Around 6am a nurse woke me to check our progress and install the dreaded catheter. By this point, I didn't care. The good news is that I was miraculously 8cm! The nurse seemed surprised by this, since the Epidural often slows or stops progress. We had been estimating another several hours per cm! She suggested getting some more sleep, while she busily began prepping the room. It wasn't 15 minutes later that I started feeling pressure!
We starting pushing around 6:30. It was exhausting work, and I have to thank the few hours of rest and the comfort of the Epidural that I had anything to give. The nurse generously encouraged me saying I was doing great (and fast... too fast?) but who's to say that isn't a line you feed any mother in that situation? Hard to think when you are out of breath and strength by count 6 of a 10 count push! Drew was excellent at leading and encouraging me with the help of the nursing student while the nurse busied herself on the computer and with addition prep. I was so mad at one point, when the nurse sternly informed Drew that SHE was in charge... she was barely paying attention!
I barely noticed how quickly our labor room became an all-out delivery and surgical center. I was a little surprised at how long we were seemingly on our own before in piled the doctor and his student (who we had also met just last week!). I was awfully relieved to see him for a couple reasons. First, we had seen him a few times on our pre-natal visits, including the last exchange and rescheduling of the induction, so we knew him. Second, he was far gentler, calmer and his English more understandable than his colleague from the last shift. Last, it was the start of a new shift and I felt more confident in the alertness of a doctor who hadn't just been on all night. It was comforting to have the doctor present and he worked to help things along. I was glad to feel some trust when he told me he didn't usually (we had learned the practice had gone out of favor) but was going to do an Episiotomy to get the little guy out. Such things that once sounded barbarous seem trivial when you are concerned for the health of your little one. Just please help him safely into the world!
Drew was very brave to watch the proceedings from down under, and didn't let on how disgusting it all was until hours later.
At 7:58am, our little boy was born!
After the head emerged, the rest of his little body seemed to just pour out. He cried immediately, and Daddy cut the umbilical cord. (I hear it took a little work with the scissors provided - not like a simple ribbon cutting.) Baby was given straight to me for skin to skin contact. It's impossible to describe the feeling of having my slimy little boy hugged against my chest. Daddy and I named him Jonah Armand.
In the background the doctor and Donna (a midwife who we also knew from pre-natal visits) were eagerly stitching me back together, but I hardly noticed. Delivery of the placenta was a breeze - like a soft bag of hot water. Drew later mentioned that the doctor counted 33 sponges! It seems I had significant tearing. There was talk of bringing me to the OR (a couple fully scrubbed people were ready to transport me), but happily the OB and midwife seemed satisfied with their success. As a further aside, I was rather fascinated by the frisbee-ring the OR people waved over me to detect any errant sponges left inside - they have a special fiber woven in that would register a beep, as when waved over the discarded sponges.
It wasn't nearly long enough before Jonah was snatched away to be bathed and checked out by the Pediatrician. I was relieved that they could do this right in the room, so Daddy could keep a good eye on him while the doctor was finishing his work on me. Jonah weighed in at 8lbs. 11 oz. and measured 21 inches long. His apgar scores were 9 and 9 - about as good as you can get (his hands and feet were a little blue, but that is expected!). Once his footprints were finished, Jonah and Daddy enjoyed some skin to skin time of their own before heading off to the nursery for his full exam. Jonah passed with flying colors! I also hear that the nurses commented on his round head - the lack of cone shape indicated that Mommy was a good pusher, so maybe it was true.
Meanwhile... the Epidural was removed and I could finally be removed from all the miscellaneous attachments! I hobbled in for a shower and called for the nurse just in time as I was feeling faint. The next thing I knew, I awoke face down strewn across the bed with a good 6-8 people in the room! I must not have been out for long - they said I awoke as soon as I hit the bed - but I was definitely somewhere else, as in a dream. Fortunately, the nurse and her accompanying student were there to prevent me from collapsing and injuring myself. They also pulled the emergency cord, which is what sent a team from the OR in scrubs and every nurse on duty in the department! I'm glad none of that was needed, although I appreciated the concern. Once we moved into postpartum, I overheard the nurse "hand off" of relevant information, including that she hadn't told me I had lost a lot of blood!
