a birthing story (finally)

now 7 1/2 weeks late, i have finally written about noah's birth...better late than never, right? 

i began having contractions early on the evening on the tenth...assuming that noah was just fooling me and certain that there was no chance i was in actual labor, i spent the evening eating a large dinner, soaking in water (in hopes of stilling my contractions) and trying to lay very still on the bed. ryan even tried distracting me by putting on one of my favorite movies, but none of these helped. in fact, they all served to build my anger little by little because, no matter what i did, the contractions kept coming-stronger and stronger...aka painful by painful-er! when we decided that they definitely weren't easing up, we began timing them and realized they were just as they should be-coming every 5-7 minutes and lasting just under a minute. prior to actually being at this point in the whole process, i thought i would try to wait around the house for a while, until i was at least 5 or 6 cm and i just couldn't handle the pain any more. as much pain as i was feeling at this point, i was SURE that i was at least that dialated, if not more. after arriving at the hospital, however, we learned differently. not only was i NOT at 6 cm, i had not dialated at all since my doctor's appointment days earlier...however, since my contractions were so steady and strong, and my water was "bulging"-they decided to keep me for a bit. so, i spent hours upon hours (it seemed that way, at least...only about an hour and a half in actuality) walking around the 3rd floor of st. vincent's hospital. i got to spend some great quality time with ryan and my mom, as well as to check out all the great door hangers on all the new babies' rooms. i have some GREAT ideas for making some in the future...anyway, in the middle of all the walking, we ran in to the doctor who said that if i wasn't fully dialated by 6 am, then he would cut me open and pull noah right out. since i was already scheduled for a c-section due to noah's largeness, he was certain this would be the way he would come...but, he gave me the benefit of doubt. all that walking helped noah progress, so eventually, they laid me down and got me all prepared for my epidural. after getting that, things progressed a little more quickly and by the time the doctor made it by after his nap, i was nearly to 10 cm. he said he'd let me push for an hour, no longer, and then send me on my way to the o.r. if noah hadn't arrived. i was confident that we wouldn't need an o.r., as my friend ashley had been able to push her first baby out in a mere 30 minutes. i had twice that amount of time to get my little one out, which i worked very hard to do...unfortunately, noah and his big-headed-self were too big and me and my narrow-pelvis self were too small...which meant that he couldn't drop down low enough to even really begin thinking about making his way out. the doctor came in just before the hour was up and said he wanted to see me in the o.r. at that point, ryan, my mom and i all lost it. i think we were all pretty sure he was super close to coming out...and dreaded the thought of the looming c-section. (funny story: the whole time i was pushing, ryan and my mom were on the edge of falling apart, it seemed. they looked so pained the entire time and i even saw a few tears coming from each of them... i was telling them the other day that i kept thinking "pull yourselves together, guys, I'M THE ONE PUSHING MY GUTS OUT!" but, looking back, i understand how much they love me...i'm sure it was pretty terrible for them watching me so agonized and knowing they couldn't help) so, they suited us up and sent us in the direction of the o.r....and everything soon became a blur. i was terrified about going under the knife...and the surgery was incredibly painful for some reason...seriously, i was calling out in pain, something i have never really experienced in my life. after a few moments of me yelling, ryan asked them to give me something to take away some of the pain...which they prompty did...pushing some sort of drugs into my iv which took all of 2 seconds to get into my blood, i guess...because i felt much better immediately. unfortunately, it also made me feel completely out of it. they pulled noah out and talked about how hard it was to get his shoulders out because he really was THAT big...then showed him to me and began the clean-up. ryan got to go watch as they worked with noah, and i stayed put as they stitched me back up. the whole process took less than an hour and we had our little one! 9 pounds 13 ounces and 22 1/4 inches long (surprisingly even bigger than they thought he'd be)...born at 10:55 am on the dot! 

they wrapped him up and then tucked him in with me and began pushing us to the room.  i was pretty freaked at this point because i knew that they told me to hold onto him, but i felt like i had no real control of any part of my body, so i was sure he was going to fall right off the side of the bed while we were moving. i was so mad at them for giving him to me... later i found out that he was, thankfully, wrapped into my blankets rather snuggly. the boy wasn't going anywhere! we were wheeled right through all of our friends and family that made it out to meet our new son and into our new room (on the 2nd floor...which, was a little disappointing, not quite as nice as the 3rd floor). they promptly sent everyone out except for ryan and my mom, and we had a wonderful little bonding time with our noah! 

and now...7 weeks later, here we are...even more wonderfully bonded and so thankful that everything went well with noah's birth. i get frustrated some times because some people seem to look down on ladies who deliver via c-section...but the truth is, there's no shame. having a baby is having a baby-incredibly difficult work!...i don't there is ANY easy way to do it. and we did it this time the only way we could. otherwise, he would have had to grow old in me...which neither of us would have enjoyed. :)