Au Naturel, Part 2

We get to the doctor's office and I literally run in.  I bypass the front desk, the waiting room, and everyone in between to find my sister.  She has the NST hooked up and I immediately have a contraction.  She says that was a "good one" and I want to hit her because no contraction should ever be classified as a "good one".  After looking everywhere, she couldn't find any doctors or any nurse practitioners to check my cervix but the office manager, my doctor's wife, had seen me and said to take me on over to the hospital (right across the way).

After the bumpiest ride of my life, I get to the hospital and am quickly reminded how lucky I am that my sister works in the capacity that she does.  I bypass registration and go straight to Labor and Delivery.  They immediately get me into a room and I get undressed.

The first nurse checks me and tells me "she doesn't feel my cervix" but wants to get another opinion.  At this point I thought she meant I was still like 1-2 cm dilated and I was not happy.  A second nurse comes in and agrees, adding that she feels a bulging bag of water.  I look up at Megan, my sister, to ask what that means.  She says, "Um, like you're a 10 and you're going to have this baby soon!"

All I could think was, "NO EPIDURAL?"  I began to cry, saying that I couldn't do this.

Megan said, "Yes you can!" and that was just the motivation I needed.  I knew I could, I just also knew I would have never chosen this method.  One of the nurses asked me if I'd like an epidural and I said "YES".  She never answered and I'm sure that's because the only thing she could have replied with would have been, "nanny-nanny, boo-boo, you don't get one!"  I'm sure it was the bitty.  As a matter of fact, she said that she wasn't even going to do an I.V. because there was just no time.  Now that didn't bother this needle-a-phob too much.  I was going to get to have a baby with no needles?  Fantastic.  Of course they took blood right about that same time.  So much for my needle-free birth.

As I was still waiting for the doctor (and Wes for that matter) I look over and see my mom facing the wall.  I ask one of the nurses to ask her to leave.  My sister overhears and asks my mom to wait outside.  I later apologized to my mom and she said she understood and that mothers shouldn't watch their daughters give birth - she and I are a little ore sensitive and emotional than others though.

My doctor finally arrives and begins suiting up.  Each contraction is getting more intense but I know I just have to keep my eye on the prize.  I had 2 nurses that couldn't have been more different.  One was younger and a great coach, supporter, teacher.  The other was older, told me I was doing everything wrong, and was not a good encourager.  The younger girl doesn't even have any children but she could teach the old bitty a thing or two about catching more bees with honey than vinegar!

The doc checks me and says the baby is facing the wrong way and that's why I've been having so much back labor.  He breaks my water and then tries to flip the baby.  He wasn't successful and said he'd do it once I started pushing (He later told me it was probably a good thing that he was turned around or I probably would have delivered the baby in the car on the way to the hospital!).  Once my water was broken I was told to push when I felt the urge.

For a while, all I could think about was how that big baby was going to come out of me and how was I going to live to tell about it.  I reassured myself that plenty had done it before me and I wouldn't be the last either.  Several pushes later one of the nurses asked me if I had had a lot of heartburn.  I said no.  She said, "Well wait until you see this hair!"

A few more pushes and I heard the most beautiful cry.  Next I saw the most beautiful face and knew all my hard work was worth it.  Suddenly the pain disappeared and all I could feel was sheer joy and love.  My reward was to get to hold him immediately on my chest, cheese and all.  My doctor handed me the scissors and said I got to cut the umbilical cord.

Where was Wes you ask?  Well he didn't make it in time to see any of the delivery.  He had Colin and they had to park on the roof of the parking garage.  Unlike my doctor, who had literally thrown his car in park in the emergency lane, with his flashers on, Wes doesn't break any rules.  There would be no way he'd park anywhere like a fire lane, a handicap space, make up a space, etc.  Gotta love his honesty.  He got there about 1 minute after Sawyer was born.  He felt bad, I know.  And now that just adds to our story!

So that's it.  I labor alone at home, get to my doctor's office about 8:20 the next morning, get wheeled to the hospital about 8:30, start pushing about 8:45, and have the baby at 9:06.  All in a mornings work.  Now that's the way to do it!  I'm not sure I'd advise anyone cutting it quite as close as I did but it all worked out in the end.  I never would have thought I'd be able to pull off an au naturel delivery but I'm super proud that I did and have little to no recovery because of it.

For those of you who have stuck with this incredibly long post, here's your reward - another picture.  I thought I'd post one with Wes since he got dogged a bit in this story.  There's nothing sweeter than seeing such a wonderful daddy getting to hold his son for the first time!