Welcome Leonardo!
May 19, 2008
Saturday April 19 2008, Gabriel, my parents and I went for breakfast. After breakfast my mother and I decided to go have my toe nails done, seeing as how I could no longer reach them J On our way to target I experience a cramp like never before, but thought nothing of it…simply because I had been having bad cramps, contractions, for over a month.
At that moment my mom and I were wondering how my labor was going to happen. As we were walking through the baby section, and loading our cart, I felt as though I had just wet my pants. I knew for a fact that I did not pee in my pants, but as statistics say only 7% of women actually experience their water breaking…that is when I should have known that my labor was going to be an adventure. Best part is…of those 7% only a small percent experience water breaking in public…interesting!
We come home and I tell my mom that I have a feeling that something is not right, this is not normal. I call my doctor and explain to him what happened, and clearly tell him I am not having any strong or regular contractions, because I did not want to go into hospital only to come home. He very quickly told me that I should pack my bag and head to the hospital, and he will meet me there.
Are you ready…here we go!
Gabriel , my mom and I get to the hospital. I am so nervous and also preparing myself to hear that all is okay, and I can go home. They show me to my room, and get me ready for “bed”. The nurse did a test to see if my water actually broke…and yes it did! Now reality was starting to hit me, I was in labor. Finally, the most amazing doctor I have known, Dr. Biter, comes and checks on me, he does some examination and discovers that I am only 2 cm dilated, I have a long way to go. No real contractions yet. They decided to induce me at about 8 pm on Saturday. The nurses told me to get comfortable because I was in for a long night, and that my son would not be born till at least 6 am Sunday morning.
It was time for my epidural because I could no longer handle the pain of the contractions that were finally coming strong. Now remember only 7% of women experience their water breaking. An epidural is supposedly less painful than an Ivy, which I had issues getting, and it takes at the most 20 minutes if they are having a hard time. Okay, no problem, I was feeling a little more confident about another needle. Yeah Right! 45 minutes later, 3 catheters later, and 100 tears later I broke another statistic. The anesthesiologist had a really difficult time getting my epidural in, not only that, he hit a nerve in my left leg, which I am still feeling today, and my right side was not really numb. I was feeling my contractions on the right. A least it was in and I was in some kind of pain relief.
At about 6 am on Sunday morning the nurse and the doctor come to check on me…I am still only 2 cm dilated, the pitosin was not working. I was however 50 % enfaced…something positive. Time for a decision…I did not want a C-section, so they decided to turn off everything and try something new. I could finally eat a yogurt. They decided to hook something around my cervix which would enface it, and cause me to dilate. It does not hurt, yes that was true J This was a 12 hour process, so it was safe to say that my son would not be born till Monday. Half way through my 12 hours my contractions were coming strong, which was great because my body was doing it naturally. So they turn on my epidural again. Still only 80% numb and still only 2 Cm.
10 pm on Sunday evening Dr. Biter came to check on me, he told my parents and myself that there would be no action till about 6 am Monday morning, my mom can go home and finally get some rest. I was still in for a long night. At 12 pm the nurse came to check on me and realized that the thing around my cervix had fallen out, no big deal, with only two hours left of the process she decided to check on me to see if anything had changed!
Her words were “Either you are 10 cm’s and I am not feeling a head, or you are still only 2 cm’s and something feels strange” okay great…what does that mean? She went for another opinion, the second nurse confirmed that I was 10 cm’s but something was wrong…she did an ultra sound and my biggest fear set in…Leonardo turned upright again and was busy pushing out his butt…within minutes my doctor was there, Gabriel was on the phone to my mom, and I was headed into surgery! From nothing at all to suddenly a crisis…had the nurse not check I would have had my baby come out butt first and we would not have know.
There I was lying on a little table and the anesthesiologist was working frantically on getting me 100% numb, which finally happened. Minutes later…I saw a little hand and a little body. Then I heard my baby for the first time, he gave a very quick, sweet little cry. Gabriel lay him down next to me while the doctor’s were completing my surgery. WOW…it was all finally over, 2 and half days of agony.
So there we were 1:22 am on Monday morning, Leonardo entered the world, what an amazing experience and feeling. Needless to say…this journey was not over!
On Tuesday I broke another statistic, actually I broke two of them. 1% of women who get an epidural get a headache…well there I was, I got the headache bad. The only way was for them to do a blood patch, they drew blood from my arm and put it into the catheter which would form a blood clot in my spine, and heal the headache. It hurt like crazy because the catheter was too small…due to complications. Out of 200 blood patches 3 women have experienced bad back ache, well there was my second statistic…I still have problems.
Despite all the drama, pain and tears…I am now finally a mommy and loving it J I could not be happier.
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Happy One Month, Leonardo and fam!!
How about another photograph? I am dyong to see wht Leonardo looks like now. The last photo at 2 months by Brigitte is one of my absolute favourite baby photos.
Hope you are all well??
Tannie Wanda