My son was born on 11.11.11 under a full moon, at 1:32 in the morning, but let's start from the beginning shall we?
I had scheduled another ultrasound in order to determine his position and size for Thursday afternoon at 2 pm. All morning, I was cleaning, and feeling sort of off. I had slept better than I had in months.. I think I actually got a full five hours of UNINTERRUPTED sleep. that is inconceivable for me, even before I got pregnant, so I was feeling a bit elated.
I was getting ready to go to the appointment with my husband (he'd taken the day off in order to go with me), when I bent down to put on my socks. I felt a weird sort of *pop* in my belly, but didn't think much of it other than noting the time of the weird feeling. 1:32 pm. then I started leaking fluid.. *sigh* I thought I was just peeing myself again! yay pregnancy! so I slapped on a pad and finished getting ready. My husband started grabbing random items "just in case" we had to go to the hospital, including the bag I had packed for the baby.. I didn't have anything packed for me yet.
in the car, we got stuck in traffic. for over an hour! I was starving, but wasn't going to be able to get food because of the traffic.. I didn't want to be late for the ultrasound. All the while, I was getting weird sort of indegestion-y pains. Ugh.. mixed in with those pains, were what felt like menstrual cramps. I'm no stranger to them, and ignored those as well.
at 1:47 I had a definite contraction. I had always wondered, how will I know if it's a contraction? well, it didn't feel like anything that I had felt before. It was a strange pulling sensation, surrounded by a bit of discomfort, wrapped in a light coating of pain.. that lasted a definite amount of time. I wrote that down.
12 minutes later, there was another, and 10 minutes later, another! hrm, this isn't good.. we're stuck in traffic.
I was still determined to go to the ultrasound appointment. After all, I wasn't *absolutely sure* that I was in labor, and who better to tell me than the ultrasound place?
just as we were getting to the clinic, I had a contraction, only 6 minutes after the one before it, and decided that I really should call my doctor. She said go immediately to the hospital. Don't stop for the ultrasound, just get there.
we got to the hospital, and spent ten minutes trying to pay for parking, then went into maternity. We went to the triage counter, and while I winced and cried behind a woman that was there for a scheduled c-section, my husband paced and looked anxious.
once I got into an "early labour lounge", I realized that yes, my water had most definitely broken, because one of my legs was soaked to my socks, and the pad that I had slapped on before leaving, wass completely saturated with clear fluid. I remembered that smell from my sister's labours, and that was when I began panicking.
A doctor came in to examine me (I was already hooked up to a fetal monitor)and told me that I was 4 cm dilated, 90% effaced, and asked me how long between contractions and how bad were they? I told her they were about 12 minutes apart and that I really really really really realllllly wanted an epidural. Then I had a contraction and almost screamed. She looked at me sort of funny and pointed out on the monitor that my contractions were actually 2 minutes apart, but most of them were bearable.
2 minutes?! holy crap. She told me I was heading for a birthing room and got a nurse to go get a wheelchair. That's when my sister got there. I remember bursting into tears, but not much else. I just wanted to eat something damnit, I was starving! but no luck, I wasn't going to be able to eat anything until after the delivery, but they'd put me on IV fluids... bah.
I fell in love with the epidural man when he arrived, because at that point, the contractions were making me feel as though I was being ripped in half.
epidurals are lovely things. Lovely magnificent things.
after a long while of not all that much excitement, my nurse suggested some pushing. 12:00 to 1:32 I pushed, and at 1:32 am he was born. exactly, to the minute, 12 hrs after my water broke.
The whole thing was terrifying, and I would definitely have a midwife for another pregnancy as I didn't really feel as though the doctors were there for me. He was born at a teaching hospital, and so the doctor had a resident with her, and was mumbling softly to her mostly, rather than answering any questions that I had.
His name is Des, and he's perfect. He does have a penis, which wasn't expected, but watching him pee on his daddy is just too hilarious, and so I forgive him for being a boy.
I'll write more about my hospital stay after I spend a bit of time staring into his eyes :o)
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