Birth Story (Part Two)

So after after a sleepless night the big day finally came! I hadn't made anymore progress so they hooked me up to the meds and we got the ball rolling at 7am! Now I had always wondered what contractions feel like, I have asked many people because I wanted to know what to expect when I was pregnant...I mean how was I supposed to know I was having them when I didn't know what they felt like! Well now I see what everyone means by "you just know"! I experienced normal contractions and "back labor" contractions...one would be normal and the next would be the back ones...NOT FUN.

As the day went on the contraction got closer together...Someone would ask how far apart they were and I would say "about a minute" and Kris would have to correct me and tell them they were really about 5 minutes :/ well they really felt like 30 seconds and I thought I was being more realistic by saying 1! I couldn't have anyone talk to me during the contraction, and the only thing that helped me through them was when someone rubbed my feet...not sure why, but it helped!

I have always had a fear of either missing my window to get an epidural or getting it too soon and it wearing off and I can get more meds. So I held out until I was 4cm dilated and then I was ready! Oh boy that epidural was the best thing that ever happen to me!! I wish I could have one right now! I did have to keep turning on my sides in order to keep things evenly dispersed. But, it made labor a whole lot better!!!!

One special thing we had decided on was that Kris would deliver George. Kris' dad delivered him, so we thought we would continue the tradition! Kris did his OBGYN rotation in December so he had some deliveries already under his belt! We were lucky to have the doctors and nurses be super supportive of this decision!

Around 4pm we started doing the the practice pushing with just us and the nurse.  I never knew you did a practice round...but I am so happy we got to do that! The art of pushing is a lot more complex than I ever imagined it would be!  I also started to get horrible heartburn every time I would push..which is not fun!!! So the gave me a dose of some awful medicine to help me through it! I was also hungry at this point and all they would give me is ice chips with a splash of apple juice :( well we figured out the ice chips were not helping my heartburn so we had to do away with them...I was very sad about this!

At about 5pm Dr. Rushing arrived and he and Kris suited up and we got the show on the road! Once the real pushing began we realized George was coming down on my right hip and was having a hard time completely turning down. So Kris would have to push on my stomach to straighten him out while I pushed down. After about an hour of pushing George was taking a little longer than planned so they had to use a vacuum to get him to come down some more. Well George had so much hair that at one point the vacuum came off and made this horrible sound!! It almost sounded like they sucked his head right off!! So after a brief panic attack by me...we got back down to business.

During the whole pushing process my heartburn returned. Kris was standing next to me while the vacuum was being done and I remember just looking at him thinking I was going to throw up and I need to tell someone to get me a bucket, but if I open my mouth to do so then I am just going to throw up everywhere! Well I took a chance and ended up throwing up all over Kris and myself! I had been hoping to look somewhat decent when George (I wanted to make a good first impression!), but that all went out the window as my husband cleaned vomit out of my hair between contractions.

Well at 6:08pm little man made his entrance in to this world via daddy's hands!

When George was born he was a little pale so they called the NICU to come look at him and decided to take him up for observation for a few hours. It was so hard to let him go! I know that it was for his own health and well being...but it was so hard seeing him go! The doctor reassured me that he would be just fine, but they would rather be on the safe side. So Kris went with George, which made me feel a little better knowing he wasn't with out one of us but it was still hard! Kris took a picture of him for me to see that he was doing well. He was even holding Kris' finger :)

At around 9pm they brought him to me and I got to nurse him for the first time! The nurse was really impressed on how quickly he latched on! I don't think I have every stared in amazement of someone for as long as I did him that first night! He stole our hearts from the start!