Well...whaddya know...I'm finishing what I started! Here's Part 2:
The drawback to the epidural was that the epidural slowed my contractions and made them irregular, so dilation was not complete until early Friday the 29th. They had to get me another dosage sometime in the night because I was taking so darned long to dilate. I guess I could’ve potentially taken that long regardless of the epidural, so I’m glad I went ahead with it.
My doc showed up around 7:30 so we could get ready to push the baby out. The epidural wore off just at that time, so I felt all of that. The actual birth wasn’t as bad as the contractions the day before as far as the pain went.
Phillip almost passed out when Lawrence came out at 8:50 am. I didn’t see what he was doing, as I guess I was sort of preoccupied at the time, but Mom and Morgan said he was all over the place. Morgan said she wished she had taken a video of his reaction.
Archie was to announce the sex of the baby when it came out because by some miracle, no ultrasound techs or other medical personnel had spilled the beans yet! So my doc holds up the baby toward Archie and Archie says, “It’s a girl!”. But it wasn’t! So I thought it was a girl until everyone said otherwise! To be fair, it was probably hard to tell with the doc holding the baby and it just coming out and all…So the doc laid the baby on my chest and my Mom cut the cord since Phillip declined.
Phillip has a hard time with ‘bodily’ stuff. Some people have those husbands that want to participate in everything involving the birth of their child, but I definitely don’t have a husband like that. Heaven forbid if I ever get sick or injured and need help taking care of myself. I’ll be outta luck! Don't get me wrong...he was super excited about the baby being born and stuff...I guess just not the 'yuck' part of it!
There was a little ridge around Lawrence’s head where he was stuck against my pelvic bone or something. He was a pretty big baby at 8 pounds, 5 ounces! It rounded out nicely later on, however.
Sometime later that morning, the nurse came in to walk me to the bathroom, even though I tried to explain that I didn’t need to go. So I get in the bathroom and start feeling really weird. I remember losing quite a bit of blood, the nurse explaining how to take care of ‘the business’ area and me telling her I need to lean against the tub because I was having a hard time standing. I started sweating a bunch and the next thing I remember was hearing people’s voices from far away somewhere talking about getting ‘her’ on the floor and such. I had a whole dream somewhere in between all of that, but I can’t remember what it was about, only that I couldn’t breathe. Apparently I had passed out. I’ve never fainted before, so that was a really weird experience. The nurses say I was really anemic. So I was kept in the hospital longer than usual because of that.
As soon as Lawrence was born and the doc finished up his stuff, I asked for a coke. I could not have been more thirsty! If I had any idea my labor was going to last thirty-one hours, I would’ve drunk a whole bunch of stuff at home before I came to the hospital! Surviving on ice chips just doesn’t quench a hefty thirst after the first nineteen hours of breathing exercises every three or four minutes! And I was absolutely starving!
The food was pretty decent for hospital food and you could order whatever you wanted from a menu anytime you were hungry. Even after eating, I was feeling weird and lightheaded, probably from exhaustion. I vaguely remember the lactation consultant coming in to see if she could help with Lawrence’s nursing. I just couldn’t function enough even to nurse Lawrence, which he was fine with anyway. I think he was just as tired as me, because I’m sure he went through exhausting trauma as well! I remember the consultant telling Phillip she could help him even if ‘The Mother’ is not participating or something to that effect. It really irritated me because I really wanted to ‘participate’, there was nothing more important to me than to ‘participate’ in nursing my son, but I just couldn’t make it happen at that time. I told her so, and she came back later and my frame of mind was a bit better by then.
Archie and Phillip spent the night Friday night with me and the baby and Mom and Morgan went home. I think they were both sleeping by 7pm Friday night!
Saturday morning, while Phillip and Archie went back to the house, my doc came to circumcise Lawrence. Phillip was probably most thankful he missed that. I'm positive he would've passed right out. Actually, my doc must’ve done a stellar job, because Lawrence has not had one issue or cried or anything about his circumcision, even during the procedure. I remember Archie screaming every time we changed his diaper for the first four or five days.
We were able to leave the hospital Saturday night. They delayed my departure because of the fainting spell and were trying to make sure the hemoglobin levels were going up. Here is a picture of us leaving the hospital.
Phillip and Archie got the car and drove up to the entrance. Phillip opened the back door and Archie fell out of the car. Here is a picture of Archie recovering. I just love this picture.
My doc showed up around 7:30 so we could get ready to push the baby out. The epidural wore off just at that time, so I felt all of that. The actual birth wasn’t as bad as the contractions the day before as far as the pain went.
Phillip almost passed out when Lawrence came out at 8:50 am. I didn’t see what he was doing, as I guess I was sort of preoccupied at the time, but Mom and Morgan said he was all over the place. Morgan said she wished she had taken a video of his reaction.
Archie was to announce the sex of the baby when it came out because by some miracle, no ultrasound techs or other medical personnel had spilled the beans yet! So my doc holds up the baby toward Archie and Archie says, “It’s a girl!”. But it wasn’t! So I thought it was a girl until everyone said otherwise! To be fair, it was probably hard to tell with the doc holding the baby and it just coming out and all…So the doc laid the baby on my chest and my Mom cut the cord since Phillip declined.
Phillip has a hard time with ‘bodily’ stuff. Some people have those husbands that want to participate in everything involving the birth of their child, but I definitely don’t have a husband like that. Heaven forbid if I ever get sick or injured and need help taking care of myself. I’ll be outta luck! Don't get me wrong...he was super excited about the baby being born and stuff...I guess just not the 'yuck' part of it!
There was a little ridge around Lawrence’s head where he was stuck against my pelvic bone or something. He was a pretty big baby at 8 pounds, 5 ounces! It rounded out nicely later on, however.
Sometime later that morning, the nurse came in to walk me to the bathroom, even though I tried to explain that I didn’t need to go. So I get in the bathroom and start feeling really weird. I remember losing quite a bit of blood, the nurse explaining how to take care of ‘the business’ area and me telling her I need to lean against the tub because I was having a hard time standing. I started sweating a bunch and the next thing I remember was hearing people’s voices from far away somewhere talking about getting ‘her’ on the floor and such. I had a whole dream somewhere in between all of that, but I can’t remember what it was about, only that I couldn’t breathe. Apparently I had passed out. I’ve never fainted before, so that was a really weird experience. The nurses say I was really anemic. So I was kept in the hospital longer than usual because of that.
As soon as Lawrence was born and the doc finished up his stuff, I asked for a coke. I could not have been more thirsty! If I had any idea my labor was going to last thirty-one hours, I would’ve drunk a whole bunch of stuff at home before I came to the hospital! Surviving on ice chips just doesn’t quench a hefty thirst after the first nineteen hours of breathing exercises every three or four minutes! And I was absolutely starving!
The food was pretty decent for hospital food and you could order whatever you wanted from a menu anytime you were hungry. Even after eating, I was feeling weird and lightheaded, probably from exhaustion. I vaguely remember the lactation consultant coming in to see if she could help with Lawrence’s nursing. I just couldn’t function enough even to nurse Lawrence, which he was fine with anyway. I think he was just as tired as me, because I’m sure he went through exhausting trauma as well! I remember the consultant telling Phillip she could help him even if ‘The Mother’ is not participating or something to that effect. It really irritated me because I really wanted to ‘participate’, there was nothing more important to me than to ‘participate’ in nursing my son, but I just couldn’t make it happen at that time. I told her so, and she came back later and my frame of mind was a bit better by then.
Archie and Phillip spent the night Friday night with me and the baby and Mom and Morgan went home. I think they were both sleeping by 7pm Friday night!
Saturday morning, while Phillip and Archie went back to the house, my doc came to circumcise Lawrence. Phillip was probably most thankful he missed that. I'm positive he would've passed right out. Actually, my doc must’ve done a stellar job, because Lawrence has not had one issue or cried or anything about his circumcision, even during the procedure. I remember Archie screaming every time we changed his diaper for the first four or five days.
We were able to leave the hospital Saturday night. They delayed my departure because of the fainting spell and were trying to make sure the hemoglobin levels were going up. Here is a picture of us leaving the hospital.
Phillip and Archie got the car and drove up to the entrance. Phillip opened the back door and Archie fell out of the car. Here is a picture of Archie recovering. I just love this picture.
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