Well, I spoke too soon. I accused my due date of teasing me, so I have to take it all back. My water broke at 11 PM after a full day of what I thought was another bought of false labor.
There's not much to say about what happened. It was textbook perfection. My water broke, I started having hard contractions, I got an epidural, and had the baby. Apparently, my doctor actually took a nap while I was in labor.
I pushed for 5 minutes. From the time my water broke to the time I was holding him in my arms was 8 hours, almost to the minute.
Silas was born at 6:58 AM, weighing 8 lbs 8 oz and measuring 21.5 inches. We had an hour of skin-to-skin after he was born and they delayed his cord clamping as per a new hospital policy. He was fat and healthy, and he latched on perfectly the first time we breastfed.
They took him to a 'transition' unit in the NICU for about 8 hours because his blood sugar was borderline and he had some respiratory inflammation. His sugar normalized very quickly, and his breathing didn't show any more issues after that first hour or two.
At first, I felt a surge of frustration and upset that they took him from me, but I decided that I would not allow it to mar an otherwise perfect delivery. It was eerie to visit my son in the same NICU where I practically lived for almost 4 months. The receptionist actually still remembered us, as did all the security guards. I guess we made an impression to still be remembered after a year and a half.
We were reunited around 5 in the afternoon and continued living our fantasy of having an absolutely perfect birthing experience. Perfect breastfeeding, perfect bonding, perfect health.
The only annoying thing (besides our brief 'visit' to the NICU) was the sudden onset of a spinal headache which has lain me flat... literally. They think it's probably because I had to have two epidurals before I got relief. The anesthesiologist felt so horrible that the first hadn't worked that he spiked the second one with something WONDERFUL that made it work in a couple of minutes instead of another half hour. I have to say, even with the headache, I would have done it again. At least the headache doesn't make me pray for death, and it goes away when I lie down.
In the meanwhile, I am cuddling with my perfect newborn all day while my mom and mother-in-law take care of my sweet Elijah. Our little family has gotten a little bit bigger, and our lives are so much richer for it.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
You Might Be Nine Months Pregnant If...
You might be nine months pregnant if...
1. You punctuate every conversation with frequent complaints about how freaking hot it is in here.
2. You are down to only one shirt that actually covers your whole stomach.
3. Shaving your legs has become an acrobatic event.
4. You have to make an effort to get your feet wet in the shower.
5. Even your shoes no longer fit you.
6. You have stopped caring about what you eat and have spent the last two weeks subsisting primarily on dessert.
7. You could set a watch to your evening bathroom trips.
8. Your Google history contains lots of past searches that say things like "How to naturally induce labor at home," "Does castor oil work to induce labor," "Labor-inducing exercises," and "How to stimulate your nipples to start labor." (A sign that you are still in control of your mental faculties is whether or not you look up other women's horror stories about castor oil).
9. You start fussing at the baby when he decides to push on your bladder with all his might (I actually called my unborn innocent mean names for just such an offense).
10. You would give almost anything for the assurance that the terrifying and itchy stretch marks under your navel will eventually fade.
11. You surprise even yourself with the ease that you find yourself bursting into tears.
12. You weigh more than you have every weighed in your life, so you fantasize about how great you're going to look once you start breastfeeding.
13. You try to treat the fact that you reached your due date with no signs of labor with all the grace and stoicism you can muster, while counting on the unlikelihood that the little chap will leave claw-marks on his way out.
1. You punctuate every conversation with frequent complaints about how freaking hot it is in here.
2. You are down to only one shirt that actually covers your whole stomach.
3. Shaving your legs has become an acrobatic event.
4. You have to make an effort to get your feet wet in the shower.
5. Even your shoes no longer fit you.
6. You have stopped caring about what you eat and have spent the last two weeks subsisting primarily on dessert.
7. You could set a watch to your evening bathroom trips.
8. Your Google history contains lots of past searches that say things like "How to naturally induce labor at home," "Does castor oil work to induce labor," "Labor-inducing exercises," and "How to stimulate your nipples to start labor." (A sign that you are still in control of your mental faculties is whether or not you look up other women's horror stories about castor oil).
9. You start fussing at the baby when he decides to push on your bladder with all his might (I actually called my unborn innocent mean names for just such an offense).
10. You would give almost anything for the assurance that the terrifying and itchy stretch marks under your navel will eventually fade.
11. You surprise even yourself with the ease that you find yourself bursting into tears.
12. You weigh more than you have every weighed in your life, so you fantasize about how great you're going to look once you start breastfeeding.
13. You try to treat the fact that you reached your due date with no signs of labor with all the grace and stoicism you can muster, while counting on the unlikelihood that the little chap will leave claw-marks on his way out.
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