Friday, June 19, 2009

The Rest of the Story--With All the Gory Details

I've already started to forget the details of Charlie's birth--I've got bigger issues to deal with besides labor pains now! (Breastfeeding=not fun.) So I'm going to give a detailed time line here so I can remember how it all happened. If you are squeamish skip this post--this will be too much information for you!


Monday, June 15: My due date and my mom's birthday. On the way to her birthday dinner I start feeling a little crampy. It has begun. I'm able to go home and sleep pretty well.

Tuesday, June 16:
2:00 a.m. Wake up to use the restroom and loose my mucus plug. Gross.
8:30 a.m. I wake up and do a little shopping and last minute errands. It was pretty weird going around shopping knowing I was in labor. Contractions felt like mild cramps.
Noon Come home and try to take a nap. I wake up a couple times because of how painful the contractions are getting. I try to watch some t.v. to keep my mind off things--can I just say daytime t.v. stinks. I might need cable.
5:30 p.m. Seth is finally off work and starts to time my contractions while making dinner. (Who said boys can't multi task!) Some of them are super close together, just a minute or two apart, and others are six or seven minutes apart. I'm a bit confused about that so I call my midwife. She pretty much tells me not to come into the hospital until I feel like I'm dieing. (They only admit you when you are 4 or 5 cm dilated and for most first time moms it takes a lot of pain to get there.)
7:00 p.m. Erin and Brett come over to visit and act as a much needed distraction--thanks guys!
8:30 p.m. Take a long bath that completely slows down my contractions. I start to feel like maybe my labor will slow enough that I'll be able to sleep through the night.
10:30 p.m. I have to breath through contractions as Seth and I watch Conan and eat oreos--mint, double stuff. Mmm...
11:11 p.m. I feel a loud "POP!" and a gush followed by agonizing pain. (Kind of a weird way to describe an internal pain, but I seriously think Seth should have been able to hear my water break.) I say, "something weird just happened" and rush to the bathroom. I wasn't sure that my water had broken but it had. (People have wondered--I was wearing a pad that completely saved my white couch. Man those things are absorbent.) Seth starts running around the house like a crazy person trying to gather last minute things just like you see dads doing in the movies.
11:30 p.m. We get in the car and I have to remind Seth to drive slower so we don't get pulled over. By this time I'm crying because the contractions are so bad.
11:40 p.m. Arrive at the hospital and they check me. I'm dilated to only a 3.5 but since my water is broken I'm good to stay. As the nurse gets my IV going and inputs some info into the computer I keep asking her where the anesthesiologist is, and if he knows to come to my room next, and if she will just go and make sure that he knew where I was, and if she could just go see if he was on his way, and if she could see if he needs any help...and on and on. I did start some of these requests with "I know this might be annoying but..." So you don't think she was annoyed, right?

Tuesday, June 17:

12:50ish I get my epidural...angels start singing, everything is right in the world, life seems worth living again. And for all who wonder...the pain of getting an epidural on a scale of 1-10 is a .001 compared with contractions after your water breaks. (Seth is so happy/amazed at the effects of the epidural he has researched, aka found on Wikipedia, the men who invented it. We love you Dr Hingson, Dr Edwards, and Dr Southworth. You are my American Idols.)
1:10 a.m. Nurse checks to see how dilated I am and asks "How soon do you want to have this baby?" Huh? I am fully dilated. What the!?! I thought I would get to sleep a little and watch some movies or something. They decide to wait about an hour to start pushing because I just got my epidural.
2:00 a.m. My parents show up. Thanks for coming mom and dad! Now get out. I have to start pushing.
2:10 a.m. Push! And every four minutes after that for an hour and a half. Push! After every contraction my midwife, the nurses and I have a nice little conversation. I find out a little about them. They find out a little about me. We have a grand old time. I LOVE epidurals.
3:41 a.m. Welcome to the world Charlotte Ann Norwood. Baby's cord is pinched a little so they don't let Seth cut the cord...they need to get her some oxygen fast. After about a minute she starts crying. Yea! She is ok. She is super pale and they are a bit worried, so after I hold her for a few minutes they wisk her off to the nursery to give her an IV. Her head is a bit cone shaped, her nose and lips are swollen, and she has some red marks on her face--labor and delivery was hard on her. And on me as well...Charlie's sholders, not head, tore me up a bit so they have some work to do.
5:00ish a.m. They are all done with me and I get to visit with my parents. They only get to see Charlie through the nursery window and all they see is a very pale arm before they need to go. I fianlly get to sleep for about an hour.
6:00 a.m. Charlie is finally ready to be loved by her parents. What a cutie!

All in all, the pregnancy was worse than the labor and delivery. And breastfeeding is worse than pregnancy. But we are working on it! Go team Norwood.

7 comments:

A womb for rent said...

LAbor is so crazy!! Reading this bring it all back but I did it 7 weeks ago:) Keep going on breast feeding its so worth it, but it hurts. This time I used these cooling pads, I healed in 1/2 the time and they work wonders. I got them at a maternal store. When are you coming out to your moms, I want to compare size with our girls? Londyn was the same size when she was born.

metromut said...

dudes-

congrats. this is way exciting and baby is very cute. we will have to get down there and see the little squirt soon. xoxoxo- jesse and lindy and finn

Natalie said...

What a great story!! It actually is VERY similar to Benson's birth story. Glad things are going well. Keep up with the breastfeeding thing. It is definitely worth it. She's a doll!!

Anonymous said...

YEAH for Charlie being here and YEAH for epidurals. I am glad things went so great for you and Charlie is an absolute doll. I can't wait to see her more! Thanks for letting me come visit!

The Watts Family said...

Tricia (and Seth)!!! Congrats, we are so happy for you! Little Charlotte is a doll. And as far as the breastfeeding goes, I totally agree with you that it is worse than labor/delivery and pregnancy, but worth it. Best advice I got? Nurse through the pain. It does get better. Good luck! We can't wait to meet her.

M. M. C. C. said...

thanks for sharing details! I couldn't agree with you more.. epidurals are AMAZING and pregnancy sucks a lot more than labor and delivery! glad it went smoothly for the most part and hope you enjoy mommyhood : )

Anonymous said...

A great story...happy things went well and she is beautiful! I can't wait to meet her.