We were induced Monday morning at 6:30 and we were off, slowly. The dr, broke my water around 10:30 hoping to speed things along. It didn't progress very quickly. It was a long hard day complete with jacuzzi baths, rocking on my hands and knees and sitting in a rocking chair. At midnight after a hard labor with lots of back pain, I was still only dialated to a 3. I requested an epidural at 2. I was exhausted and just needed to sleep for a while. Well, the epidural didn't take, and only numbed half of my body so I could feel the contractions on the other half. I was able to sleep for about an hour, and then it wore off completely. I somehow managed to sleep between the contractions which were coming about every 2 minutes at that point. At 5 am he came in to check me. I was still only dialated to a 3. And I did my best to not burst into tears. My dr. at that point said that there were 2 possibilities. My body was trying to tell us that the baby was too big for him to make his way through my pelvis, or that he was not quite in the right position, which we were suspicious of because of the back labor. At that point he offered a c-section. After 22 hours of labor, no sleep, and nothing to eat, I was ready. It all happened very quickly. Suddenly there were a zillion nurses in my room, and they were prepping me for surgery. We headed to the OR for the surgery. They had to do a spinal block, which also was not going well. Partly, because I am short, partly because I was shaking uncontrollably from being cold, and partly that I was still having intense contractions. For a few minutes they said they may have to put me totally under which meant Mike couldn't be in the room. I begged them to do anything they could to not put me under. Finally they had me lay on my side, an amazing anesthesiologist held me, and literally wrapped me up in a ball so they could get it in. And we were off. Mike came in, and in a very surreal experience, we were there, talking, and suddenly we heard him crying. I am doing well. My body is sore after 22 hours of labor, plus a c-section, but we are incredibly BLESSED to be holding our amazing son. And, I'm quite happy I didn't have to push out a 9 lb baby!
Here's a few more pictures...
6 comments:
oh jen, he's absolutely perfect...so adorable! congratulations to you and mike!!! and i love his name. so sorry to hear how rough the birth was, but so happy he's here safely and you are all ok. praying for your beautiful little family! thanks for sharing!
ps...i guessed right, a BOY! :)
Your birth story brings back a lot of memories for me... the back labor I had with Lucas, the nands and knees thing the freezing cold operating room (I remember shivering like that too)... Man! That little guy put you through a lot, but I am so happy for you that he is here with you now!
Um.. sorry for making my comment all about me. I suck!!
Aww man, sorry labor was such a beast for you! But the important thing is he's here safely and you can move on with being a mom. In case no one has told you yet--you look wonderful!!!! You certainly don't look like you've just made it through 24 hours of labor. :)I ended up in the OR (avoided a C-section by about 2 contractions, long story) with Joshua and I look like I'd been to hell and back in all my pictures...
Congratulations, Jen!! Liz is absolutely right -- you look terrific! And Mike looks proud and a bit stunned. :) Mr. Levi is too cute. Can't wait to see more pictures! (btw, in case you're like "who is this strange stalker woman reading my blog?" I'm Jeremy Schneider's wife and he has your blog linked on our website so I got sucked into your story!) Congratulations again!!
Post a Comment