Marcus and I were at the hospital at 7:00 am to start the inducement. I chose to be induced for self-indulgent reasons such as: wanting her born before the school deadline of September 1st and I was also scared of pushing out a decent-sized baby and ample encouragement from my doctor. The pitocin was started about 8:00. Which did nothing more than cause my Braxton Hicks contractions to come at regular 2 minute intervals, but they were not painful, nor was I dilating anymore than I already was, which was 1 cm. The doctor came at 2:00 and broke my water, which was super painful. The contractions became real at that point and I wanted an epidural in a bad way. But, the doctor was worried it would slow the progress, so he wanted me to wait until I was dilated to a 4. I got in the tub, which didn't help much. I was feeling a lot of pressure and my good nurse fought for me and got an epidural, as she thought I would still progress. At 3:30 I got an epidural and shortly thereafter was in heaven. At 4:00 I was dilated to a 4. The nurse told me that normally you dilate 1 cm an hour, so we were thinking we had until 10 pm before I even started pushing.
Shift change was at 7 pm, and my nurse checked me before she left and I was at a 10. The new nurse came in and we started pushing. Right before she checked me, I had told Marcus I was really tired and was going to take a nap. I wish I would have slept before the pushing began, by the end I had a migraine and I was exhausted. Metta had always been sitting very low, so we thought this was going to be a piece of cake. It turned into a marathon instead. With the exception of when I was vomiting, I pushed with each contraction (which were 2-3 minutes apart) for 3 hours! Her head was just not fitting under my pubic bone. At the 3 hour mark, my doctor came in because her heart rate was dropping. He tried vacuuming her out, but the vacuum wouldn't suction to her head because her head was too small. What the hay!! Her head was too small for the vacuum, yet wouldn't fit out of me. He then used the forceps and she finally came. The NICU team was in there just in case, but the doctor excused them as soon as she came out pink and crying. Marcus was a trooper the whole time. He isn't into the hospital stuff, but he did a mighty fine job at my side. He didn't want to cut the cord, so I asked if I could. I have now cut each of my 3 kids umbilical cords.
I was so, so happy to have her in my arms. Metta has a cute little cry, she sounds a lot like a sqeaker toy. She immediately pooped all over me and sucked on her arm.
I happily held her and visited with the nurses and doctor. And then I visited more with the doctor and visited some more. Why all the chit-chat you ask? My feet were still up in the stirrups and he was just a stitching away. I finally asked him if he was binding a quilt down there. He mumbled something about 3rd degree tear.......rectum......yadayadayada. I was still in epidural land and had Metta in my arms, so I just brushed that aside. Within 2 hours, I was wondering what the heck had happened. Yowzers, I didn't know if I was going to ever sit again and I'll spare you the details of my first several bowel movements. And I would do it all again (just not tomorrow)
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