Two years ago my life changed dramatically. It all started
at 5:30 am, yes, in the morning, like before the sun came up. Actually, scratch
that, it started earlier around 2 am. I was having (what I thought were) Braxton
hicks, so I moved to the couch so I wouldn’t wake up my husband who had to work
the next morning.
My water broke at 5:30 and I dove off the couch. There was a
huge part of me that thought I’d just wet myself. I mean, it wasn’t like you
see in the movies. It was a trickle, not the big “splash” you see on the
movies. I’ll spare you any more details, but I called Labor and Delivery, and
they told me to come in.
So I woke my husband and told him I was in labor. It then
took him almost an hour to get ready to go to the hospital. Don’t ask me what
he was doing, I have no idea. The contractions had hit and I was just busy
breathing.
We finally made it to the hospital and they agreed I was in
labor. Now my plan was to always have an epidural. Pain is not my thang. Kudos
to every woman who has gone the natural route, but I knew from the get-go that
I was not one of those women. But, someone had told me to be careful, because
if I got my epi too soon, it would wear off during the heat of labor. So I
waited. I waited for 5 long hours.
At some point the charge nurse came and put oxygen on me,
said there was some concern with the baby’s heart rate and they just wanted to
make sure everyone was getting enough air. I think I nodded, but the pain was
making everything blurry.
Me: “NOW, now is good.”
Unfortunately, for me, it was a busy day in the delivery ward
and there were a number of women ahead of me. It felt like forever. Finally,
the drug doc came in. I sat on the edge of the bed, back arched like a cat,
contractions kicking my butt and he told me to hold very still. So I did.
Then a gnat came at landed on the epi equipment, which meant
they were no longer sterile, which meant he had to open a whole new kit, which
meant I had to continue to sit there, on the edge of the bed, back arched like
a cat, while contractions were going all Karate Kid on my insides, while he
opened a new kit. Let’s just say, that gnat is Satan’s pet.
Finally, dear sweet relief. I was able to talk again, I even
put in my contacts. Then the charge nurse came in again and explained that
every time I had a contraction, Baby Girl’s heart rate was slowing down. There
was some concern that the cord was wrapped around her neck. But I remained calm
and I remained calm because my charge nurse remained calm.
Finally, my parents and sister came. It only took me going
into labor for them to finally visit the ‘Ville. They weren’t able to stay long
because it was time to push. I’m going to be honest, I was scared. But, I had
faith it would all work out. And it did.
Thanks to the epidural, I couldn’t tell anything was really
happening and kept asking if I was doing it right. They said I was and
apparently I was, because out popped Baby Girl. She cried, I cried and The Hubs
took pictures of our gooey girl. There was absolutely no evidence of the cord
being wrapped around anything. She was perfectly healthy and I was euphorically
happy.
Here we are two years later. It’s gone by at a crazy speedy
pace. I’ve been told the next 18 years will go by this fast. I surely hope not,
I want as much time with her as possible. As much as I can’t wait to see her
grow, I also want time to stop.
Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!
