One Year Ago Continued

At around midnight on May 19, 2009, my contractions started to get really intense. I am kind of a wuss and don't have a lot of pain tolerance, but they just seemed strong. The funny thing was, the monitor wasn't catching my contractions, but the nurse could feel them, so she knew I wasn't crazy. I was only three centimeters dilated. I did not know how I was going to make it through.

By about 1:30, I was begging for some drugs! I had to wait for a half hour until a bag of fluids was given to me. Then, they called for the epidural. I guess because it was in the middle of the night, we had a nurse anesthesist on call. They told me that only one person could stay, so my lovely husband volunteered to leave the room...awesome. Mom stayed with me and held onto me while this horrible, horrible man jammed this needle into my spine. All would have been fine if he had hit the spot on the first time...but he didn't. He didn't hit it on the second time, the third time, or the fourth time. Finally, on the fifth time, he was "pretty sure" that he got it. So, I laid down, expecting to be able to finally get some sleep. Um, yeah, it soon became very clear the Mr. Drug Man did not in fact "get it". It was horrible. My legs were so numb that I couldn't even lift them, but I was still feeling all my contractions.

All night, they tried to give me some additional things to make me comfortable. I got literally no sleep and pretty much was begging for it to be over. My doctor came in first thing in the morning to check me. At this point I was still only about 4 and a half centimeters, so they upped my potocin to try to move things more quickly. Pretty much all that did was make it hurt more (at least in my mind).

Sometime around 12:30, the anestesiologist came in and started talking about how I only had a "partial block" and that they could try one more thing, otherwise they would have to pull out the epidural and try it again. I opted to try the other medicine. I don't know what it was, but I wish I could have taken some home. I don't remember at least the next hour and a half. At about 2:00, the nurse checked me and I was about an 8. I was hoping that things would move quickly. At 3:00, I had the urge to push, so they called the nurse and had her check me. Sure enough, it was time to push. The nurse the night before had told me that it is not uncommon to push for over an hour. I knew I did not want to do that. So, I pushed...and pushed. They called for the doctor, and apparently I was pushing so well that I had to stop pushing. Um, yeah, that's ridiculous. I honestly couldn't not push. My body was just doing it. I waited, and waited. It was the worst ten minutes ever. Finally my doctor came and told me to push. I think I pushed a couple more times, and he was out.

They put him on my stomach and I remember being in shock. I didn't cry, which surprised me. I looked up at Ryan and he seriously looked like he was going to pass out (he doesn't do well in medical situations, so I was really surprised that he had made it this long). They took Jack to be checked out and cleaned up. I couldn't wait to hold him. They weighed him and told me that he weighed 7 pounds 14 ounces and was 19 inches long. His official time of birth was 3:45pm. I remember looking up and the TV was on in the corner...and it was on Jeopardy! Jack is going to be a smart dude! (Jeopardy is also one of Ryan and my favorite shows).

When he was brought to me, he opened those blue eyes and looked at me. The weight of what I had just been through hit me. I was so overwhelmed. I was so happy and couldn't believe that this little person was mine.

That started one of the craziest, happiest years of my life.

Happy Birthday Jack. I love you more and more each day.