2012 started out with a bang - that is for sure! Although Kennedy didn't decide to come on January 1st she did want to get in on the year as soon as possible!
At 12:07 am on January 2nd I felt a very strong pain - it woke me up out of a sound sleep (well as sound as you can sleep when you are pregnant). Anyway, I got up and went into the bathroom - I thought it might be a contraction but since I had never had one before I wasn't sure, so I decided to go back to bed. About 10 minutes later I felt it again. This went on for about 1hour before I decided to get up and Google "what do labor pains feel like"!:) I had to google because I thought labor pains would be in your stomach and I didn't feel it there at all - the pain was lower. The googling was helpful - it said "hey you idiot you are having contraction - today is the day!"
At that point I woke up Nathan and called my OB/GYN. Nathan wanted to take a shower (go figure) and since my OB told me to call him back in about and hour when the contractions went from 6 - 10 mins apart to 3 - 5 mins apart, I said that was okay.
Well... my contractions went to 3 - 5 mins within 20 minutes (not an hour) so I called my doctor back - he was like okay - go to the hospital and I'll see you there.
I'm not sure what time we actually got to the hospital - I was in so much pain in the car I don't really remember much of the drive except for to tell Nathan to STEP ON IT! The man got 7 speeding tickets in 2 years and he was going UNDER the speed limit! What was that all about?!?!
Anyhoo - once we got to the hospital we had to go to admissions - it seemed like we were there for an hour! Isn't that why we sent our paperwork/insurance stuff in advance, so we didn't have to stand there! I was about to go postal when someone finally wheeled me off to my room.
Once I got in my gown Nathan took this picture for posterity - the time stamp on my camera says 2:26 am.
From here on we don't really know the exact times everything happened. My eyes were basically closed the entire time so I didn't see the clock.:) Nathan asked if I wanted to hold his hand and I didn't - I thought I might break it! My hands were attached so tightly to the sides of the bed I thought it might fall apart!
The nurse, Sue, came in to check on me and I was only 2 cm dilated. She asked what my "plan" was and I said "DRUGS" and as soon as possible! She said that I had to have a bag of fluids and blood work done first.
About 45ish minutes later (I think), I told her that I had to "go to the bathroom" and I didn't know how to do that with all the IVs in my - she was like "Oh really?" - let me check you again. I had gone from 2 cm - 10 cm in that short of a time. She then told me it was time to push!
I was like "where is my epidural" and she said I couldn't have one. At that exact moment the anesthesiologist walked in and the nurse told him that I refused the epidural. WHAT?!?! I was like "NO I DON'T" and started hyperventilating. Nurse Sue basically told me to pull it together and that I would be fine - it was game time!
So I did as I was told and focused on getting my little angel out into the big bad world. Honestly, pushing was waaaaaaaaaaaay better than the contractions that is for sure! At some point I asked where my doctor was and Nurse Sue said that we didn't need him. Okay! Besides I had Nathan - dressed in his Polo and designer jeans - he should be enough - right?!:)
I'm not sure exactly how many pushes or how long it took but I'm thinking it was about 30 minutes. My doctor came in with 10 minutes to spare and asked about my epidural - again Nurse Sue said that I "refused it". Again I said "No I diddddddn't" but by then it was time for our baby to enter the world and Dr. Sheshadri delivered Miss Kennedy Ann at 4:21 am. She weighed 5 lbs 11 oz and 18 1/2 inches long.
I can't believe that I can say that I delivered a baby with no drugs! And I didn't scream or cuss the entire time!:) I was pretty lucky though since Kennedy's head circumference was only 13 inches.:)
I had always heard that the love you felt when you saw your baby the first time was indescribable, but I didn't truly understand it until that minute when she was delivered. I knew at that instant that I would throw myself in front of a bus for her. It was a love that I can't explain, but I don't have to tell all the parents out there - you all know it!:)
