Getting Settled

So we are home trying to get settled into a routine. Not an easy thing to do with a newborn. But we're getting there. Curran is so good during the day and is easy to put down to sleep. Night time is a different story. For some reason she is much harder to soothe at night, and I'm not a good sleeper myself, so by the time she has eaten and been changed and is finally back asleep, I'm wide awake and can't go back to sleep. Oh well. I know these days will pass.


So, I always like to hear other people's labor and delivery stories, so I thought I would share mine. Hopefully without TMI. (If you bore easily, you may want to skip this.) I was induced last Thursday, which I was nervous about for several different reasons, but now that I've been through it, I would totally be induced again. I checked in early that morning and they hooked me up to the monitor, and I was having my typical contractions every 10 minutes or so, but nothing much to speak of. The doctor came in to break my water but was unable to do so. I asked the nurse if that was common, and she said "Uhhh not really." So of course I started worrying. They decided to start the Pitocin hoping that would help, so I started having more contractions but they still weren't bad. When they came back an hour later I had gone from 2 to 3 cm and from 50 % to 70% effaced, and they broke my water with no problem. Well that is when all hell broke loose. I have never felt that much pain in my life. The procedure of breaking the water was painful enough, but I guess it caused my contractions to come with such force, that I wasn't even getting any pain relief in between contractions. As soon as the nurse said my labwork looked good and I could have the epidural, I told her to bring it on. I don't know why I thought, "labor might not be that bad...maybe I can make it without an epidural." Hah. More power to the women who can labor without one, but I personally I am all about the pain control. It was like night and day once I got the epidural. I felt great. However, I was worried about it possibly slowing down my progression, but I went from 3 cm when they broke my water, to 5 cm and 100% within 2 hours, then 8 cm an hour later, and then 10 cm 30 minutes later. So to me that was really fast. I had prepared myself for it to last all day. I was so much in shock that when they told me I could try pushing I started crying saying that I wasn't ready. I got so nervous and anxious all of a sudden and was thinking how crazy it was that I was about to bring a child into the world. Well it took them an hour to set up all the equipment, so by that time I was just ready to get the show on the road. I pushed for about 45 minutes before the baby was born. I will say that the only frustrating thing about the epidural is that you can't feel what in the world you are doing, and people are telling you to push, and my gosh you are trying to, but it just feels like you are doing nothing. But obviously you are doing something. I think I was in a state of shock when she finally came out. I didn't really get to see her or hold her for at least 30 minutes because she had swallowed a lot of fluid, and they had to spend a lot of time suctioning her. I could hear her crying in the warmer, but I was flat on my back and had no idea what was going on, so that was frustrating. But it all turned out great, and I am just so very thankful for a smooth delivery and a healthy baby. Every time I woke up in the middle of that first night, I just kept thanking God that everything had gone so well. You always think you can anticipate how you will feel once you have a child, but there is really no describing it. The main feeling I had at first was just this overwhelming feeling to protect her, which surprised me because I thought it would be this powerful feeling of love (that came later of course). But it has just been the best experience so far, besides the fact that I'm sleep deprived and still hurt like hell (did NOT anticipate the painful recovery). But I know that those things too will fade.