Lovely Labor

Warning! This blog is almost too long to read!

I just remembered that about a month ago, I promised I would share the exciting story of my labor (ok, maybe exciting is a bit much). I think now, I have enough distance that I can share the story, without too many boring details or annoying complaining.

Everyone always tells you that no two pregnancies and labors are the same. That might be true of my pregnancies - I got way fatter with Eli and had permanent cankles for 4 months, but the labors were very similar. In fact, I went into labor with Marina on the exact same day of pregnancy that I did with Eli - 37 weeks and 6 days. Just like before, my water broke with no other signs of labor. I didn't have that dramatic water breaking in middle of the grocery store moment, but rather sitting here at my desk at work, I thought I might have peed my pants a little. Since the same thing had happened with Eli, I pretty much knew what was going on, but was in a moment of denial. I was also alone in the office with 30 minutes left in my shift. I was pacing around the floor, having a struggle with responsibility versus instinct. I struck a compromise with myself and left 10 minutes early.


After running around the house for a few minutes like chickens with our heads cut off, Mark and I finally were able to get Eli to my mom's house and put him to bed before we went to the hospital. It's never like the movies with me. I'm never screaming in the back of a car or pacing around the house breathing through contractions. Instead I resented the wheel chair they made me ride in to get up to labor and delivery because I could walk just fine.

It was around 9 pm when I got changed and stationed in the hospital bed where I sat for endless hours waiting for a baby. They put me on pitocin and we waited for the contractions, which finally started to come around 1 am (they decided to show up in my back and front). Because I have an issue with my pride, I didn't want to ask for my epidural when I was only dilated to 2 but finally I said forget it, I'm not dealing with this pain for no reason. The anesthesiologist took his sweet time to get to my room and then put a huge needle in my back. My relief was pretty much immediate and I was much happier. Then I had sat in bed, waiting through the rest of the night. Mark and my mom were able to catch a few hours of uncomfortable sleep while I blindly watched Pride and Prejudice. Then at 5 am, the nurse came in to see if I needed anything. I told her I thought my epidural might be wearing off because I was feeling some pain down the left side of my body. She wasn't planning on checking me again for an hour since the last time at 4 am I was only 3 cm (I am a slow mover!) but then as an after thought she decided to check me again. Turns out in that hour I had dilated to 10 cm and we were ready to have a baby. She had someone else come in to double check since it was so unexpected.

The doctor got there a few minutes later and every one gathered around to watch. At this point I had no shame, I didn't even care if they told me to go running around naked through the hallways singing songs from Annie, I just wanted to get this show on the road! They instructed me not to move too much because this baby was about to fall out (just like with Eli). Then 1-1/2 pushes later, Marina shot out like a cannon and I was no longer pregnant. When I looked down and saw her, my first comment was something like "Holy crap, she's tiny!" Then they put her on my chest and I said "This is weird." I am not one for dramatic quotes in the heat of the moment.

She was born at 5:28 am but we had to stay in the delivery room until about 8 pm that night because there were no other rooms ready yet. My epidural wore off of my left side quickly but for some reason my right side took much longer. At one point, I thought I was fine to walk (again with the pride!), even though the nurses insist on helping, and I basically fell off the toilet in the bathroom, and had to be caught by the nurse - again, no room for shame or modesty during the birthing process. It was funny, I was a "Call, don't fall victim". I'm too young to be having falling accidents in the bathroom!

Since we weren't getting any sleep in the hospital and I thought our room looked like a dorm room from 1975 (the shower spout came up to my shoulders so I had to bend backwards to wash my hair), I got permission to leave early. So home we went to start our new lives the very next afternoon.

There you have it! Luckily my labors have been relatively easy, or I wouldn't have been crazy enough to go back for round two!