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| bun in oven :: bake gently :) |
So, when the picture above was taken I was heavily pregnant and ready to meet my little munchkin. The aches and pains of pregnancy were all amplified by the desert heat and taking their toll on me. I still went to work though, and pushed myself to try and keep up with all my duties, even teaching an extra PE class to cover for another teacher. I'm pretty sure that's what pushed me over the edge because I went into labor that same day. Well, early labor is what they called it.
I was getting ready for bed that night and felt what I thought was my water break. We waited a bit while I timed my contractions and finally decided it was go time. My grandma, two aunts and I walked into the hospital around 2am with my 3 bags and birthing ball ready to meet baby. Looking back, the fact that I could walk into the hospital on my own should've told me that I was a long way away from delivering. After walking the halls and rolling around on a hospital bed for what seemed like forever, I was sent home to wait it out a few hours later.
I already had an appointment for my 39 week check up scheduled for later that afternoon, so I went back for that hoping that there would be more progress and they'd go ahead and admit me. Still only 1 cm dilated and having sporadic contractions, a sweet nurse gave me some advice to help my labor along and sent me home again. Nurse Veronica must have been sent by God just for me that day. I stepped into the hallway after having waited an hour to be seen and she walked by and took me in even though I was not on her patient list and she had other things that she was supposed to be doing. I will always remember how comfortable and at ease she made me feel that day. She talked to me as if I were her own child and I could tell that everything she said would turn out to be true. Even though I wasn't being admitted then, she told me to go home and eat some prunes, sweet potatoes, and okra (not all together), drink water, and "baby will come today", so that's what I did.
That night, after forcing myself to eat as much prunes, mashed sweet potatoes, and okra as I could, I tried to sleep but was obviously restless. My contractions were coming closer together but my water still hadn't broken, so I waited. Around 4am the contractions were getting more intense so I got in the shower to relieve some of the pain and decided that I needed drugs. This time going to the hospital I didn't care about a birthing ball or my snack bag or really anything else, and there was no way I was getting to the maternity ward without the help of a wheelchair.
I was taken directly to a delivery room where I met my midwife, Emma, who I promptly asked for some pain relief. I had said throughout my pregnancy that I wanted to do a med-free labor, but that went out the door after having been up with labor pains for 6+ hours. Not wanting to dope me up right away I guess, Emma said that she could give me something to "help me relax but I would still feel the contractions", and I remember thinking to myself, "what kind of oxymoron is that?!". She was right, it did relax me and made me want to go to sleep, but every time I got close to dozing off another contraction would come. So I asked for more drugs. I really don't know what kind of super women they have over here in the Middle East, but Emma offered me oxygen (I'm not kidding) or an epidural. Grandma really wanted me to take the oxygen. I think she must have forgotten what childbirth feels like. I got the epidural. Dr. Matthew, the anesthesiologist, became my new favorite person.
Things progressed nicely from there. I could still feel the pressure of contractions and move my legs but the pain was gone and I was able to rest and talk with my family. Around lunch time everyone left me to go eat while I thought of the victory cheeseburger I was going to have later and talked with the nurses. Since Emma was away delivering another baby, a new nurse came in to check me and broke my water. I'm so happy my water didn't break at school, that was a serious gush of liquid!
After that, things moved really quickly and before I knew it it was time to push. Thanks to movies and Kourtney Kardashian, I really thought I was gonna push 4-5 times and then the baby would just come out, but it didn't quite work out that way. I think I did a pretty good job of staying calm and focused for the most part but that final push really showed me who was boss. I really wanted to tap out and allow my little guy to just go on living his life inside my womb, I would just have to figure out a way to make it work for the both of us. Thankfully, he decided to help himself out and just kind of came flying out on his own.
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| just a few hours old |
I'm very glad there's no video of the whole ordeal.
The midwives did their weighing and measuring and checking and then we were finally able to rest and get to know each other. The hospital rooms were very nice and comfortable, and the nurses were all so helpful, but anyone who knows me knows I have a hard time sleeping away from home, so I was ready to go. After making sure baby and I were both healthy and he was free of jaundice, I got the okay to go home the next day. I don't know if I was more excited to sleep in my own bed or eat real food.
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| "breakfast" |
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| going home :) |
I'm still waiting for some one to sit me down and say this is how its done, but it hasn't happened yet. So we'll just keep taking it day by day and learning as we go. So far all of my lessons have had to do with poo unfortunately. Baby will undoubtedly have explosive diarrhea the one time you forget to pack a change of clothes for yourselves and are out and about, so always pack extras. A smile on the changing table usually means "I'm still pooping, mom." Don't try to change middle of the night diapers in the dark because you can't see the smile that says "mom, I'm still pooping". I'll be glad when this kid is potty trained!
