This Baby Bizniss (AKA: thelongestpostever)

So, my life has changed drastically since my last post. Ya know, having a baby and all. So, here's what you've all been looking forward to for the past nine months: the story. In great, delicious detail. ;)

Sunday morning I woke up at 7:45 because my back was hurting and I could NOT for the life of me get comfortable. I figured I'd try to sit up on the couch and maybe sleep that way, but as soon as I got comfy there, I felt the strangest feeling. At first I thought the baby was kicking me really high up, but when I put my hand on my belly, the entire thing was rock hard. Everywhere. So I knew it was a contraction, but I'd had a Braxton Hicks the night before so I wasn't that worried about it. Well, throughout the day, I started feeling pain, pain, and more pain with the contractions, so I finally called the hospital. I told them I'd be there in an hour. I had laundry to finish first.

An hour later, off we went to the hospital. They checked me first and then monitored my contractions for two hours. According to them, during that time I went from a one to a four. That's some fast vaginal yawning there. So anyway, they admitted me to the hospital, a really nice (young, like, my-age-young) doctor, Dr. Fong, took care of me until 10:00 when he had to run to Baptist to assist in another delivery there. So all this time I'd been laying in bed, reveling in the meds from my epidural [just so you know, the epidurals hurt worse than anything in delivery. The effects are awesome and totally worth it, but holy crap, be prepared.], and having major conctractions. The doc came into my room before he left and told me that by that time I should've been "complete," meaning totally dilated, and I wasn't. He said if I wasn't complete by the time he got back we were just gonna do a C-section because this baby needed to come out. Which was fine with me, because at that time they thought he was gonna be an 8.5 lb baby, and I wasn't too keen on squeezing that through my lady tube. Plus, earlier, when they broke my water, they saw that the baby had pooped in the womb, and they knew he needed to come out asap.

Well, long story short, nothing had changed and they prepped me for a C-section and wheeled me back to the OR. (And if you think that getting a C-section means you won't have to deal with anything embarrassing, think again. They gave me some medicine that tasted like extreme Sweet Tarts so I wouldn't get sick to my stomach from all the medicine, and I barfed it all up. While I was laying down, so that it went all over my hair and left shoulder. And there was no way I could hop off that table and get cleaned up, so the nurse did the best she could. I was so doped up though I barely even cared. Plus it smelled good, like Sweet Tarts. :-D)

So they wheeled me back to the room, got me onto the operating table, put the curtain up, tested me to make sure I couldn't feel anything, let mom and Jesse into the room to sit by me, and started cutting away. Mom held my hand and prayed the whole time, and Jesse rubbed my face and talked sweet so I wouldn't be scared. I loved it. :) All I could feel the whole time was a bunch of tugging and pressure, and then I heard the doctor exclaim, "Oh my goodness, look at the hair on this little guy!" and then she said something about the cord being wrapped around his neck one time, another good reason we did the C-section, although we weren't aware of that specific situation at the time we made the decision. Not too long after that, they held up a purple little cone-headed, dark-haired baby for me to see, and I started crying immediately, and then laughed because his head was so cone shaped, and it was funny. Poor little guy. He'd been in my birth canal for so long trying to come out, but it just wasn't happening.

After that, Jesse brought him over to me all wrapped and bundled up, and I reached out and touched his sweet little face and then they whisked him away. I didn't get to see my baby again until the next morning, because he had to go into the Special Care Unit. He wasn't able to breathe very well on his own and had to be put on oxygen, and they had lots of poop to clean out of him, poor thing. I was so sad that I didn't get to see and hold him right away, but I understood why and I just wanted what was best for him.

The next morning at six thirty, I was sleeping away when the nurse came in and woke me up. She asked if she could wheel me to the nursery because Samuel was crying and they couldn't calm him down and told her to come get me because "he just needs his mama." I was like, "Heck yeah, take me down there!" She laughed and we headed that way. I had to close my eyes because the pain meds they had me on made me dizzy. So anyway, they wheeled me into the nursery and pulled my little boy out of a bed where he had oxygen in his nose and everything. He was crying and crying, but as soon as they put him in my arms, he quieted right up and turned his head to me and cuddled. My heart melted, absolutely melted, and tears just started streaming down my face. He was so precious, and finally I was getting to meet my boy face-to-face. I held him as long as they'd let me, crying the whole time. Then they let me breast feed him for the first time, skin-to-skin, which is an amazing thing, as you other mamas who've done it know. My nurse offered to get my cell phone for me so I could take a picture with him, and that's the picture my credit union peeps saw, from the very first time I got to meet my little man. Incidentally, I was still bare-breasted, so enjoy that picture, y'all. ;)

Later that morning, the doctor checked him over one last time and said he was good to go, so he finally got to stay with his mommy and daddy where he belonged. :) I never understood before the love a parent has for his or her child, but oh my gosh, it is absolutely amazing, and totally unlike anything I've experienced in my life. Nothing can compare to how awesome it is. Nothing.

So on the flip side (and to make the subject less mushy because it's making me cry again, dangit), there is a HELL of a lot of pain too. I mean, seriously. It's freaking rough. And I had a C-section, not even a vaginal birth. I still have utmost respect and awe for vaginas that have birthed a baby. C-sections screw up your belly, make you swell up like a mofo, and holy crap, talk about being sore. I've never been this sore in my life. They give you pain meds, but they make me soooo sleepy. I've fallen asleep sitting straight up like sixteen times since I had Sam. So I take naps when I can, which isn't as often as you'd think. Although, now that we're home and aren't getting interrupted 87 times a day by nurses coming in and out of the room, I think my naps will increase. And you would think that because you had a C-section and not a vaginal birth, you wouldn't bleed, but that is not the case. It doesn't last very long though, so it's not too bad. Oh, and breastfeeding. Hurts. I sometimes think I'm attempting to feed a little vampire, because it sure feels like he's going for blood with a fang! But then I look down at his sweet little cheeks and nose and hair and I just smile and hold him close to me, thankful that he's here. So don't worry too much about the pain. You just do what you have to and deal with it, and I promise, every time you look at that little bundle of sweetness, it makes it all worth it.

Well, I'm falling asleep as I sit here, so I'm out. Time for another feeding anyway. :)