Labor, Delivery & Recovery

August 19, 2010

I went to work that morning feeling great.  I was in good spirits, despite all the pressure and pain I was feeling.  That morning, my coworkers kept telling me that I was going to delivery early.  I kept saying, "I've got two weeks to go!"  By the end of the work day, I was feeling very uncomfortable, so Jimmy was nice enough to pick me up so I didn't have to take the Metro home.

As soon as we got home, I thought I needed to use the bathroom.  When I thought I was peeing, my water broke! (It was nice that my water broke IN the toilet, so there was no mess to clean up!)  I knew something was up when it wouldn't stop flowing and it was a funny color.  I called Jimmy to the bathroom and we studied my pee for a few minutes.  We still weren't 100% sure, so I called the hospital and they told me to come on in. 

Of course, I took my time and showered, shaved, and got myself all cleaned up.  My thought was, if my water did break and I was in labor, I didn't know the next time I would get to shower!  Jimmy wasn't packed and he too wanted to have a fresh shower and shave before out big trip to the hospital.

While I was getting ready, I was still skeptical about my water breaking.  I was sure this was a "trial run" and they would send me home.  Even after an hour, my water was still trickling out and I think I lost my mucus plug in the shower. Reality sunk in, and there was no denying it... it wasn't really until about right before we left the house when it started to hit me. 

Jimmy and I were pretty calm the whole time.  I really thought we would have felt panicked and crazy!   We walked out of the apartment knowing the next time we walked though those doors we would have our daughter in our arms!

Labor was easy at first, but then got more scary as the doctors became more and more concerned with Amelia's heart rate.  They had to give me an internal monitor for both her heart rate and my contractions.  As soon as they got that under control, I was stuck at 7cm for 11 hours due to a swollen cervix.  Doctors also assumed that because I am so small, that Amelia wouldn't have made it though my birth canal anyway. 

After 27 long hours of labor, doctors advised that I should have a c section.  I was very disappointed and scared, but knew it was best for the baby.  Sadly, I had complications with my c section and had massive hemorrhaging afterwards.  They had to come in and do another procedure shortly after I delivered.  I didn't even get to hold Amelia until a few hours after the c section, but Jimmy was with her the whole time, so that made me feel better.

Overall, labor and delivery was not what I expected, but the result was well worth it ;0)

Recovery was very difficult for me and I was in the hospital for 5 days.  The only thing I could do to help out was feed Amelia.  I could barely get in and out of bed and was really sick (turns out I was having a reaction to one of the pain medications too!) Jimmy did everything!  I didn't even change a diaper or pick her up until she was more than a week old!  Not only did Jimmy take care of Amelia... he cooked, cleaned, and nursed me back to health.  He even said he wished he had "boobies" so he could breastfeed her so that I could rest more. 

Jimmy is an awesome father and husband.  Thank you Sir!