmed the suspected, Ryan and I loaded up the Xterra with what we thought we needed for the next couple of days and headed to St. Joe's!
After checking in to our triage room, I was given some disappointing news about my progress. Well, just that I hadn't made any! (Meaning, I was still effaced about 50% and only dilated .5 a centimeter... I mean seriously, does that even count ?!) Our nurse reported back to us that starting at 6am my pitocin drip would start to help move things along. As for the moment, I started to realize what a bad idea it was not to eat before we left! It was 3am and I hadn't eaten since the night before and I seriously considered having Ryan sneak food into the room for me. (I'm assuming this is a big no-no, because later in the day, another patient did just that and the nurse had to retrieve our doctor from our room because she was eating... and refused to stop.. what a fatty!) Well, let me tell you, once the pitocin drip started and the contractions arrived that was the last thing on my mind! Later in the morning, my nurse offered a narcotic to help 'take the edge off' as I waited to dilate before my epidural. I was offered two choices.. the small and normal dose. I opted for the smaller dose and would have like to have seen what the full dose would have done to me! Ha.. I probably would have slept through Jona's birth. All I know is I couldn't make out any details of Ryan's face and promptly feel asleep for an hour and a half. Ryan also has video of me after I awoke that I have no recollection of and the conversation about all the foods I wanted to eat after the ordeal was over.
As the day progressed, I still hadn't! I had only dilated to 1.5 centimeters by 1pm. (Translation= that's 5 hours of pitocin and contractions with not much to show for it.) I was starting to get very nervous that the doctors would want me to opt for a cesarian delivery. My mom had to deliver by c-section and I was just really nervous about going into surgery to get Jona here.. really, that was the only thing that made me feel really anxious and scared about delivery. I just didn't want a c-section. Well, after the narcotics wore off and I came down from my high, the pitocin really started to work. The contractions were incredible. I mean, first of all, they were incredibly painful and secondly, the were starting to dilate my cervix! At last! I promptly requested an epidural after downing a bag and a half of fluids required before insertion. Pretty much, after the epidural, labor wasn't bad at all.
It still took many more hours.. 7 to be exact.. before I was fully dilated. The doctor and our nurse left the room and I kept feeling like I was going to poop the baby out as they waited for me to go from 9.5 centimeters to 10. I had a huge sense of pressure as the contractions were coming and going and I knew they needed to get back into our room before too long. Well, while we waited, Ryan had to help me turn they baby. Let me explain, the doctor had noticed about an hour earlier that Jona was lying 'sunny side up' and if she didn't turn... possible c-section! (Another c-section scare.. ugh!!). Well, I wasn't having it.. so 'doggy position' it was to get this baby to roll over. The doctor's reasoning for this, besides entertaining my husband about the awkwardness of his gigantically pregnant wife assuming a well-known sexual position, was the baby's back is heavier than any other part of her body and the position would get her to rotate. And as you can assume from the above mentioned notes about c-sections.. I was willing to try anything. So, I assumed the position (and I'm sure this moment is forever ingrained in my husband's mind.. who can blame him?!) and hoped for the best.
Well, anyways, back to pooping the baby out... I was certain Jona was coming out so I had Ryan track down our nurse to get an estimate as to what was going on. Well, low and behold, I was 10 centimeters and we were ready to push.. meaning I was ready to push.. So, our nurse has my left leg, Ryan has my right and the doctor has my.. well, you know. After our first round of pushing, Jona's head was visible, I thought I was gonna puke my brains out (and if I had had that snack I had wanted, I'm sure I would have vomited) and Ryan was so excited because he could see his little baby's head making its way to us. After four more rounds of pushing, Jona's head crowned, her little shoulders came out and then I had a newborn baby on my chest! Of all the special moments in my life, this one takes the cake. It was really a beautiful moment meeting our beautiful baby girl!
Well, that's it for now. I will definitely add more to the blog much sooner than I have previously. I mean honestly, I'm not working! Hope this all finds you well :)
