PixiedustLove
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I'm copying this from my pregnancy journal...
I'm here. Plus one!
Gage Lucas was born at 1:21am on November 17, 2011. He weighed 8lbs 1.5oz and measured 19 3/4" long. He is absolutely perfect.
I'll try to remember all the details, but honestly, that day was so fuzzy, and so much happened that I'm sure I'll have some of the information wrong. Here's my best shot:
At 5:00 on Wednesday the 16th, I got out of bed with Jerry and moved to the couch. He left to head for the woods for a morning of hunting. I watched TV for a while but felt so restless. I wasn't hungry but decided I should eat for some reason.
I ate half of a Subway sandwich I had left over then laid back down on the couch. I can't explain it, but I had such a strange feeling. From the moment I woke up, I just felt weird. Out of nowhere, I felt a tiny trickle run down my leg. I thought I'd peed myself again. 
But when I stood up, there was a rush of fluid that covered me and made a puddle on the tile floor. I walked to the bathroom, leaving a gross trail. Once in the bathroom, I just stood there. I had no idea what to do! I decided to brush my teeth. (Yes, before calling anyone and before even changing my gross clothes...) Afterwards, I sat on the toilet and called Jerry. He didn't answer twice. Damn hunting!!! So I called his brother who went with him. He answered so I told him my water broke and Jerry had to come home immediately. Jerry called me back about 3 minutes later panting. He was running through the woods to get back to his truck. 
(There were also some episodes of slipping in my own amniotic fluid on the tile floor, but we won't get into those details. 
)
My mom, Jerry, and his step-mom came over to help me get our hospital bag ready. (Remember, all of this was done last week but ruined in the fire...) On the way to the hospital, I looked over at Jerry and he was teary. I love this man.
We got there, checked in, and immediately they said they were hooking me up to Pitocin since my water broke and I wasn't having contractions. This was my worst fear.
I asked them to hold off and I bounced on my ball for about half an hour. Nothing, so I agreed to have the Pitocin on the lowest setting possible. They hooked me up around 10am. By 11, I was definitely feeling some contractions. They got stronger very fast! Within just a couple hours I was leaning over a puke bucket on the bed during each contraction that were coming in 2 minute intervals. I never puked, but I definitely wanted to.
By 2pm, I had gone from 2cm to 3 and the pain was horrible. Pitocin is of the devil! I felt like I could deal with the pain if the contractions came in bell curves like I planned on, but they came hard and fast out of nowhere. I could barely catch my breath from one and another was beginning.
At this point, I asked if I could have an epidural in the near future. The nurse (who was awesome!) told me that I could have one right now or wait a while because the anesthesiologists were all heading into surgery soon. So I took that opportunity to have it done.
It didn't go very smoothly. The doctor worked on the catheter in my back for probably 10 minutes, adjusting and readjusting before giving up and starting all over again with another. That one took, thank goodness. And I felt nothing! It was so weird to see the huge spikes on the monitor but not feel a thing. I tried to sleep, but as soon as I would fall asleep, my blood pressure would drop really low and Gage's heartrate would drop.
By 4:00, the resident in charge of my case (It's a teaching hospital.) was already talking C-section. That broke my heart, but I kept my chin up. I kept switching from side to side and wiggling around because anytime I was still for too long, Gage went into distress.
At 8:30, the doctor checked me. I was 4cm and Gage was still having decelerations in his heartrate so she literally said to me, "That's it. You're done. We're prepping you for a C-section." Surprisingly, I didn't cry or get upset. I just looked at Jerry then looked at her and said, "No I'm not. He is fine." Looking back, that was stupid of me. What the hell do I know about the safety of babies during labor? But it ticked her off enough that she went and got her boss. Her boss came in and agreed to give me 2 more hours to prove to her that Gage could stand up to labor. If not, then I didn't have much of a choice. But I was so thankful she gave me that time.
During those 2 hours, he continued to go up and down. He'd do wonderfully for half an hour or so then have lots of decelerations after my contractions. It was so disheartening. Part of me was scared for him, but part of me honestly just didn't believe that it was as bad as they were making it out to be. At exactly 10:30, the doctors came in with the consent papers for the C-section. They said that he was just having too much of a struggle, but they checked me anyways as I signed the papers. Sure enough, I was 6cm and he was moving into a lower position! 
They let me keep going!
After that, things went pretty fast. By 11, I was 8cm, but Gage was still having issues. I felt so conflicted. I wanted what was best for him, and the monitors said that he wasn't handling labor well. But for some reason (I have no idea why.), I just knew that continuing was the best option. It made no rational sense. At one point, the door flew open and a troop of doctors came running in, yelling at me to turn onto my other side quickly. I was going as fast as I could, but they kept yelling. When I turned and could see the monitor, I knew why. His heartrate was in the 60s. It was terrifying, waiting to see if it would return to normal. Sure enough, it did.
Around that time, the epidural started fading fast. I wasn't feeling too much pain, but I was feeling a ton of pressure. As time went on, the pressure with each contraction got more and more uncomfortable. I was in tears around 12 so they checked me again. I was complete and was given the okay to push! I have no idea how that happened!
No one ever explained to me how to push. The nurse said to just push down like I was trying to force out a huge BM. That, I can do. 
As soon as I started pushing, I couldn't stop. It was too painful not to push with each contraction at that point. I really felt like a fish out of water. I didn't know if my hard work was really doing anything at all. The nurse kept saying "hold it longer" or "push a little harder" but my lips were going numb and I thought I was going to throw up with each push. It was so painful for her to massage me while I was pushing. Jerry took a peek at one point and looked back at me with huge eyes and said "He has blonde hair." 
I still thought we had hours to go because the doctor told me that I'd be pushing for 2-3hrs. It had only been 30min. The nurse called for the doctor then and I knew something crazy was going on. The pushing got harder and more painful, but it felt like something was actually happening in there.
I looked at the clock as each contraction ended. At 1:17, the doctor said that his head would probably be out in 3 to 4 more contractions. I thought, "Oh hell no." This shit hurt too bad! I pushed really hard 3 times on the next contraction and all of the nurses and doctors gasped as his head slowly came out. Out of nowhere, my body was on fire. I literally yelled, "Fire fire fire!" Until this point, I'd done nothing but deep breathing with some moaning. But as his head came out, I grunted loudly. No one told me what to do after his head came out so I didn't know to keep pushing. It was so painful no to, so I kept going and the doctor about freaked out when I pushed his body out all at the same time, her twisting his body just in time.
She plopped him on my tummy, and I didn't cry as I expected. I just said "Hiiiii. Hiiiiiii. Hiiiiii. Hiiiiiiii." over and over again like a broken record. And then "You're so pretty" played over and over. I'm real creative, huh? We did a delayed cord cutting, so they cleaned him off a little and Jerry talked to him while we waited for the cord to stop pulsing. Jerry then cut the cord and they took him to be cleaned better.
I just kept staring at Jerry. He was beaming from ear to ear. It was so sweet. He was standing over Gage saying things like, "I'm your daddy." He then got to hold him and walked over to the rocking chair and began rocking him, still talking to him.
I then looked at the doctor who was still between my legs. I didn't know what was supposed to happen after he was out. I thought it was all done at that point. I was SO wrong! My placenta was not coming out. She kept massaging (so painful!) and having me push to try to dislodge it. After half an hour, she said she had to "go in". Throughout my whole labor, I'd never once raised my voice or even cried really. But the instant she stuck her hand in my uterus to remove the placenta manually, I screamed louder than I ever have in my life and was crying and trying to crawl up the bed to get away. It was way worse than any of the previous 19 hours. And then she had to go back again. NEVER AGAIN!
After that, I was stitched up from a small tear and I held Gage for the first time. Again, all I could do was stare at him and ask everyone in the room, "He's so pretty, isn't he?"
And here is my little man's journey...
(more pics in a second)
I'm here. Plus one!
Gage Lucas was born at 1:21am on November 17, 2011. He weighed 8lbs 1.5oz and measured 19 3/4" long. He is absolutely perfect.
I'll try to remember all the details, but honestly, that day was so fuzzy, and so much happened that I'm sure I'll have some of the information wrong. Here's my best shot:
At 5:00 on Wednesday the 16th, I got out of bed with Jerry and moved to the couch. He left to head for the woods for a morning of hunting. I watched TV for a while but felt so restless. I wasn't hungry but decided I should eat for some reason.
I ate half of a Subway sandwich I had left over then laid back down on the couch. I can't explain it, but I had such a strange feeling. From the moment I woke up, I just felt weird. Out of nowhere, I felt a tiny trickle run down my leg. I thought I'd peed myself again. But when I stood up, there was a rush of fluid that covered me and made a puddle on the tile floor. I walked to the bathroom, leaving a gross trail. Once in the bathroom, I just stood there. I had no idea what to do! I decided to brush my teeth. (Yes, before calling anyone and before even changing my gross clothes...) Afterwards, I sat on the toilet and called Jerry. He didn't answer twice. Damn hunting!!! So I called his brother who went with him. He answered so I told him my water broke and Jerry had to come home immediately. Jerry called me back about 3 minutes later panting. He was running through the woods to get back to his truck. (There were also some episodes of slipping in my own amniotic fluid on the tile floor, but we won't get into those details. )My mom, Jerry, and his step-mom came over to help me get our hospital bag ready. (Remember, all of this was done last week but ruined in the fire...) On the way to the hospital, I looked over at Jerry and he was teary.
I love this man.We got there, checked in, and immediately they said they were hooking me up to Pitocin since my water broke and I wasn't having contractions. This was my worst fear.
I asked them to hold off and I bounced on my ball for about half an hour. Nothing, so I agreed to have the Pitocin on the lowest setting possible. They hooked me up around 10am. By 11, I was definitely feeling some contractions. They got stronger very fast! Within just a couple hours I was leaning over a puke bucket on the bed during each contraction that were coming in 2 minute intervals. I never puked, but I definitely wanted to.By 2pm, I had gone from 2cm to 3 and the pain was horrible. Pitocin is of the devil! I felt like I could deal with the pain if the contractions came in bell curves like I planned on, but they came hard and fast out of nowhere. I could barely catch my breath from one and another was beginning.
At this point, I asked if I could have an epidural in the near future. The nurse (who was awesome!) told me that I could have one right now or wait a while because the anesthesiologists were all heading into surgery soon. So I took that opportunity to have it done.It didn't go very smoothly. The doctor worked on the catheter in my back for probably 10 minutes, adjusting and readjusting before giving up and starting all over again with another. That one took, thank goodness. And I felt nothing! It was so weird to see the huge spikes on the monitor but not feel a thing. I tried to sleep, but as soon as I would fall asleep, my blood pressure would drop really low and Gage's heartrate would drop.
By 4:00, the resident in charge of my case (It's a teaching hospital.) was already talking C-section. That broke my heart, but I kept my chin up. I kept switching from side to side and wiggling around because anytime I was still for too long, Gage went into distress.At 8:30, the doctor checked me. I was 4cm and Gage was still having decelerations in his heartrate so she literally said to me, "That's it. You're done. We're prepping you for a C-section." Surprisingly, I didn't cry or get upset. I just looked at Jerry then looked at her and said, "No I'm not. He is fine." Looking back, that was stupid of me. What the hell do I know about the safety of babies during labor?
But it ticked her off enough that she went and got her boss. Her boss came in and agreed to give me 2 more hours to prove to her that Gage could stand up to labor. If not, then I didn't have much of a choice. But I was so thankful she gave me that time.During those 2 hours, he continued to go up and down. He'd do wonderfully for half an hour or so then have lots of decelerations after my contractions. It was so disheartening. Part of me was scared for him, but part of me honestly just didn't believe that it was as bad as they were making it out to be. At exactly 10:30, the doctors came in with the consent papers for the C-section. They said that he was just having too much of a struggle, but they checked me anyways as I signed the papers.
Sure enough, I was 6cm and he was moving into a lower position! They let me keep going!After that, things went pretty fast. By 11, I was 8cm, but Gage was still having issues. I felt so conflicted. I wanted what was best for him, and the monitors said that he wasn't handling labor well. But for some reason (I have no idea why.), I just knew that continuing was the best option. It made no rational sense. At one point, the door flew open and a troop of doctors came running in, yelling at me to turn onto my other side quickly. I was going as fast as I could, but they kept yelling. When I turned and could see the monitor, I knew why. His heartrate was in the 60s. It was terrifying, waiting to see if it would return to normal. Sure enough, it did.
Around that time, the epidural started fading fast. I wasn't feeling too much pain, but I was feeling a ton of pressure. As time went on, the pressure with each contraction got more and more uncomfortable. I was in tears around 12 so they checked me again. I was complete and was given the okay to push!
I have no idea how that happened! No one ever explained to me how to push. The nurse said to just push down like I was trying to force out a huge BM.
That, I can do. As soon as I started pushing, I couldn't stop. It was too painful not to push with each contraction at that point. I really felt like a fish out of water. I didn't know if my hard work was really doing anything at all. The nurse kept saying "hold it longer" or "push a little harder" but my lips were going numb and I thought I was going to throw up with each push. It was so painful for her to massage me while I was pushing. Jerry took a peek at one point and looked back at me with huge eyes and said "He has blonde hair." I still thought we had hours to go because the doctor told me that I'd be pushing for 2-3hrs. It had only been 30min. The nurse called for the doctor then and I knew something crazy was going on. The pushing got harder and more painful, but it felt like something was actually happening in there.I looked at the clock as each contraction ended. At 1:17, the doctor said that his head would probably be out in 3 to 4 more contractions. I thought, "Oh hell no."
This shit hurt too bad! I pushed really hard 3 times on the next contraction and all of the nurses and doctors gasped as his head slowly came out. Out of nowhere, my body was on fire. I literally yelled, "Fire fire fire!" Until this point, I'd done nothing but deep breathing with some moaning. But as his head came out, I grunted loudly. No one told me what to do after his head came out so I didn't know to keep pushing. It was so painful no to, so I kept going and the doctor about freaked out when I pushed his body out all at the same time, her twisting his body just in time.She plopped him on my tummy, and I didn't cry as I expected. I just said "Hiiiii. Hiiiiiii. Hiiiiii. Hiiiiiiii." over and over again like a broken record. And then "You're so pretty" played over and over. I'm real creative, huh?
We did a delayed cord cutting, so they cleaned him off a little and Jerry talked to him while we waited for the cord to stop pulsing. Jerry then cut the cord and they took him to be cleaned better.I just kept staring at Jerry. He was beaming from ear to ear. It was so sweet. He was standing over Gage saying things like, "I'm your daddy."
He then got to hold him and walked over to the rocking chair and began rocking him, still talking to him. I then looked at the doctor who was still between my legs. I didn't know what was supposed to happen after he was out. I thought it was all done at that point. I was SO wrong! My placenta was not coming out. She kept massaging (so painful!) and having me push to try to dislodge it. After half an hour, she said she had to "go in". Throughout my whole labor, I'd never once raised my voice or even cried really. But the instant she stuck her hand in my uterus to remove the placenta manually, I screamed louder than I ever have in my life and was crying and trying to crawl up the bed to get away. It was way worse than any of the previous 19 hours. And then she had to go back again.
NEVER AGAIN!After that, I was stitched up from a small tear and I held Gage for the first time. Again, all I could do was stare at him and ask everyone in the room, "He's so pretty, isn't he?"
And here is my little man's journey...
(more pics in a second)
xx
great name choice one of my lads share's same name 
