So Jose arrived on August 21, 2009 and the following Tuesday I started having contractions but they weren't unbearable. I went to the doctor and she checked my cervix and I was thinned and 2 cm dilated. From there it was a huge guessing game. So I started walking more and pushing myself to the furthest extent so that Maia would come, but it turns out that God definitely had other plans and her birthday was picked out from the beginning of time. As the days passed and more signs of the big day came I became almost impatient.Then about September 9th, a day after the due date I just kind of gave up guessing. I had a doctor appointment that day and I went in and they checked me and I finally had gone from the 2 cm that I had been at for 2 weeks to 3 cm and 90 percent effaced!!! It was exciting and definitely a little more real at that point. For the next day I started to experience pain, not like any other, it was deep back pain.
The night of September 10, I went to bed and woke up at 2 am with sharp pains and strong contractions...still after going to the doctor and hospital once before I decided that I'd wait them out cuz I wasn't in the mood to get told that it wasn't active labor...again. So I tried to sleep through them but I couldn't. 5 am came and finally I was able to fall asleep, I woke up at about 10 am on September 11, soaked, but figured that I had sweat through the contractions because if it was my water I would have felt a gush and I didn't. But after taking my nephew for a walk and going through 3 pairs of underwear we decided that it was time for a hospital visit.
While the rest of my family seemed convinced that my water had broken, I still remained unconvinced and I honestly thought I'd be going home that day. I got into the room at about 2:30 pm and they started to check me, I was 3-4 cm dilated and having contractions...I didn't even really feel them but they were spiking at about 7 or 8 out of 12 on the scale. They tested the fluid and it didn't appear to be amniotic fluid so they just monitored me for an hour, within less than an hour I went to the bathroom and came back to the bed they re-hooked the monitors to my belly and all of the sudden, 2 doctors and 3 nurses were in the room staring at the monitors. Maia's heart rate had decelerated and they quickly rushed me in for an ultrasound, it revealed that my amniotic fluid was extremely low around the baby and obviously my water had not broken completely but there was a tear with a small leak, enough to whisk us upstairs to labor and delivery.
By the time that I was upstairs and comfortably in my room it was 5:30 pm. They stuck me 3 times before finally hitting a vein the fourth time for my IV and pitocin was given at 6:25 pm. Once it was administered I really started to feel the contractions and to say the least I was extremely uncomfortable. I could sense the excitement in the room growing from my family but at that point I was not very excited at all. At 8:20 pm they came and checked me and I was still at 4 cm so they broke my water completely...that was the by far the worst feeling in the world...super gross!!! Imagine peeing yourself after drinking 4 gallons of warm water!! Yeah, not a pretty feeling. They were stuffing towels under me but they never seemed like enough to soak it all up. If I was feeling the contractions before, I was really feeling them now. The pain after they broke my water was the worst pain I've ever felt in my entire life....most people say it's like having the worst menstrual cramps but this was WAY WORSE and I felt most of it in my back! O_o !!!!!!
So I tried to play superwoman but only lasted 2o minutes...at this point my mom had gone to walmart to get the game trouble and she came back, I was 5 cm and they were giving me an IV drug called Demoral (? i think that's how you spell it)...however I reacted very strongly to it. Within minutes my tongue was heavy and immobile, I couldn't see straight, I couldn't talk or tell anyone how I was feeling, everything from this point forward was a blur and I became scared. Needless to say, I didn't get to play the game Trouble.
I remember not wanting an epidural, but as 9:30 pm approached, I was not feeling any relief from the Demoral, just drugged...but it's where the true trouble came...a 30 minute procedure had quickly turned it into an hour and a half. I don't remember anything from this point forward just bits and pieces. The first epidural was given and apparently it didn't work. I hadn't felt any relief at all just extreme pain radiating through my back and body. At about 10:20 pm I was 8 cm and they gave me a second epidural and I remember not feeling the pain in my back but a very strong pressure in my butt and pelvis. It was constant too.
My family came into the room at about 10:50 and 5 minutes later I was begging to push. They checked me and I was fully dilated and ready. I don't remember any of this but I do remember looking up and the room was filled with doctors, my legs were up and my nurse was sternly asking me to look at her and listen. She said, "when you feel a contraction, bear down, push into your butt and hold it for 10 seconds". I started pushing at 11:00 pm...I remember pushing maybe once but not much else...all of the sudden I heard the doctor say look down and they pulled Maia out. She was born at 11:17 pm on September 11th. She came out with one elbow up and the arm over her face causing me to get a second degree tear.
Within minutes my room was empty and everyone was gone...at that point I had started to freak out because I couldn't hear her heart on the monitor, it was then that the nurse, Becky, reminded me that she had been born already and was in the nursery getting cleaned and measured. When Maia came into the room I didn't really want to hold her because I had felt totally out of control of the whole birth process and I was still processing the fact that she'd been born and most of it was a blur to me. But the minute that I held her...I was in love. Jose was definitely crying and I was not too far behind. She was absolutely beautiful.
In recovery, is when I fully was aware and able to care for myself and her. And Jose and I became quite attached. She breastfed and they took her for testing and the whole time we looked at the clocks counting the minutes....we both stepped into our parenting shoes quite nicely for being first time parents. She is now a little over two weeks old and the love of my life! I don't get far without her. I couldn't ask anyone to be a better father. Jose feeds her breast milk from the bottle when she is uncooperative, he gets up with her, changes her and burps her...he's very aware of her needs and it's nice to share the little burden :]
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