Katie's birth story and why i'm afraid of #2...

So for the official announcement (i've been talking about it but haven't really made the announcement...) I'm pregnant again and due April 15th. We planned on two but not necessarily this soon. Guess God made the decision about when!

So, Katie's birth story. I know some of you already know the story, some were there but a lot of you haven't heard the full run down of my horrific time giving birth. New March Mommies, this is for you...

On March 11th (our first anniversary) I found out that I was just over the borderline for having pre-eclampsia. My doctor called me at home on Sunday morning and told me to pack my bags and head over to the hospital, I was going to have a baby. Now, had I known what I was in for I would have taken my time, had a ton to eat, watched some TV, lounged and THEN gone over. But NO, I had to rush over there, maybe I would be giving birth today and it would be over with!! I was scared to death, I cried. I knew the time was getting close but I wasn't ready to find out I'd be induced TODAY. So around noon we head over to the hospital. I get checked in and they take me to the little bed with the little curtain around it, have me put on a robe, hook me up to monitors and I lie there for a while just waiting. So the nurse comes back and asks if I know about the Magnesium. Nope, no clue! So she tells me that since I have pre-e that I will be put on an IV of Magnesium and because of that I won't be able to eat or walk and I'll have a catheter put in. OMG a catheter?! I think I was more afraid of that than actually giving birth. So eventually I get wheeled down to my room, get hooked up to every monitor known to man kind (two on my belly, a blood pressure cuff to take my pressure every 15 minutes, an IV) and then the wonderful nurse comes in to insert the catheter. okay, it wasn't as bad as I originally thought, hey at least I don't have to get up to pee!! Then the waiting begins. I am given a pill every 2 hours to get my cervix to thin out but if they show that you are having too many contractions they make you wait longer between pills. In the mean time I'm just laying in bed doing absolutely nothing. Everyone is standing over me looking at the monitor and asking if I feel the contraction the graph says i'm having, I don't. I am dying of hunger and tired of being in bed and then I find out the hospital has a killer food court, a Ben & Jerry's ice cream store and it's the only hospital in Michigan with a knitting store. But who cares because I can't enjoy them!

Sunday is over, Monday comes, no progress... One nurse tells me I can have a popsicle. This is the best popsicle I've ever eaten, I savor every bite. Around, oh i'd say 2:00 pm, an OB resident, not over the age of 14 i'm guessing, comes in with this rubber tube and tells me she's going to insert it through my cervix (barely dilated to 1) and then they'll blow it up like a balloon to simulate the head coming down. Well, this hurts like hell, i'm in pain and I tell her to get the effing tube away from me and don't come back. An hour later another OB resident comes back with the same tube, at least this time she may be 16 or so. Again, no luck getting the tube in, i'm in excruciating pain and so she decides to break my water. They tell you this doesn't hurt but i'm here to tell you it DOES hurt. It hurt bad. By this time i'm begging to just get a c-section, i'm hungry, I hate ice chips, I hate people who are not in labor, and the nurses are yelling at me because I rolled over without their permission and they had to come in the room and re-position my monitors. I'm about ready to tear the stinking monitors off. I love my baby but I was so tired of hearing a heartbeat by the time the whole thing was said and done.

Anyway, Monday around 5 my water is broken and things start to heat up. Thank GOD. I am having some contractions but not a lot of strong ones. I am continually monitored and they finally decide around oh I don't remember, maybe 9 that they could start the Pitocin. This stuff should be banned. It should be illegal. It was the most horrific pain i've ever felt. The contractions wouldn't go away. The chart said I had a break in between but I wanted to smack the person who said I wasn't currently having a contraction. It was one continuous contraction and by the time I was 2.5 cm dilated I was begging for an epidural. I was threatening everyone that I better get one and get one now, even though the nurses kept saying I'd have to be further dilated. Screw them, give me drugs. So the epidural guy comes in and puts it in. For 30 minutes i'm feeling great and then all of the sudden, why do I feel pain? The nurses think I'm crazy and the epi is working just fine but i'm here to tell you it wasn't. I felt every twinge of pain, every contraction. The only thing feeling good was my right leg. I have to say though that between 10 when I got the epi and 11 pm, I had dilated to 10 and was ready to push. And when I say ready to push, I mean READY TO PUSH. But nope, can't push. They didn't expect me to go that fast so they had to page the doctor. It took him a long, drawn out 40 minutes to make it to the hospital and i'm sitting there feeling like i have a bowling ball trying to make it's way out of my body.

Fortunately I only pushed for 1.5 hours, although it was very painful and there was some really odd horrible pain on my left side. I was crying and moaning and in horrible pain. I pushed like there was no tomorrow even though I hadn't eaten since Sunday morning. At 1:19 am Katie emerged and I was the happiest person on earth. Oh but it doesn't end there. After 1/2 hour of trying to get the placenta out, and it wasn't coming out, the dr stuck his whole arm up into my uterus to try to get it out. If you think child birth hurts, this hurt just as badly. With no luck, I had to be rushed in for an emergency D & C. By 4 am I was done, back to my room and not able to see my new baby until morning. Very sad.

So here's what I learned: 1) Childbirth classes are only to give you the illusion that you can handle child birth and do silly things like breathing to take the pain away (it doesn't work) 2) If you have to be induced, don't rush to the hospital. 3) Your body can really endure a lot of pain and agony and you will live!!

So why am I doing this again???