Alright, it has been almost 3 weeks since Baby Boy Nichols was born. I think it is time to write about the whole experience thus far.
SO!
The whole adventure started out on a typical Monday night. Jake and I were all ready for bed, the lights were out, prayer was said, and I was positioning and then repositioning on my Pillow Fort. Jake was exiled to the other side of the bed bundling up in his mountain of blankets trying to stay warm in the igloo that I created with our A/C and fan on full blast. As I was squirming to make myself comfortable we were just talking when there was an unexpected silence from the other side of the bed. Concerned that something was wrong I asked Jake what was going on he responded..."I don't want to tell you.. You'll only laugh at me". This of course made me even more curious as to what had happened. So..I pestered him till he told me....he had tried to pull up a blanket farther up to cover his head against the frigidness of the A/C and fan. Sadly for him the blanket as caught on his feet and when he pulled his hand slipped and subsequently punched himself in the face.
True to Jake's words I found this to be uproariously hilarious. I am not joking when I say that I laughed for 20 minutes straight. Tears where running down my face as I gasped for air. Even though the laughing was causing my overly large belly to hurt I couldn't stop myself. Personally I'm going to blame being very fatigued from the heat and my day to it being so funny. (yet I still find it hilarious for some reason)
Anyway....
I calmed down and Jake gathered up his hurt pride and we went to sleep at this point it is about 10pm.
Jump to 1:15am.
Waking up in the middle of the night by this point in the pregnancy is just "Old Hat" and I just figure it is time for the first of many nightly pee breaks. I turtle myself out of bed and waddle to the bathroom. As I step into the bathroom I suddenly feel a gush of fluid travel down my leg and pool on the linoleum. My half awake brain flicks on into hyper-alert mode. Did just wet myself or did my water just break? These are just one of many things that start to race through my mind. It took another moment of internal examination to determine that I still had to pee. So I did. Rid of the need to pee another small gush of water comes. This time thankfully it is in the toilet and not on the floor.
It takes me about 45 minutes to get my brain and thoughts in order. I wake Jake up and we proceed to go to the hospital. You know like you do. As we are driving my contractions are a little worse than normal but not unbearable or too frequent. I might have had like 2 in the 15-20 minute drive to the hospital, but my water keeps coming out. 3 times to be exact. The seat is soaked!!
By this point it is about 2-2:30am once we get to the hospital. Jake drops me off at the entrance as he parks the car. Remember I can still walk without a problem. As I walk into the lobby the security guard takes one look at me and her eyes pop out a little as she takes in my soaked bottom half. I can't help but say "I think my water broke" with a big grin and a chuckle. However, that little snicker causes another flood to happen and I am leaving puddles on the tile floor as I walk up to the elevators. A wheelchair is procured from me and Jake wheels me up.
Thankfully I had to foresight the week before to Pre-register so it was a breeze get admitted into Labor and Delivery. I proceeded to create another puddle as I was changing into my hospital gown. Yeah I am just that talented. (If you are keeping track we are up to 5 water breakages in about an hour and half and not just trickles)
So they hook me up to the machines and I can now see my contractions and the baby's heart rate. It is amazing that technology is advanced so we can see those things. I loved watching the heart rate, knowing that my little boy was really there and getting ready to come out.
My contractions gradually got stronger (Holy Shiznits!). Poor Jake was exhausted and
tried to sleep on the futon, but would jump up whenever I would start to breath heavy, shift, and groan in pain.
When they came to check how far I was dilated for the first time I have to say it is one of the worst positions and very painful to be in while in labor.
Seriously! make me be flat on my back, lift my hips? And you are going to shove your fingers HOW far? I respectfully decline your request.
You would think they would devise a way that would NOT add to a woman's discomfort. I was at 4 cm by this point. Sweet, right? Not. I was able to watch the sun rise over the mountains as my discomfort increased. I made it to about 6am before I gave in and got an epidural.
Here is another instance when you would think they would make the process less painful. I had to wait as the anesthesiologist was doing another lady, so they gave me a shot of something that was supposed to take the "edge" off. Ummmm...no. It didn't start to take affect until the monstrous epidural was started. I've decided that contractions endured by pitocin (my contractions decided to take a lengthy break sometime before and the baby was not responding well to that) + needles in the back x having to curl into a little ball at the same time = agony and torture. To say the least by the time the whole procedure was done I was very loopy. I had two pain management drugs in my body and I couldn't focus straight. It made the nurses a little concerned till they realized why I couldn't track or focus. This caused them to chuckled as I looked at them like a drunkard. Thankfully it didn't last long and I was blissfully numb. I took the advice that I was given and took as many dozing naps as I could. They were conveniently timed with the wearing off of the medication.
I give major props to women who are able to do childbirth the natural way, but my goodness it is painful.
Many hours later and several dilation checks later (which I couldn't feel!!! : D) it is about time to push. The doctor came and checked me and said I had about an hour before I was completely dilated and effaced. It was at this point that the baby decided to be a punk and be face up instead of down. This meant I had to be flipped and flopped to get him into the correct position for delivery, this took between an hour to 1 hour 1/2 . He made it about half way before I had to start pushing. The doctor was back at the office and we started to push (it is about 1:30pm).
After an hour of pretty continuous pushing there he was crowning and no doctor to be found. I had to lay there (with my epideral almost gone). It took the doctor about 10 minutes to get back to the hospital.
This is one of the longest 10 minutes of my life. My body is wanting to push so badly, but the nurses are telling me to not to. I seriously consider ignoring them and doing it anyway, since this is what my body is wanting to do. Once the doctor is there it seems like an eternity until the doctor is ready to "catch" the baby. In the end it is a good thing that I didn't push like I wanted to because the baby wasn't fully rotated, he was facing the left and he had to be turned more manually. A couple hard pushes later my darling baby enters the world and I was able to feel it all and I wouldn't trade that for anything. While I couldn't deal with the contractions the actual pushing wasn't all that bad.
I would do it all the same again. I loved being able to feel him those last 30 minutes move down the canal and eventually enter the world. I could do without the pain of the stitching, but that is of such minor consequence it is almost not worth mentioning as I watched Jake beam with that look of sheer joy and hearing my baby boy cry as they worked on him.
It took them a bit of time to finally get him to me. They were making sure he was okay since I had spiked a very mild fever just before he was born. But! Once they put him on my chest I was filled with such a feeling of joy that I forgot (just like people said I would) all of the pain and discomfort it took to get him here. While it is still in my memory it has been all dulled as I held him for the first time.
I am still amazed at the amount of instant love that I am capable of. It is astounding that it is possible to love so unconditionally. Before Vaughn was born I would just smile and nod when other mothers would describe that feeling, I had no idea what they meant. Now I do and can't deny it.
Vaughn Kay Nichols
June 25, 2013
7lb 4oz and 20 inches long
