Warning - this has birth details so if your sensitive to too much information don't read. :)
I had alot of anxiety come to the surface as I got further and further from my due date. I knew I was waiting for an induction Saturday 6/13. I really didn't want that to happen. I wanted to do things on my own. But funny thing is, the baby has all the control. LOL When I woke up Friday 6/12 I had a bunch of things I wanted to get done so my home was clean and ready for the sitter. By the time dinner came around I needed to sit down! My contractions started then and they were painful but not too unlike my other previous encounters with contractions. They were pretty regular and the difference I think was the feelings I had to hurry. Hurry and get the kids in their jammies, hurry and take a shower, hurry and sweep the floor. LOL This feeling was new and I had the thought that this was definately it. I went to the bathroom and told Josh to get ready I was calling the sitter.
We didn't get to the hospital until 10:30pm and by then I was breathing through my painful contractions. I changed into a gown and was checked. I was dialated to a 3 1/2. That's great news I thought! Progress...I'm staying here! By 2am, I was a 4 and ready to have an epidural. I decided to have one this time because I was so tired and afraid of how I feeling with each contraction knowing how much worse it was going to get and I just didn't want to do it. LOL So "the happy man" (who actually is never happy - I had him give me an epidural before) came in and we set up for the terrifying needle tube in the spine. I hate epidurals because I can't stand to have someone mess with my spine. Anyway, he was numbing the area and it was AWFUL!!! I felt nerves zinging down my back on the left and then on the right and back on the left again. It took about 15 minutes or so to get ready for the epidural itself and by then I was trying not to cry too hard. It was ridiculous. Finally all was set and I laid back to get comfortable and sleep a little before the birth. Josh was exhausted having worked all day. So he slept until like 7am or so and I did too except I was woken up a few times for vitals and emptying bladder etc.
My Dr. came in and joked with us about not having an induction after all and he said that he would break my water to get things going. He checked me and I was 7 to 8 dialated. Great news! So he broke my water and discovered mecconium. That's the baby eliminating inside. This frightened me but I was told it was normal because he was so overdue. This is where things escalate quickly! My contractions were causing too much pressure on Asher and his heart rate was dipping down into the 30's to 50's.
They had me move onto my side and put oxygen on me. Now I was worried. I wasn't ready to push yet and my baby was in distress. The Dr. was paged and I was moved onto my back again because it wasn't helping and an internal electronic monitor was placed on my baby's head .
He checked me and said to try pushing and see if things can get going. So I tried to push and I peed. Yep, I peed on the Dr. Well not directly on him but close enough. LOL Oh well, at least it wasn't somehthing else if you know what I mean.
Anyhow, he said ok let's push you're complete. Alright, let's go... Me pushing, Dr. saying push longer, me pushing longer, Dr. saying harder, me pushing harder, Dr. saying Chloe, your baby needs you, me thinking what the heck is going on??, Dr. saying come on keep going, me hurting because I can feel EVERYTHING!!, Dr. saying I know it hurts it's ok just push, me thinking who the "Bleep" turned off my epidural??? And 6 minutes later Asher was born with cord around his neck, blue and the room was extremely quiet. I held my breath......they transfered him to a baby incubator bed thingy and a team was there to suction him and "go to town on him" as the Dr. explained. He said that it was exactly the way it should go because we didn't want Asher to breathe until he was suctioned well from the mecconium. Then a nurse did go to town on him, rubbing and moving and wiping. Asher cried and then cried louder. Then I cried as my baby turned pink.
I watched him from afar as Josh was given the ok to take pictures. They don't let you take pictures of procedures which is good because if you saw his lifeless blue leg like I did it would break your heart too. I wanted to hold him so bad but I couldn't because I was being checked and still occupied with delivering the placenta. I know TMI but you were warned! LOL And then he was in my arms. :)
I didn't tear at all which is amazing because it took 6 minutes to deliver him! He weighed a good amount too. I am so blessed. Afterwards my uterus was being "lazy" and wouldn't contract. I had a few very painful visits from the Dr. (he pushed hard on my stomach to help my uterus contract). If your uterus doesn't contract after a birth you can hemmorage. So they decided to hook me up to pitocin, a drug that causes contractions. I was on this until 9:30pm. I was miserable. Reminder - no more epidural and contractions all DAY long! I didn't get to shower until 3pm the next day. And my back was killing me. So I went home Sunday night and got meds Monday morning. I'm still on them for pelvic inflammation but overall I am recovering more quickly than I did with Maizer. :) I am extremely swollen from water retention and IV fluids etc, but my face is looking thinner already. I hope my legs, ankles, and feet are soon to follow!
I have more pictures of Asher but I need to download them. I will post tomorrow! But here are a few from the hospital.
We love you Asher!!
