alright, alright, you can stop being afraid of me, i’m done being pregnant. i’ll admit it, i was getting a little crabby at the end; but puffy, sore, and overdue is not a good combination. so let’s be friends. come on, i don’t bite. promise.
i was hoping to just go into labor on my own, but no such luck. by saturday it was obvious that i would be getting induced regardless of my fears of doing such a thing. without grossing you out (jim, chris), i’ll just say that the whole process was started saturday evening. by late that night, tony was sleeping somewhat uncomfortably on the chair/bed while i was breathing through contraction after contraction.
that was a little exhausting and by sunday morning i was reallly tired and hungry. unfortunately, once you’re in labor, no food for you. i was so very hungry, but the only thing on the menu was ice chips. mmmm. ice chips.
so pretty much all sunday was spent contracting. if you’re not familiar with the process, just imaging something ripping your innards from side to side. ripping or pulling, just something something like the worst menstrual cramps ever in the world. i was given a little medicinal hookup because i wasn’t dilated enough for an epidural. i don’t remember the name of what i was given, but it was the craziest trip i have ever been on. hello, woodstock! i was having the weirdest, most vivid imaginings that revolved around seventies clothing and animated characters. i was giggling when i was trying to explain it to tony, but he didn’t seem to share in my enthusiasm.
after many, many, many “internal” exams, and several hours later, i was finally progressing enough and in enough pain to warrent an epidural, king of the painrelievers. god bless that anesthesiologist. i was so very happy to see that man walk into my room. he inserted a very thin line into my spine and the soothing numbness began. ahhhhh. i remember taking the photo with me and my epidural machine, but the whole day is kind of a blur. i remember having my immediate family in the room and tony. i remember breathing and breathing and breathing. basically, i blocked everyone and everything completely out. i just closed my eyes and breathed in and out with the contractions.
people came in and out, but i just kept breathing. finally i progressed to 8-9 centimeters. i never knew how big that really was until sunday. it sounds so small, but no. around this time i was able to push. even with the numbing of my waist down with the epidural, i was easily able to try and push out baby. if only my cervix (sorry jim, chris) wasn’t holding the baby back from leaving its home. so we had to take an hour break, thank goodness, and i was able to get an epidural refill. that was very helpful. another half hour or so of pushing and out came the head and lots of hair. more pushes later, out popped baby and a bunch of other yucky stuff that i’ll spare you the details of. after the baby came out, they just swept it over to the table and started their work. um, hi. is there a gender for this kid? no one announced whether it was a girl or a boy.
oh, it’s a girl! huh? a girl? a girl! yea, cute little girl clothes to look forward to. tea parties, dolls, chocolate, and all other girlie bonding moments to have. although, i’ll admit it, i was thinking it was going to be a boy. everyone, and i mean everyone, kept telling me that i “looked” like i was carrying a boy. nope. an 8 pound 2 ounce girl.
EIGHT pounds. EIGHT. how did that happen? i’m not exactly a big lady. thank goodness i got induced, because who knows how big miss ella would have gotten if i wasn’t. everyone with an opinion thought i was going to have a little rat baby, me included. oh well.
and so it all came to an end. or just a fabulous new beginning. welcome to our world little ella. mommy’s glad you’re here.