My entire pregnancy went by really quick, that is until I hit the final 3 weeks. I'm sure it's this way with every pregnant woman. I was tired of looking and feeling like the Michellin man, waddling around the house with ankles the size of bowling balls and hands that were so swollen and numb I couldn't even grip a pen to write with. I was super anxious to meet my little one, and nervous facing the unknown. Am I having contractions? Did my water just break or did I pee? I WANT THIS KID OUT!!!!! My heart sunk when my due date had come and gone and I still didn't have a baby in my arms. I then started getting nervous about getting induced. "My body should be able to do this on its own...it's supposed to! Now I have to have drugs to get things flowing? Am I going to give my kid brain damage having this done? Why the heck won't I dialate?" A million other thoughts ran through my mind but you get the picture.
My due date was November 9th. They scheduled me to go in on Sunday the 16th at 4:00 PM (I had no idea this was going to be the worst night of my life.) They started me on Cytotec to soften my cervix, which consisted of me taking a pill every 3 hours. Well...my nurses were supposed to come in and give me a pill every 3 hours, but between shift changes they got all screwed up on my times so it just ended up pushing everything back. The best part of my night was having people come wake me up every 10 minutes because the monitor that tracks the babys heart beat kept moving or the baby would decide to move. I got about 2 hours of sleep throughout the night. Just what I wanted to prep me for labor the next day. To top this all off, my anxiousness didn't help my situation at all.
Monday morning finally rolled around and they started me on the PIT. The doc broke my water, and the race was on! Ha... I wish. I went through labor most of the day and only dialated to a 4. By 5:00 Kyla's heart rate started dropping with each contraction. They decided to put me on oxygen and take me off the pit to monitor her heart and when they did my contractions completely stopped. I was so frustrated that my body wasn't doing anything on its own. On the plus side, it was soooooo nice to take a break from the pain and Kyla's heart rate leveled out. We waited for a while and on came the Pit again. My contractions fired up and her heart rate started dropping even lower than before. It didn't take long for the Doctor to make the command decision that I was going to have a c-section. After that it all happened quick. Within 40 minutes Kyla was here! (It was the best feeling in the world hearing our little baby cry for the first time, and seeing Casey with her just made it all complete.) I don't really remember much in the recovery room because I slept most of the time, but I do know that the operating room was FREEEEEEZING!!!! They kept piling the heated blankets on me so I would stop shaking in order to give me the spinal block, and I must say, It's a crazy weird feeling not having any feeling. They flopped me off the operating table like a dead fish.
I made it back to the room, and finally got to embrace my girl for the first time. It was wonderful getting to hold a little piece of heaven. I felt bad that her poor little head was coned. She had an alien looking noggin (if I knew what aliens looked like.) She tried so hard to make it out on her own, but the space just wasn't quite big enough for her to fit through. (No wonder her heart rate kept dropping on us.)
Since then, life hasn't slowed down. I have a super amazing husband that did everything for the first week because I was pretty much worthless after my surgery, and he still continues to do most everything. My Mom was my guardian angel afterwards, helping me during the Baby Blues, and just being there for me. I am so blessed to have such great people in my life. You all know who you are! I just want to thank all of you who stopped by to see us at the hospital. We really appreciate your love and support.
Now a month has come and gone and Kyla is growing like a weed. It's crazy how fast she changes and what new things she is starting to do. Our life is fuller now that we have her in it, and we are so blessed to have a happy healthy baby. Be sure to stay tuned for the life and times of Kyla!
I am so glad I don't look like a beached whale anymore.
My mom took about 50 pictures of Casey in his Cheese factory suit :)
See....cone head. I wasn't kidding.
All ready to head home!
Thank you for sharing your birth story. I love birth stories, especially the honest ones. Even with all the bad things you described and it reminding me of all the bad things I hated about pregnancy, it made me miss the day when the baby comes. That was seriously the best day of my life, for both kids. There is something very sacred about giving birth.
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