i took a quick look at the calendar this morning and i'm reminded that a year ago this day i went on maternity leave from work. it seems like a lot more time has passed than a year! i can hardly believe that the peanut will be 1 year old in a few weeks! pretty amazing.
since i don't have a lot of crafting to show you today (i'm still working on my skirt and i've made some progress on the peanut pants), i thought that i would reminisce and give you a quick and certainly not-too-detailed account of my birth story which i never did elaborate on last year. it's in the extended entry. read it and weep (i always do) or not. i'll have crafty stuff in the next few days :)
so yeah, a year ago today i was on official maternity leave and, boy, was i glad. i hated riding the subway to and from work everyday super pregnant. let me tell you, new york is full of pregnant-women-haters (and baby-haters too for that matter.) most of these people would rather die than give up their seat on the subway for a pregnant woman. i remember riding once all the way home standing because people ignored me. i cried most of that night because hips were killing me. i hope i never have to do that again. anyway, i spent my last week before the peanut arrived hanging out at home, knitting, and watching lots of TV. i tried not to do anything too strenuous because, heck, i was enjoying myself!
march 15th, my due date, came around and i went to my doctor (a very lovely man, ask if you want a recommendation) to see how things were progressing. well, things were not progressing. i was nowhere near close to dilating and he thought that i had some time yet. he said i should come back in five days and we'd check again if i didn't go into labor before then. well, i didn't. i remember being VERY large and the peanut was moving around all the time and, my god, i just wanted her out!
so we went to st vincent's hospital on the morning of march 20th to see how the baby was doing on the sonogram. the technician was looking to see how the amniotic fluid was and if there was enough room for her to move around and not be in danger. he guessed that she was 8.5 pounds! (which she wasn't) and sent me to my doctor's office (which is only a few blocks from the hospital) to go over the details of the sonogram and decide what to do. my doctor was concerned that i wasn't dilated and my cervix wasn't soft, and she was getting so big so he said, "let's induce. today 5PM, show up at the hospital and we'll get going."
oh. my. god. KP and i were shocked. just like that, my doctor wanted us to have the baby and i always thought that she would come out when she was ready. KP and i did a little grocery shopping, went home, got the place in order, made food, packed our bags, and chilled out until it was time to go get checked in at st vincents. we checked in at 5PM, my doctor came and gave me cervadil at 7PM, and i slept fitfully that night.
the next morning, the cervadil had done its work but i still wasn't getting anywhere so they decided to start the petocin at 10AM. at 1PM i was feeling mild contractions so i got my epidural which was really tough. having to bend over, very pregnant and contracting, while a doctor puts a huge needle in your back is, well, tough. but after it was done i was feeling good. the staff checked on me throughout the day and they were all so wonderful. really, i love the staff at st vincent's. they were all very caring and nice. i will definitely go there for the next baby!
around 8PM, things started to go a little wrong. though i had the epidural, i was only numb on one side of my body and feeling contractions on the other. the petocin had been going since 10AM and when you have contractions on petocin, they are 100 times stronger than normal. i was in a lot of pain. after toughing it out from 8PM to 10PM, my doctor took me off the petocin to give my body a break. i still wasn't dilated but we were seeing progress.
after midnight though i was in so much pain that i called the anesthesiologist back in and had her take out the epidural and put in a new one.. i think that finally happened around 3AM. the attending physician AND the resident were there to make sure it went in correctly this time. it turned out that the last time i was hunched over to the right too much and it went in crooked which is why only half my body was numb. after the new one went in, i did my best to make sure that the pain meds didn't pool on one half of my body. i alternated laying on each side and it finally worked. AND my water broke! yeah!
in the morning, i was finally starting to dilate and my doctor said that we'd have a baby by lunchtime. now during those three days that i was in the labor/delivery room, i heard at least 5 or 6 women giving birth without drugs. i wish i had brought earplugs. it sounded excruciating! i was so tired and so stressed out from listening to those other women that i started to cry. i just wanted to have my baby and be on with it.
i think it was around 1PM that i was finally full dilated and ready to push. i got one last top up on my epidural and an hour later we started to push. i gotta say that after all the contractions from the night before, the two epidurals and having listened to all the babies being born before mine, i thought that the pushing was the easiest part of the whole thing. it was progress i could wrap my brain around, not just sitting and waiting.
at 3PM, the peanut burst forth, pulled from me still clutching her umbilical cord (she obviously did not want to come out!) the following 15 minutes were a complete blur. i know my doctor took care of me and i just got to hold my baby and cry and be happy. it was the most amazing moment ever. KP was the greatest coach i could ever ask for. he slept in a pull out chair in the room those two nights and held my hand when the contractions got too bad before the second epidural. best husband and dad ever.
we spent the next two days at the hospital. the nursing staff showed me how to take care of the peanut. how to bathe her and some tips on nursing. man, i'll never forget my first shower after delivery. boy did i need it! i passed another new mom in the hallway and we remarked on how that shower makes you feel human again.
some of the hardest moments of child birth, though, don't happen until you get home. you're battered and bruised, bleeding like you've never bled before and yet you still have to take care of this new baby. still, you heal and you move on. i learned a lot and i hope that i'll remember it all for the second one someday.
peanut, we love you!
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