A birth story (not for the faint of heart)

I'm beginning to feel a little anxious about the baby coming. On the one hand, I cannot wait to see her and hold her and to NOT be pregnant anymore.... but on the other hand I'm feeling nervous about the c-section (scheduled for 9 days from today). I know it will all go well, but I can't help feeling a bit of anxiety these days.
The whole labor and delivery HAS to go better than it did with Fischer! I thought I'd recount the events leading to Fischer's birth... I fully realize that Fischer and I may be the only ones interested in this story... and even he won't be till 20 years from now (and even then... probably not).


In fact, do not read on unless you are perfectly OK with TOO MUCH INFORMATION. AND, do not read on if you are pregnant now, especially with your first baby... you don't need these thoughts in your head.

I woke up at 6 am one Sunday morning with "surges" (that's what we called it in the hypnobirthing classes), not contractions. It was still 2 weeks before my due date, so I was sure it was Braxton Hicks or as my mother-in-law called it "practice labor". I went about my day and later went to a home dedication for my mother-in-law who had just moved. All the while feeling surges. As evening came I was busying myself with preparations for school the following day. I was teaching second grade at the time. I spent the evening planning, correcting papers, and thinking about meeting my long-term substitute. She was supposed to be coming in on Monday morning and spending a few days with me and my class so that I could show her the ropes and plan with her for the time that I'd be gone.
Well the surges kept getting more and more painful (although after watching the hypno-birthing videos... you wouldn't think there was ANY pain involved whatsoever - nothing a little sigh or slight grunt couldn't alleviate). So now I'm thinking... um, this could be the real thing. So I start working as quickly as I can to get as much planned and prepped for school the next day. I think I must have packed my bags too. Then I got in the tub to make sure everything was as it should be for the "big show".
Finally, around 1:00 am, I woke Andy and told him it was time to go to the hospital... he had a full on panic attack, so we sat on the couch and held each other until he felt better, and we were off.
At the hospital they checked me and I wasn't even dilated! BUT when they checked me, Fischer's heart rate dropped, so they didn't want me to go back home. They checked us in. So, Andy and I hung out, walked around, and around, and around for hours while I clung to him every few seconds with surges. I tried to go into my hypno exercises, but the pain was really throwing me off! By 9:00 am, they checked me again, and there was NO progression! By this time I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel, I'd been having contractions for 27 hours already... I lay in the tub in the birthing room and made the decision to give up my natural-birth aspirations and get some help. Andy had gone home to shower. When he returned, they gave me the epidural... hallelujah! What in the world was I doing to myself before? This was heaven. My mom and Danae came, and we all sat around chatting, I watched The Three Amigos (movie options were limited), and then secretly cursed my mom and Andy while they snacked in my room! I snuck a bite. Everytime they checked me I hadn't progressed. So finally they gave me Pitocin to get things moving. Around 4:00 we started the pushing... and pushing... and pushing...(Andy was huddled by my head on one side and my mom was on the other, My dad and mother-in-law were waiting outside the room) ... two and a half hours later, the nurses and midwife could see Fischer's blond hair, but he wasn't budging. So my midwife called in a "forceps specialist". Well he assessed the situation and announced that with one big push from me and one big yank from him, the baby would be out (a considerable amount of repair would be needed for me- but by this point - 36 1/2 hours later - I didn't care one bit).

This is where things got a little fuzzy until months later when my mother filled me in. Next think I knew I was being wheeled off to surgery to have a c-section. Apparently, when the doc went to give his "one big yank" he braced himself by putting his foot up on the bed - which horrified my mother and she whispered to him "this looks like a law-suit waiting to happen"... and there I went in for surgery, just like that - no yanks, no repair work needed.

In the surgery room, they asked Andy if he wanted them to put up a mirror so that he could see, he responded with a definite "Hell No", and the drape went up in front of us both. I don't know how long it all took, one minute Andy was whispering soothing things in my ear and the next, he was showing me out beautiful baby boy.
After that, everything goes pretty fuzzy.

So you see, although the outcome was nothing short of a beautiful healthy bouncing miracle... the labor was WAY TOO LONG.
So this one has got to be better, right?