What's New With Sarah Lou: Labor and Delivery Story

FINALLY I'm getting around to blogging our labor and delivery story! It's been almost a month soo I'm gonna have to dig to remember everything. I'll do my best though. Sooo here it goes...

I woke up around 4 am on July 7 to take a shower and do my hair and makeup and what not. Gotta look good for the birth of my baby, right? They were going to start the pitocin around 5 am, that's why I got up so early. Anyway, I got ready and back into a gown. While I was in the shower, they changed my bed back to a labor bed. Ugh...so uncomfortable!

The nurse tried to start my IV 3 times. No luck. I hate my awful veins! Ouch! I'm still bruised all over my hands. They ended up having to call the ER nurses up. They were able to start one in my elbow armpit (what the heck is that thing called?). Talk about awkward place for an IV. At that point I didn't really care though, as long as they got a vein.

They had an emergency come up soo the pitocin didn't get started until around 7:30 am. Dr. Halderman broke my water then as well. Weirdest sensation ever! It felt like I was having an accidnet that never ended! I think Mason had a swimming pool in there or something!

The contractions got bad pretty quickly. After a few hours I got my epidural. It was awesome! The only thing I felt was the numbing shot. We had the best anesthesiologist (Dr. Zipper) ever! He was hilarous! He was actually the same one we got to talk to during our prepared childbrith class. The procedure itself went pretty fast, maybe 10 minutes, and it took effect quickly. I definitely 100% recommend an epidural! It's not big deal. The IV's hurt worse...

After the epidural took full effect the nurse checked me, I was 3 cm. I started at 1 cm. So I was excited to hear that. A few hours later the monitor stopped picking up my contractions, so they had to put in an internal monitor. That was able to pick them up really well. I was surprised to see how many and how strong of contractions I was having. Gotta love that epidural!

A few hours after that I was still at 3 cm. And a few hours after that, still 3 cm. Ugh! The nurse said she didn't think Mason's head was engaged either. Dr. Halderman came in and cheked me, still 3 cm. She thought maybe his head was cocked to the side, so he wasn't going to be able to come down. Which is why I wasn't progressing.

At that point we decided on a c-section. Bummer. It's kind of ironic because in our prepared childbirth class, we were asked what our biggest fear about giving birth was. Mine was having to have a c-section. I had to face my biggest fear. I had never had surgery, so I didn't know what to expect at all.

The nurses preped me and wheeled me back to the OR. Jason was only allowed to go back to a certain point until they had me fully preped in the OR. I was so scared, I could not stop shaking. Maybe it was because I was cold. Not sure.

Dr. Zipper pumped up my epidural. I think he also put somethiung else in it cause it made me way out of it. My arms and legs felt like they were weighed down with weights. It was not a good feeling. When Dr. Halderman did the test incisions to make sure I was numb, it felt like little paper cuts and then I couldn't really feel anything except intense pressure after that. It didn't hurt, but was very uncomfotable.

Jason was able to come in after the test incisions. He sat right by my head and held my hand. That helped a lot. I felt a lot better once he was there. He did great and didn't pass out or throw up or anything. I think he was actually kind of fascinated by the whole thing.

It was such a special moment when I heard my son's cry for the first time. I was still very out of it though. I remember when I saw him over the curtain, the first thing I thought when I saw him was how excited I was that he had hair! Not a lot but he definitely has some dark drown and blonde hair.

Mason James was born at 4:59 pm on July 7, 2011 and weighed 6 pounds 9 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches long. My perfect little angel.

Turns out his head was cocked to the side, which is why he wasn't engaging and I wasn't progressing.

Jason went over by him while they cleaned him up and brought him over to me to see as soon as he could. Dr. Zipper took our first family picture of the 3 of us together. After that he also went with him to the nursery. Dr. Halderman stiched me up and off I went to recovery. I was shaking so much and could not get warm! Plus I started to hurt since the nurses took my epidural out right after the surgery was over.

I got to hold my son and really get a good look at him for the first time while in recovery. He was (and still is) absolutely perfect. I couldn't believe he was mine. It was such a special moment.

After an hour or so they moved us to our room in postpartum and we started our lives together as a family of 3!

My revocery from the c-section was not an easy one. I had an inflamed nerve on the right side of my incision. Everytime I stood up, it felt like someone was stabbing me with a searing hot knife. It was seriously the worst pain I had ever felt in my entire life. It also took several trys to get my pain under control. I think I basically cried all day Friday and Saturday.

To say the least, my c-section experience was not a good one. At all. But that doesn't matter anymore. My son is healthy and perfect and I'm healing. I still get really upset about the whole thing sometimes though. I feel like I didn't get the whole birth experience. I was so out of it I barely remember any of it.

We stayed 4 days, so we got to go home Monday. By Monday I was able to hobble around thanks to a combo to pain meds that actually worked. Even though I was still in a lot of pain, I was so ready to go home. So was Jason. We just wanted to get our lives back to normal...well as normal as possible.

Jason was so amazing the entire time. He helped me through everything! I could not have asked for a more perfect husband!! Love you honey!

Here are some pictures from the day my son, Mason, was born: