Lola's Birth Story

I know Lola is five months old and all, and I've probably missed the boat on this story, but one of my friends is about to have a baby any minute, and I was talking to her this morning. Then a mutual friend and coworker that we have was talking to me about her. We are so excited for her. Then we started talking about our own birthing stories, and I don't know about you, but I love to hear about birth stories so it's on my mind, so here we go. If this isn't your thing, I totally understand and you should stop reading now, before I use words like dilating, efface,etc. If this is your thing, maybe you'll get lucky and I'll tell Sam's birth story tomorrow...

As you know, Lola was long awaited. As we got closer to the due date the anticipation was too much for all of us, our emotions were going crazy. And my body was hurting so bad. You see, I have two kids, but I've had 8 pregnancies and my body knows it. So my pelvis loosened up and then the bones were rubbing together, bone on bone. It was bad.
My doctor said he would induce me four days before her due date and I was all over that. I mean, she WAS about seven years over due already. I had him try to strip my membranes that day to see if we could get things started before then but it didn't work out. My cervix just wasn't soft enough yet.
We got an appointment for 7 am on December 8th. Then the night before they called and asked if we would come in at 5 am. Of course we would, there was no way I was going to sleep that night anyway. Becky and Marley spent the night, to take care of Sam while were were in the hospital. I did end up getting a little sleep, but I popped out of bed around 4am, took a shower, kissed Sam good bye, and we headed over to the hospital.
They put us in our room and I got the gown on and then we had a little trouble getting the IV in, which is always the case with me. They called in their special guy and he did it on the first try. By then it was about 6:30. They started a bag of fluids and the pitocin. A few minutes later I could tell something was starting to happen. Around 7:00 my doctor came in to break my water. And as he did there was a major gush (is that word too graphic?) and he hopped off the bed because there was so much, then he got super serious and intense and started pushing hard on my pelvic boned and I felt like he was wrestling me. It was painful. And, the water just kept coming and coming. My socks were completely wet. Then he stops, smiles at me, pats my leg and says, "Okay, I'll see you a little later." And walked out. I looked and Matt and said, "Holy cow! That was crazy!" I better tell you now, I LOVE MY DOCTOR!
I immediately had to go to the bathroom, and they needed to change my bed so I headed to the bathroom, with my IV in tow. That's where I was when the contractions really started, and by that I mean I could actually feel that they were contractions. When I got back in my bed, Matt announced he was going to go find a snack. He was only gone for five to ten minutes, but in that time I got so scared! I wanted to call the nurse in and tell her to find him and bring him back. Every contraction, which at this point was just barely on the brink of maybe, possibly being a little bit uncomfortable, but for everyone, my body was getting more and more tense. When he came back, I played it cool, waited a minute or two and then mentioned that I think I might want an epidural. But I wasn't sure at what point it is appropriate to ask for one and what if they think I'm a wimp if I already want it. I hadn't actually felt any labor pain yet. When I had Sam, I didn't get an epidural (though I wanted it) , so through out this pregnancy I was thinking I didn't need one because I had done it before without one and so maybe I could again. But I will tell you now, PITOCIN IS SCARY! It didn't feel the same, and that was messing with my head. I asked Matt if he thought I should get it and he said YES! So I pushed the button to call the nurse and said I would like to discuss my epidural options. She came in and I said," If I decide to get an epidural, is there any reason to wait?" She looked at me like I was crazy and said,"NO!" So I told her I was going to and she told me the anaesthesiologist was right out in the hall and that she would get him to me first.
Ten minutes or so later, I had my epidural and felt SO much better. Matt said I was all of a sudden very chipper.
Shortly after the anaesthesiologist left the nurse checked me and I think I was at about a four.
Matt's mom and sister were there with us by this time, or they had been and then left, but Matt's mom was back. So we just sat and talked. I gave Jeanna and Mary Jeanne strict instructions about where the cameras were aloud to point. The time went quickly. We talked with Sam on the phone a few times. He was staying home from school and going to see Santa at the mall with his aunts and cousins.
Around 11am I was starting to feel contractions on my right side. I told the nurse and she told me to lean to the right. She propped a pillow under my left side and gravity helped move the meds to the right and then I stopped feeling over there again. It was so amazing.
At 11:35 I looked at the clock and thought, I guess she won't be born by noon. A few minutes later the nurse checked me and said I was dilated to a ten and fully effaced. I was shocked. She said the baby was still pretty high up, so she put my bed into a straight sit up position and said we would "rest and descend" for one hour. Then she went to tell the doctor.We decided we had better call and let Becky know the baby would be born in about two hours, so they could bring Sam over. But the doctor came right in a few minutes after that, checked me, confirmed that I was at a ten, and started putting on his little paper outfit. And as he did we had this little conversation:
Dr: I guess I can tell you now.
Me: Tell me what?
Dr: When I broke your water, the baby's hand came out.
Me: (Look of shock!)
Matt:(Look of shock!)
Dr: I got it back in, luckily. If I hadn't been able to, we would have had to do a c-section right away because if the cord is being pinched in anyway it's really dangerous for the baby.
Me: (Look of shock! and thinking "That explains the wrestling match.")
Matt:(Look of shock!)
Dr: Are you glad I didn't tell you?
Me: (pointing at Matt) I'm glad you didn't tell him, because he would have been asking me all this time, "Can you feel the hand? What about a finger? How about now? Is the hand still in? Let me take a look." I'm really glad he didn't know.
Dr: (Smiling) Okay, let's have a baby. Matt, you hold that leg. The nurse will hold this leg. Okay, Julie, here comes a contraction. Push.

I pushed but couldn't feel a thing. I looked at Matt and he nodded his head and said,"It's working." We stopped for a second. I gave another quarter of a push and out she came. I couldn't believe it. I didn't feel a thing and it was so easy, it didn't seem real. It wasn't even noon yet! I really could not believe it.
They put her on my chest. The doctor had me guess her weight. I guessed somewhere around 6 pounds. She seemed so tiny to me. She was 6lbs.12oz.
We got on the phone and told my sisters to bring Sam right away, the baby was already born. They said Sam shed a few tears in the back of the van.
They immediately had me order some lunch, which is like ordering room service at our hospital. Then we just hung out waiting for Sam and lunch. Once he came we introduced him to Lola and she gave him a present she brought with her from the womb, a T-shirt that said, "My sister has the best big brother in the world." Then we had a picture fest with aunt Becky.
It was a wonderful day!
I was starting to feel my legs again by the time they wheeled me down to our room. And honestly, I had no recovery. I never felt like I had a baby, never needed any pain medication, and didn't feel a single cramp. Amazing. I would be thinking it was all a dream, except that I have this darling little angel baby here to keep me company.