The Birth!

Wow it's been quite a while since I last posted.  Working full time with a baby is no joke! Thank God Daniel has so many people who love him that also help us a lot!! I have a million things that I should be doing instead, but I'll finally write about the birth of Daniel Ryan.

Timeline of the day Daniel was born:
6:00 Water breaks - fiasco with the PH strips in the bathroom
6:30 My mom comes to get me and bring me to the hospital.  We stop at the bank first. (?!)
7:00 Arrive at the hospital. 2cm dilated.
7:15 Walk into the tiniest room I've ever seen.
10:45 My sister arrives
11:00 Timothy arrives
12:00 5cm dilated
12:45 Epidural
8:45 9cm dilated
9:45 Start pushing
10:15 Epidural turned off. Dr. tells me to "rest"
10:45 Start pushing again
11:46 Daniel is born

At 6:30am on Thursday May 26, 2011 my mom came over to bring me to the hospital.  I had just moved into a new place so I didn't have much stuff.  With my water leaking, I decided to put Bounty paper towels in my underwear for the short ride to the hospital.  Surprisingly they worked very well.  I got to the hospital and the doctor did a test to see if my water actually did break.  It clearly did and I was 2cm dilated.  I was admitted into, which we would later find to be, the worst room ever. I walked in and there were mirrors everywhere.  Not thinking I said "what the hell are all these mirrors for?!" That's not really my thing.  I told the nurse she could get rid of them. My contractions were pretty bad, but nothing more than what I had experienced when I was in pre-term labor.  My mom was with me initially, but said she couldn't stay because she couldn't bare to see me in pain.  Once my sister arrived my mom was out in a flash!

The day was really boring.  We watched stupid TV shows including Wipe Out and that stupid singing show with Wayne Brady.  There were about a million episodes of each on.  I read trashy magazine, and was actually pretty comfortable the entire day.  Laying there I actually thought to myself "I could do this again!"  We were waiting for me to be dilated but the Dr. wouldn't check because, since my water had broke, they didn't want to introduce any infection.  I asked how I would know when it was time to start pushing and the nurses kept telling me "you'll know.. you'll feel pressure".  I felt absolutely nothing, so thank God they actually decided to check at 8:45 after laying there for 13+ hours.

I swear the room we were in was a broom closet converted to a overflow room.   It literally was the size of a broom closet and didn't have any air conditioning. The room was so hot, we couldn't even close the door.  They put a curtain over the door, but how embarrassing.. the whole damn floor heard every sound coming from my room! To be honest, it didn't even cross my mind at that point, but thinking about it now.. yeah a little embarrassing.  Whatever! lol I started pushing at 9:45.  I guess I was unsuccessfully pushing (of the Dr. and the nurse were too hot to stay in the room) because the Dr. told me to rest, turned off the epidural and said he'd be back in 15 minutes.  I didn't really rest, I just laid there thinking "WTF? I'd like to leave this room to cool off as well!"  The Dr. came back in 30 minutes and I started pushing again.  The Dr. and the nurse took turns walking out to cool off.  About 20 minutes before Daniel was born I lost it.  I was dripping sweat, and honestly didn't think I was going to be able to do it. It had to have been 80 degrees (at least) in the room. The nurse finally brought me ice packs to put on my neck and head.  I was so mad, I guess my pushing skills became more successful because Daniel was born shortly after.

It was amazing.  Probably the most amazing thing I'll ever experience.  But to be honest, I was glad it was over.  It was hard work and it was really gross.  All the blood and guts, and pulling out the umbilical cord.  I gagged. But above all it was amazing. Daniel cried like a goat. It was so cute. He was perfect in every single way.

While I was pushing, there was an episode of Rookie Blue on.  One Republic's song "Good Life" was playing in the background.  I cried hysterically every time I heard that song for about 2 months.  I'm OK now! It's Daniel's song :))))