As Eric and I waited in a room he and I joked about today being the day the baby would come because he came to the appointment and because I had shaved my legs the night before. As soon as our doctor came in he asked how I was feeling because my blood pressure was so high and because my legs and feet were so swollen. I told him that I didn't feel bad, same as I had been throughout my pregnancy. With Josh, I never felt bad but I did feel not quite right all the time. I had a great deal of pressure in my pelvic region and my legs got numb a number of times. He wanted to listen to Josh's heartbeat so I laid down and he began to search for it. After about a minute my doctor was still searching and it dawned on me that he was struggling to find the heartbeat. I started to get uneasy but he told me that the baby must be hiding. After searching for another minute (which seemed like an eternity) while my heart raced he finally one. As we listened to the beat, I realized that my own heart was beating in rhythm with the one we were listening to and I knew it was my own he had found. At this point I began to cry and my doctor took my wrist and realized too that it was my heartbeat he found. As he continued to search for Josh's heartbeat I couldn't stop myself from crying and thinking about the day and whether or not I had felt the baby move at all. Josh didn't move a lot during the day, only at night when I finally laid down so it wasn't unusual to go for sometime without feeling him. By the time my doctor found my own heartbeat again I was convinced that Josh was gone and I started to sob. He decided to do an ultrasound right then and it was the biggest joy and relief I have ever felt when we saw Josh's little heart beating on the screen. While checking on Josh's heart it was discovered that my amniotic fluid was very low and so my doctor decided to induce me that afternoon.
After making arrangements with Eric's mom for Emma that night we went home to say goodbye to her and tell her that we would see her soon at the hospital so she could meet the baby in mommy's baby belly. We arrived at the hospital at 3:30 and I wasn't actually induced until 7:00. While waiting to be induced I got hungry and the nurse told me to eat so I had a huge turkey sandwich, mistake #1. From 7-11:30 pm I felt nothing and when my doctor came in at 11:30 to break my water I thought that I would suffer through the same long induction that many of my friends had. Around midnight I started to get sick (unfortunately from both sides) and the pain of labor hit me like a truck. At 12:30 I finally felt the huge gush of water from my bag being broken (which with Emma I had felt immediately after it had been broken). As I got up to use the bathroom again, I saw blood everywhere and realized it wasn't water I had felt. I thought I was going to faint so we called the nurse in and she told us it was normal. I thought she was crazy and that none of this was normal so I decided to consider an epidural, mistake #2. I knew when I had Emma that I wanted to give birth naturally and I did. I wanted the same this time but I felt so gross. I was tired of throwing up, going to the bathroom, bleeding everywhere, and being congested (which I had been for a least a week previous). I knew I couldn't control any of those things but decided that I could control the pain of my labor which was more intense than it had been with Emma (I guess inductions do that to you because your body doesn't progress normally). At 1:35, I was at 4 cm had the epidural and by 2:00 I was at 9.5 cm and I knew the stupid thing hadn't taken because I was in crazy pain. The anesthesiologist even came back in then and asked if I wanted him to try again and I wanted to hit him. Seriously at 9.5 cm when I am going to start pushing any minute! By 2:10 my doctor hadn't shown up yet (he was probably told I wimped out (yes its wimping out, be proud of your wimping out if you do :o) and got the epidural so he thought he had time to get there) A few minutes later I told my nurse I had to push and she said let your body do what it needs to do. Half a push later and Josh was born at 2:16 as my doctor walked in the room, and I never did get a discount for that!
Josh was so tiny when he was born and now he is so big. I cannot believe that tomorrow my baby is 1. Where has this last year gone? It has been amazing having this year with him and seeing the differences between him as a baby and Emma as a baby. It has been a huge joy watching the love between two siblings grow and watching as he continues to go from baby to little man. Happy birthday big bubba, I love you!
Yay! Happy Birthday Josh!
ReplyDeleteWow, I'd never heard your birthday story before. And now I'm scared to give birth naturally. :) LOL