Birth Story

Thought I'd try to get this in while Jesalyn is sleeping.  On the Friday they induced me (Oct. 9th) I woke up at like 4:00 in the morning.  Just couldn't sleep anymore. I got ready, Jarrod got up and everyone at the house (mom, sister, and best friend E stayed over) was up to see us out the door.  It was a rainy morning and I had my flip flop's on.  The one's I fall in all the time.  And wouldn't you know it, I slipped coming down the stairs and landed on my tailbone.  Luckily, nothing else was hurt, but Jarrod was scared to death. 
We made it to the hospital at around 6:00 and they took us to the room.  As soon as we were in there, I was told to put on my robe and they would be in to get things started.  No small talk, were just gonna do this thing.  I don't know what I was expecting; a 30 minute conversation about how I was feeling.  So I put on the oh so pretty gown and waited for the nurse to come back in.  It didn't take too long, but long enough that I noticed the ugly wallpaper on the walls and the scuff marks on the ceiling.  Seriously, why would there be scuff marks on the ceiling?  Later that night during the active labor, Jarrod and I came up with some ideas (just to lighten the mood.)
So, the nurse came in and told me she was going to get my IV put in for the pitocin.  No problem right? Wrong, Apparently, my veins like to roll.  Let's just say it took 5 needles and 3 nurses to get my IV in and going.  It's been 9 days since I've been out of the hospital and both my arms still look like I've been beaten up. The nurse hooked up the pitocin and said things should get started soon. The doctor came in around 8:00 and broke my water.  I started having some small contractions shortly after, but nothing serious.  "So this is what cramps feel like"  Everyone keep telling me that the start of labor feels like menstrual cramps.  I have always been lucky enough to not have them, so now I know.  Family and friends came in and out of the room for a while.  Jarrod was in there the whole time with me.  They started getting a bit stronger and the nurse suggested I get up and stand for a while.  She brought in the birthing ball.  That seemed to help and make the contractions stronger and closer together (the whole point of labor right.)  By this time it was like 1:00 or 2:00.  I was having to breath through the contractions.  Surely I was dilated more. Nope.  Each time the nurse came in, I hadn't dilated but to like 2-3 centimeters, but my cervix was thinning.  This is good too, but I really wanted those centimeters.  At one point, I got up to use the restroom and we noticed that my IV was leaking. We had noticed it earlier, but didn't really think much of it.  Jarrod finally went and told the nurse and come to find out, the pitocin had fallen out.  My body had been doing most of the work on it's own.  I was glad to hear that, but knew that I probably had lost a few hours and that now that she was hooking it up, the pain would get much harder (she had turned it up a bit ealier, thinking it was still plugged in.)  I was right, the contractions started getting much harder.  The nurse came in later and said that since things were going well, she was going to unplug me and let me shower and then walk around the hospital to move things along.  That shower felt so amazing. Seriously, why can't we just have babies in the shower.  After that, me and my posse (Jarrod, mom, sister, and E) walked circles in the postpartum area, stopping every minute or so for a contraction to pass.  We passed all the rooms with babies in them and I just kept thinking, this will all be over and I'll be in there with my little girl.  After 45 minutes we got back to the room (it was 6:00 at this time) and they came in to check me.  I think I was like 4 centimeters at this point but the contractions were getting harder and harder.  A couple of hours passed and they came in to check me; 6 centimeters, but the pain was pretty bad.  The nurse gave me some kind of drug for pain and man it made me loopy.  If I would have been able to get up, I would have punched her for giving it to me.  Supposedly, it was suppose to dull the pain a bit.  All it did was make me feel like I was in a fog.  Well that, and stopped my shakes.  I started getting the shakes really bad. I couldn't stop my body from shivering. It was kind of scary, but apparently a common thing during delivery they never tell you about.  By this point, I was seriously wanting the epidural but scared about it and the complications that can come with it.  Jarrod said a prayer and we called in the anesthesiologist.  I was at 7 centimeters by this point. A little upset that I didn't do it completely natural, but proud of myself for making it this far.  Once the epidural started working, I couldn't believe how fast the pain disappeared.  I could still feel some tightening (I wasn't completely numb) but the pain was gone.  A nurse came in around 10:20'ish to check me and said "oh, I don't feel a cervix! It's time to start pushing."  And as Jarrod said, the bed started folding down like some kind of transformer and it was time to get the show started.  Jesalyn was born at 10:43 and when I heard that first cry, it was like the room and the whole world pushed the pause button.  It was all so real. Jarrod cut the cord and they put her on my stomach. All we could say was how pretty she was.