[Moriah] From Out Of The Depths, I Emerge

Where have I been since the end of September, you might wonder? Oh, just giving birth, recovering and caring for our little baby boy, that's all. :)

Sunday, October 8th, I was still showing no signs of going into labor. I even talked to some family members on the phone and had to tell them the disappointing news. I guess I'd just have to keep waiting as I got closer to my due date, October 14th. Daniel and I went to bed that night around 10:00, both of us feeling tired. At 1:43 AM, I woke up feeling incredibly sick. I went into the bathroom, feeling like I was going to vomit. Daniel woke up from the noise and came in to see if he could help me. After a while, the sick feelings started to pass and I went back to bed at 2:50 AM. At 2:51, just after we settled in and pulled the covers back over ourselves, I felt it...my first real contraction. This was no Braxton Hicks contraction. I felt it deep within my lower abdomen, and it was fairly painful. I started my labor breathing and squeezed Daniel's hand as I said, "that was definitely not a Braxton Hicks." He looked at me with realization and shock in his eyes. Five minutes later, another one came on and I squeezed Daniel's hand again while I breathed through it. For the next hour, my contractions were a steady five minutes apart. Daniel called the hospital, we packed our last-minute items and off we went.

We arrived at the hospital at 4:00 AM and I got checked into an LDR (labor/delivery/recovery) room. The contractions continued as the nurses set up the IV and fetal heart monitor. I breathed through each one, practicing the relaxation techniques we learned in our childbirth prep classes. Daniel called into work around 7:30 AM and told them what was going on. Around 8:00 AM, my OB/GYN came in to see me. Since my water hadn't broken yet, I opted to have it artificially done to speed things along. (I had only dilated 3 cm by that point.) Oh my god, I'm not sure if that was a mistake or not. Yes, in the end it did speed things up. But my contractions instantly became almost unbearable. Before that, the contractions were somewhat painful, but I was able to breathe through them without too much issue. After my water was broken, holy crap did it become awful! The contractions continued to get stronger and closer together until, around 11:00 AM, I was literally on the verge of hyperventilating and was dry heaving over the side of the bed. I was in so much pain, I started hallucinating during contractions. I almost couldn't speak enough to ask for a pain killer, Stadol, which I eventually received, though it didn't really do anything. I was going to give in and get an epidural, but I quickly went into the pushing stage and it was too late. Everyone I had talked to said the pushing stage was supposed to be easier. Ummm, right. It was not much easier than the transition stage right before it. I kept passing out between pushes, I was so exhausted. I pushed for about 10-20 minutes, and at 12:10 PM our son was born. I'd love to say it was a golden moment where the pain simply dissolved as they lay him on my chest to bond...but, I passed out right after the placenta was delivered. When I did wake up, they placed him on my chest and we had our special moment of bonding before he was taken to get cleaned up in the nursery.

I am very happy the delivery went well, aside from the intense pain, and that no problems arose. We have a beautiful little boy that we love very much. It's been an interesting two months since he was born. And, while we've had some difficulty adjusting to life with a very colicky newborn, we are so excited to raise him and watch all the stages he goes through as he grows. We can't wait to hear his first word, see his first step, feed him his first finger food, and all the other experiences we'll have as he gets older. For now, we'll take things day by day, enjoy each adorable little smile, and hope his colic clears in the next month or so.