I was begging to go into labor. Interesting that a woman who has had two other children, would be begging to go into labor. Labor is not fun. Labor is hard. Labor is long. Labor is intense.
I was ready. I was ready to meet our son. I was ready to hold him in my arms. Ready to introduce him to his siblings. Ready to kiss his little face and rock him to sleep. On top of all of that, I was ready for my contractions to be over and ready to not have to go to the bathroom every 30 minutes. Minor desires in comparison to the previous.
So the story goes a little something like this....
I went into full blown labor at 31 weeks of pregnancy. This labor was scary and we were not ready for our little guy to come just yet. Thanks to a terrible drug called terbutaline, the labor was stopped. I was put on bed rest and given terbutaline to take every four hours with contractions. With family and friends help, we were able to lay low for a few weeks and my contractions ceased around 34 weeks. At that point my doctor decided to take me off of the terbutaline. I had several contractions a day, but praise God, they were false labor and not the real deal.
After all of that you would think I would have had Elias fairly early; God has His own timing and I love Him for that. I am so glad we are not in control of time.
Even though my contractions were not very productive, they were very painful. I was ready to have my phase of pregnancy completed and ready to move into the phase of Motherhood (part 3). Brian drove me to my check up at 38 weeks and 4 days and my doctor did what she needed to do to help my body progress into labor. After that excruciating appointment, Brian and I went for a "walk." I don't like calling it a "walk" because that usually indicates a peaceful movement through a park or down a trail. No, we went for a labor inducing walk. You've not seen a pregnant woman move with such speed and determination. We were walking a one block square around the hospital, outside on a clear beautiful day. The skies were clear and there was no wind. It was perfect. Our other children were in good hands with family and we decided we should see how intense of a labor we could conjure up before going to pick the kids up. Who knew, maybe today would be the day...maybe my water will break. I was hopeful, anticipating labor. So, we walked along the roads and watched as drivers passed us with looks of concern. They probably wondered, why is that woman walking so quickly? where is she going? why is that man lagging so far behind? can't he keep up with her?
Eventually, I began to feel sick. My contractions were 90 seconds apart and we decided to head for the labor and delivery floor of the hospital. We were put in a triage room so that they could monitor my labor to make sure I wasn't faking it. You see, there are plenty of women that want to have labor, they are ready to have their babies too, so sometimes, they fake it; out of desperation. I love the determination of a pregnant woman! I however, was not faking it. I was in labor. Although, I wasn't in deep enough labor to warrant admittance to the labor and delivery floor. the thing that got me in was my record. The record from when Ella was born. It showed that although my labor is slow to progress in the beginning, once my water broke with Ella, I went from 4 centimeters dilated to 10 centimeters in an hour. They didn't want to send me home with that kind of a history.
We were admitted. We did a lot of this....waiting, walking, waiting, walking
Finally, I was given pitocin
and we had hoped that would move things along. It didn't. So then, they broke my water in hopes that would move things along, it didn't. So then, they doubled my dose of pitocin in hope that would move things along.....it did! I was excited and in sooooooooo much pain. I couldn't control myself. It was bad. I asked for an epidural and I couldn't wait for the time when I could push the button and give myself some relief. However, I pushed that button, several times, and nothing. No relief, why? Because Elias was already on his way out. From a 4 to a 10 in under an hour, again.
I pushed and pushed and screamed and pushed....and this went on for a while and then.....
Sweet Heaven! Thank you God for the gift of babies!
Elias, we love you so much. You have brought so much joy to our family and you light up a room like no one else. Thanks for being our "Boogies." May you be blessed on your first birthday!
Elias, we love you so much. You have brought so much joy to our family and you light up a room like no one else. Thanks for being our "Boogies." May you be blessed on your first birthday!
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