And around this time, just when I thought I was going to be a medical anomaly and remain at 4 and a half cm for 3 years, they checked me again, and I was at 8!! So finally, things were happening. Contractions had become more intense, and I was getting more and more dilated. I was almost ready to push and by this point, I was ready. An hour went by and I was 9 cm! Another hour went by and I was at 9.5.
Everything was moving nicely, except that they checked me again an hour later and I was still at 9.5. They waited a couple more hours, came back, and I still hadn't reached 10. The nurse said I was really really close but the last bit of my cervix did not want to open up. I don't know what time it was at this point, but it was probably about 1 or 2 in the morning. And if they came in and said I was still close but not there yet one more time, I was ready to get down there and rip the baby out myself. Well, no, but dude, there's nothing more discouraging than seeing the finish line but not being able to reach it.
Not to worry, the nurse said. A lot of times, you can just push your way past that last bit of closed cervix. So she had me start to push. And push. And push. A contraction would come and she'd tell me when/how to push. Basically they tell you to push like you're trying to get a turd out (a total AHA moment right there for me -- this is why so many women poop during labor I guess). I pushed for what seemed like forever. She kept checking my cervix and it still hadn't opened yet! I'm glad I got the epidural if for nothing more than the cervical checks, god they were excruciating before. And I got a whole lot of them.
And during this whole time, the nurse has been saying several things. One, that it seems to be a night for emergency issues and c-sections and she was not going to have me add to the trend. And two, although I would need to have a c-section if I couldn't dilate to 10 cm, she didn't anticipate it getting to that point. But then as I kept pushing and nothing kept happening, she stopped saying that. Finally, my doctor came and made the call, said that if I'd already been pushing for that long, there was really nothing else to do. If my cervix still wasn't opening up, that was a sign that the baby was probably too big.
The rest of the night was a blur. I was exhausted and could barely keep my eyes open. Once we made the decision to go for the c-section, everything happened quickly. I think they had us all prepped and the baby out in less than half an hour. They had G get scrubbed up and wheeled us into the operating room (him in a wheel chair, I think, just in case he fainted, though I'm not sure). And I guess they put a curtain up between my top half and bottom half and cut me up. Oh they gave me drugs, but later, the anesthesiologist told me that I had been snoring away even before he gave me anything. G hung out by my head so I'm not sure how much he could see. And then before I knew it, it was 3 am and they were telling me I had a girl! A girl! I'm still in shock by that, by the way. I had been so mentally prepared for a boy. But honestly, they showed her to me, and all I remember thinking is "cool" and drifting back to sleep.
I do remember though being with it enough to tell G to follow the baby. Cuz they took the baby away to wash her up while the doctors stayed to close me up. And G was too busy hanging out with me to pay attention to where the baby went. There was a flurry of activity too because there were all kinds of people in the operating room. Earlier in the evening, when my doctor had to break my water, they had found some meconium in my water (it's basically baby poop -- I guess sometimes it's common when babies are late for the poop to seep into the amniotic sac). And they were worried that the baby might swallow some on her way out. So there were doctors and nurses from the neonatal intensive care unit on stand by to clear out the baby's lungs in case that happened. Not a huge deal if they're prepared for it, but potentially scary if they're not. Plus there was my doctor and nurse, the c-section doctor, the anesthesiologist, and I don't know who else. There was a lot going on, and all I really remember is how sleepy I was and how quickly it all seemed to happen.
While they were closing me up, G went with the baby to watch them clean her up and give her initial shots and tests. They apparently told him that the baby's head had been rammed up against my cervix trying to push her way out but that her head had been too big for my cervix. So that's why I couldn't finish dilating. She might have been slightly out of position also, but they said it wouldn't have mattered anyway because I was just too small for her. Damn big husbands! G had told me what a huge baby he was, and I had been freaked out about this the entire pregnancy.
Knowing this kid like I do now, I also kind of wonder if she had been too lazy to push that hard. She doesn't seem like the type to go that extra mile if she doesn't have to. :) But who knows, I guess all that matters is that at the end of the day, we have this super adorable little girl. I may be biased but she didn't even look like a little alien when she was born. You know how a lot of newborns are kind of goopy and ET-looking? Not this one! I swear, she looked like a baby right from the start.
Anyway, I guess that's it for the gory labor details. All the nurses kept telling me that at least next time, I wouldn't have to go through labor at all. I could just schedule a c-section and be done with it. And I guess now that I've had to come to terms with having one at all, might as well. But good god, really, another one????
No comments:
Post a Comment