On the morning of Sunday January 27th I woke up to a very uncomfortable pain in my lower stomache. I quickly woke up my zonked out husband next to me and told him, I THINK I AM FINALLY HAVING A CONTRACTION!!! I had asked everyone I knew what a contraction felt like... But no one seemed to be able to tell me exactly one felt like. They continued to say "trust me you will know!" I now can truly say its true.
My mom (who I think knows all) had always told me never go to the hospital until your contractions are at the most 2 minutes apart for at least an hour. So I continued on with my day stopping every 10-15 minutes to gasp for a breath, squeeze my eyes shut, and pause any conversation I was having at the moment. Our very close family friends son was having his farewell this day, so I decided to put on the only dress/tarp that still fit and went on my way. Maybe should have rethought this decision? After church we went to my parents for dinner like always. Around 5:00 my contractions were pretty consistent, 3 minutes apart and getting pretty intense...not to mention VERY uncomfortable! I lasted till about 7:00pm then I grabbed Christian and said NOW...this baby has to come out!
Please bear with my horrid, swollen, very pregnant self.
(For documentary purposes only!)
We got to the hospital where they checked me into triage, put me in a lovely hospital gown and laid me in a bed where I was to wait till the nurse came into check me. Sooner than later she came in...I was dilated to a 4!! Whoo hoo...everyone told me if I was at a 4 they would keep me. She told me to wait for a hour, she would check me again and we would go from there. 1 hour later she came back... Guess who hadn't dilated? Because of my stubborn body I was then instructed to walk around the hospital for another hour and we would check back in...is this a joke? After the worst/longest hour and a half of my life(yes I went the extra, I was not going home!)they unfortunately told me I still had not moved... All she could do was give me a shot of morpheme and send me home. I wanted to cry the hardest I have ever cried, but I bucked up and walked out the door. Thank goodness I live directly across the street from the hospital, the morpheme they gave me intensified my contractions instead of making them more comfortable. I lasted about an hour and I was back at the hospital. It was now about midnight this time the nice nurse checked me right in to a room, the first thing i told her was "by the way I definitly want a epidural, ASAP" she laughed then imediatly called for the anesthesiologist. Around 2am the anesthesiologist finally arrived. Now previosly in my pregnancy I was terrified of the horrible "epidural" at this point I was begging for it! Ps. Not even bad at all... I would do that 10 times before going through even 2 intense contractions. Besides the severe shakes that I got afterwards it wasn't too bad. I finally was able to calm down and sleep... So I thought.
At 6am my doctor showed up to break my water hoping this would speed up my dilation, he also hooked me to a tube of pitocin. The nurses continued to check me every hour but no dilation. I was beginning to get very worried. Not only was I not dilating but baby was more at a diagonal then straight down, which I could tell made the nurses a little hesitant. Now about 3:00 in the afternoon a miracle happened, the nurse checked me and I had dilated to a 6(progress people) and with in two hours it was go time! I was so excited/exhausted/hungry/parched... I had now been in labor for 36 hours, had not eaten in almost 24 hours and they would not let me drink in case of a c-section, yet still very excited to meet this little one very soon now!
Yet another bump in the road... By now my 4th, yes 4th epidural had worn off, and after pushing for almost 2 hours with my husband and mom on both sides, I looked up at my doctor drenched in sweat, both legs in the assigned position and simply said "How much longer?" He then very nicely said "Hours, this baby does not want to come out." in the sweetest voice. I then asked what I should do. You have two options:
1. Keep pushing for who knows how long
Or
2. Emergency C-section
I looked at my husband then my mom and I think they could tell by the look on my face I couldn't do this anymore. I looked up and with a sigh of almost relief I said let's do a c-section. Before I could blink people were swarming around me, they injected me with something and that's really all I remember. My last image was my husband dressed in what looked like a bee keepers outfit holding my hand telling me everything was going to be ok. They pushed me into the OR where the doctor told me I may feel a little pulling and tugging but nothing horrible. It's true you can feel them pulling and tugging but not to painful, though that could have been because I was drugged up the wazoo. Before I knew it the nurse was holding the baby right in front of me. He was beautiful! He made up for the recovery I would go through for the next 6 weeks... That's another story.
Yet another bump in the road... By now my 4th, yes 4th epidural had worn off, and after pushing for almost 2 hours with my husband and mom on both sides, I looked up at my doctor drenched in sweat, both legs in the assigned position and simply said "How much longer?" He then very nicely said "Hours, this baby does not want to come out." in the sweetest voice. I then asked what I should do. You have two options:
1. Keep pushing for who knows how long
Or
2. Emergency C-section
I looked at my husband then my mom and I think they could tell by the look on my face I couldn't do this anymore. I looked up and with a sigh of almost relief I said let's do a c-section. Before I could blink people were swarming around me, they injected me with something and that's really all I remember. My last image was my husband dressed in what looked like a bee keepers outfit holding my hand telling me everything was going to be ok. They pushed me into the OR where the doctor told me I may feel a little pulling and tugging but nothing horrible. It's true you can feel them pulling and tugging but not to painful, though that could have been because I was drugged up the wazoo. Before I knew it the nurse was holding the baby right in front of me. He was beautiful! He made up for the recovery I would go through for the next 6 weeks... That's another story.
Therefore... On Monday January 28th at 5:36pm
Parks J. Otteson was born.
Weight: 7lb. 11oz.
Height: 21in.
We were smitten...
He came out sucking like a champ...hungry as ever!
What I had waited my whole life for.
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