Birth story

Birth story finally! How am I ever going to keep up with this thing?

So Friday the 21st was the most miserable day for me. I really wasn't feeling anything happening, and I just knew I wasn't going to be having her on the 22nd. I was so upset at the thought of having to go back to work on Monday (24th). Everyone was like, "Good luck this weekend" and I kept telling everyone I would see them on Monday. All week long people had been saying "You're STILL HERE?!?!" trying to be funny and I wanted to punch every single one of them. So I started telling people on Friday NOT to say that Monday morning because I would probably cry (or punch someone in the face!) Saturday came and went with the occasional contraction but nothing regular. I went over to my friend Angie's house that evening for her birthday and ate her husband's massively hot habenero sauce. We figured it was worth a shot. :)Sunday (23rd) I went to church and started to notice some regularity to my contractions. Still nothing good though, because over the course of that hour and a half the were 12-15 minutes apart and only 20-30 seconds long. My pastor was actually there (recovering from back surgery, so not preaching but there) and she prayed for me before I left.

I don't know if I mentioned it in here or not, but I was considering having my induction moved up to Tuesay. I had an appointment Monday afternoon and if I hadn't made much progress in the two weeks from when he first checked me and I was 60% effaced and 1.5 dilated, I was just going to get it done Tuesday. I still wasn't sure I wanted the induction, but why wait three more days? I was miserable at work, my doctor was leaving for vacation on Wednesday and if we waited until Friday Zane wouldn't be the first to meet Raegan. So the plan was I would go in for cervical ripening Monday evening and we would start the pitocin bright and early Tuesday morning. As usual, my baby girl had her own plans and was going to come when she wanted to. :)After Zane went to bed Sunday evening I ran out to Walmart to get batteries for the swing and a few other things. Ran into someone from work and told her I would see her in the morning. Got a call from a friend from work and told her I would see her in the morning. Noticed some contractions, so started timing them when I got home. From about 11:00 p.m. on they were consistently 10-12 minutes apart. I did not sleep Sunday night. Probably 3 hours total. Partially because I was uncomfortable partially excitement.

By 6:00 that morning they were 7-8 minutes apart and I decided I was too uncomfortable to go to work that day. As much as I hadn't wanted to go to work Monday, if they had still been at 10-12 or more apart I would have gone in, just to save as much sick time as possible. :) Told Zane someone would be at the house after school since we would be at the hospital by that point and he left for school. Luke decided not to go to work because who knew when things would start to pick up. Called my doctor's office at 10:45 to ask what to do. My nurse thought it was hilarious that I had an appoitment that afternoon and was scheduled for cervical ripening that evening. She laughed and told me she would cancel my appointment that afternoon. My doctor said to go ahead and go to the hospital. No thanks. Not when they're still that far apart. So I showered, checked my bag, and just generally dinked around. Finally called my mom around 12:30. She asked me if she should go to work that afternoon (from 2-5) and I assured her I would not be having the baby before 5 p.m. We stopped at Sonic so Luke could get some lunch. I knew I probably wasn't supposed to be eating but I had some cheddar bites because I knew I couldn't eat once I got admitted.

Got to my room a little after 1:00. Several nurses on the floor asked me what I was there for, because they had me in the system to come in that night. Nope, doing it all on Raegan's time. :)Nothing much happened over the afternoon. When I got checked (maybe 3:00 or 3:30?) I was at an almost 5, so I thought it wasn't going to take all that long at all. Haha silly me. I got kinda of crabby because they put an IV in my hand that hurt like HELL, and I found out since it was going to be an evening delivery it would NOT be my doctor delivering me but another one in the practice. I. Was. Pissed. He seriously couldn't come in when it was time for me to push? I hadn't even met Dr. Prendergast so I was not a happy camper. Watched a lot of TV, walked around a good bit. It really didn't hurt all that much. Luke left around 5:30 to get some dinner from the cafeteria and buy me some Chapstick (the one thing I forgot). Walked again when he got back. Got checked around 7:30 and I was at an 8. Still wasn't hurting all that badly although they were coming a lot closer together and I wasn't able to chat or focus on anything else during them. Zane called to talk to me around 8:00, wanting to talk about doing Children's Choir this year. Not the time for that sweetie. Robin later told me she figured I wasn't that far into labor then because I was able to carry on a good 5 minute conversation with Zane. :)

Then it started to hurt around 9:00. They checked me again at 9:30 and I was still at an 8. And starting to hurt a lot. At this point my water still hadn't broken, btw. I was all wanting to be natural and crap so when Dr. P asked me earlier if I wanted my water broken I said no, thinking it would break on it's own pretty soon. At 10:20 I paged my nurse and said I wanted Dr. P to break my water and she said he had just called and said he was on his way to talk to me about that. About 5 minutes later it broke on it's own after the worst contraction I had had so far. And THEN it started to hurt. But I still didn't progress very fast - I was at "almost 10" with a rim left forever! Oh, and at some point in there Dr. P had to turn Raegan because she was going to come out sunnyside up. Every time he rotated her she would rotate back. That's my girl - everything her way.:) And that turning her was probably one of the most painful parts of the whole labor, except for when I tore. So I'm having the most painful contractions, feeling like I have to push and not really able to yet. It hurt so bad. So, so bad. I kept saying I couldn't do it and was almmost in tears. Luke kept telling me I was doing so good and it was almost over and he wished there was something he could do for me. He was awesome. So awesome.

I have to say here that at this point if I could have still had pain meds, I would have taken them. Of course at that point it would not be good for baby, so I was shit out of luck. So I'm not totally awesome for doing it all natural, because I would have gotten out of it if I could have. Just wanted to say that because everyone at work is in awe that I did 28 hours of labor and two hours of pushing with no meds, so I feel like I have to throw that in there. lol

Finally, freakin finally at almost 1:00 I got to push. I didn't do a very good job the first 30 minutes or so because I didn't want to bruise my face so I was trying not to push with my face. Finally said screw that and just gave it all I had. Raegan's head isn't even all that big and it still took forever to get past my pelvic bone. Pushing wasn't really that bad, because it felt like I was doing something about the pain, you know? And finally Dr P started getting everything out and the nurse to take care of the baby comes in. I got to feel her head when she was coming out, which I really didn't think I wanted to do, but it was pretty cool. I tore, almost a second degree he said. That sucked. I begged him not to cut unless he had to, and he didn't so I love him for that. It almost felt like it was ripping up instead of down, which is weird. Dear God, it hurt. But then she was out so I really didn't care. I got to hold her on my stomach for a loooong time which was so cool. And when they took her, it turns out she pooped all over me. (Another reason I was going to go ahead with Tuesday - we KNEW she was past due. I was wondering when the meconium was coming.)

So I got stitched up, Luke took tons of pictures (which I will try to post tomorrow) and then I got to snuggle her for awhile. Then Luke took her so I could eat. Since it was the middle of the night I got a ham sandwich, chips, and cheesecake. Best damn ham sandwich I have ever had. Probably the best meal I've ever had in my life. I had the shakes pretty bad for a couple hours after I had Raegan, which was such a weird feeling. Didn't like that at all.We finally got to move to our room at 5:30, so I basically didn't sleep again that night either. The nurse came in at one point to do one of our vitals and woke me up because Raegan was a little blue because she was choking on some spit up. I was so tired and out of it that it really didn't even freak me out. Now thinking back on that it gives me chills but at the time I remember saying, "Really? Okay."

So that's that. Zane was the first one to meet her. My mom actually stayed put in the waiting room for a good five minutes. Oy. 28 hours of labor and 2 hours of pushing. But all worth it for my sweet snuggly baby girl. I love her so much. I can't even describe it.