There are a lot of labor and delivery stories out there that are crazier than Eve's, but I got to hand it to the little gal, she was pretty traumatic. At least, for me. And Theron's story is not nearly as ensnared in drama as Eve's, but I'm beginning to wonder if it is at all possible for me to even have a "normal" delivery. Granted, this kid has been nothing but trouble from the start, ignoring my IUD and settling into my womb unannounced and uninvited. But I'll let that one slide.
This is me the night we went to the hospital--the end of 37 weeks. Eve is kissing the baby
For about four or five weeks before he was born I started having contractions, but nothing big or regular. My check up at 36 weeks was totally normal. But about a week before he was born I started to get more contractions, and they started to get a lot stronger. On Tuesday, Nov. 16 I woke up and felt really crappy. I just didn't feel...right. I was pretty sure that I would start real labor that day. I ran some errands wondering if my water was going to break in the middle of Kohl's baby department. I almost called my mom and Richie to tell them to get ready for a baby, but I didn't want to make it too real yet, and I had a doc appointment that afternoon, so I decided to see what she would say.
Richie came to the appointment and Dr. Blackett checked my cervix. "Uh, Renee, how often did you say you felt contractions?" I told her that they were still random but coming more often. She said "You're already dilated to a five. What do you think about having your baby tonight?" Richie was shocked but I wasn't that surprised. I had a baby shower that night so I said "What about tomorrow?" She didn't work. "What about Thursday?" She gave me a look like "it'd really be better to do it sooner." Then she said that there was a good chance my water would break before then anyway. She asked about my hesitation and I told about the shower. "Oh!" she said, "that's ok. I'm a doctor who works crazy hours, just come to the hospital at 8 pm after your shower and we'll start you up."
Right as I reached a 10 and was fully dilated and pushing hard, my epidural wore off. And even though I hit the button 3 more times over the next hour, it completely went away, and fast! I was in so much agony! The back labor was absolutely horrific and Theron refused to turn. That was the second time Dr. Blackett has had her hand up inside of me. I feel bad for her. By this time I was starting to lose it. I begged for a c-section. Dr. Blackett tried to calmly talk me out of it but I knew that it really was what I wanted. So they finally starting prepping for surgery. And I had to stop pushing which was even worse than pushing. It felt so wrong.
I can't remember if this is the first time I saw Theron or not, still too many drugs in my system. However, the funny thing is that when Richie took this picture, I thought I was smiling big and bright. It looks more like the end of 10 hours of labor and surgery.
Now I'm in the OR and they finally have the spinal block for me. They give it to me, wait five minutes...nothing, 10 minutes...nothing. The anesthesiologist I could tell was perplexed. The stupid block never worked! I had to go under general anaesthesia again! It was much better because at least I knew that my baby was okay and nothing was life-threatening this time around, but I must say that I was really disappointed to not be awake AGAIN for the birth of my child. I can handle having the c-section, but really, general anaesthesia? Sigh.
Theron in his "coming home" outfit
The c-section ended up being the right move, however. Afterwards Dr. Blackett told me that when they opened me up, Theron had not descended nearly as much as he should have after an hour of hard pushing, and that where the previous section had been, my uterus was so thin that she could see through it. What would have happened had I not chosen the section was that I would have either eventually ruptured or pushed for two more hours until they decided to do the c-section anyway. So, any more pregnancies will be c-sections, no matter what. I'm okay with that. Maybe if I just schedule one, I can actually be awake for it.
Post Script--Aww, look at my cute little Utes. Theron is crying because he is hungry--hungry for a BYU loss! Which is just what happened. And BYU should have won that game--Mmmwhahahahahahaha! The sweet taste of victory.
Post Post Script--I've always felt that a natural delivery was the ultimate badge of womanhood--at least it was for me. And I think that I will always have some regret not being able to even come close to ever doing it. But I do feel as though those couple of hours in full-on labor without drugs gives me a good idea of what it is like. When I told my friend Marla that she laughed and said "Is that womanhood? Because I felt more like an animal." And that made me feel better. She is much more wise and experienced in this area. Another of my friends, Sarah, lives in NY and she says there's a saying out there called "Too Posh to Push" and women just schedule c-sections as soon as they know they're preggers. So is makes me wonder what being completely knocked out means--definitely not stylish, definitely not animalistic. Lazy? Smart? Any good suggestions would be welcome!
