Labor and Delivery:
My first was soooo long! I think I was maybe 1cm dilated when they started the pit drip. Started around noon, and Cliff wasn't born until 10am the next day. Ugh. At least it was uneventful for the most part. Even though I felt like everything was pretty calm and so "prepared," I wasn't prepared for how tiring it was. Or how much Cliffton's poor little head would resemble a potato. And bleeding lasted such a long time afterwards. My recovery seemed really slow. I think if you're labor is long, your recovery tends to be long. Of course, your mental and physical health effects that too.
I remember we both did not want the C-Section that my doctor said he would most likely need to do. My contractions had gotten strong but then slowed. The staff started to get ready for the surgery and both Richard and did not want to do it. I recall asking for something to eat and a nurse said I couldn't before a C section. So I immediately started daydreaming about cheesecake and large, crunchy green grapes. Mmmmm. I talked to my doctor and tried and successfully had Cliffton without a C section. He said later to my father in law (they work in the same clinic but diff. practices) it was one of the hardest deliveries. Cliffton was stuck at some point but I was totally numb and exhausted and not all that aware of everything. I remember no one warned me about the shakes. I shook a lot as soon as he was born, like when you're really, really cold. A kind nurse got me all bundled up later and that helped.
My labor with Violet was nearly as long as Cliffton's but I felt better, was lighter, and a lot more active throughout that pregnancy and most of labor which helped. I noticed contractions around 11:30 am and felt the first painful ones around 9:30pm, 10pm. She was born at 4:20 after pushing for maybe 20 mins. I remember thinking, oh her head is so little and nice and round. No potato head for her! I recall that we had some really kind nurses there. Not the one that did the IV. But the rest were pretty darn great.
It was really neat to have my sister in law, Michelle, there when Violet joined us. She is one heck of a woman. With my first pregnancy and L & D, I remember not feeling so open about who I wanted with me, being more private, etc., but I know now that even though I don't want the births taped or a ton of people there, I really enjoy having some of the fam around for support, distraction and love. I love this family! I love having my Mom and Mother in law near me. They are wonderful.
Azure's was fast. I had had sooo many false contractions that its a little difficult to say when true labor actually started. Sometime around 4pm while Mom and I were at Serendipity 3, east of Central Park right by the Queensboro bridge. We got to Penn Station by 6pm but we were both ill and didn't get on until the 7pm train back to Freeport. I remember getting my first really bad contraction as we were walking in the station and I could. not. move. Of course it was super busy there and no one understood except my sweet Mom. As we were coming home I remember starting to get scared that the baby was going to come really soon.
That wasn't the case with my other two but maybe this little lady was going to make quite an entrance. I prayed that she wouldn't come until we got to the hospital. I prayed. As we came to our stop, I got another bad contraction and was sooo scared that I wouldn't be able to get off the train at the right stop. Again, I could. not. move. With the Lord's help we barely got out of there and got to my dear husband. We grabbed our things from the home, got to hospital around 9.
I was so glad we made it there. They kept saying they needed to do blood work and this and that and couldn't get Mr. Anesthesiologist yet. So, then I was frustrated. I'd been to that hospital several times. Why wasn't this info./work already there?? When the nurse said I was already a 7 or so, I thought, oh good, all this pain meant lots of progress but still time for an epidural, right? Nope - eventually a nurse said there wasn't going to be time. Really? REALLY?!
I think the next check someone said, OK, you're at 9.5 and you can start pushing on the next contraction. That actually helped a lot. When you're dealing with contractions although deep breathing seems to help a little, nothing really helps like pushing. I had already pushed some - it was involuntarily. My body just seemed to be on its own course. It was still hard and a little scary but I felt good having my Mom there and being able to push. I only pushed a few times. It was just over an hour after we entered the hospital that we welcomed our baby girl. Richard got back to the hospital just moments after Azure was born. I was sad that he missed it but glad he had been with the other kiddos and that my Mom was there with me.
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