The time has come

After a sleepless night it was time to head to the hospital. We dragged every suitcase we had in the house because who really knows how to pack to have a baby? We got to the hospital where the very cheery nurse showed me where to settle in. I changed into the GORGEOUS gown and got in bed. A few pricks here and there and the contractions were coming. Pretty soon I found myself bouncing on an exercise ball. Funny, that the only real use I have gotten out of that ball is during labor! Nothing seemed to work and before I knew it the doctor was telling me that I was making NO progress. What on earth does he mean by that? I can FEEL the progress. Now it was decision time. To have a c-section or not to have a c-section? Why would someone choose to have surgery, for a cuter baby? After much agonizing I made an awful decision. I was given a gem of a drug to help move things along before starting the whole process over again in the morning. I lay in bed all night feeling contractions, and an earthquake, waiting for something to happen knowing full well that this was my last chance for a "natural with drugs" birth. If it didn't work I was going to be in surgery by nighttime.

By 8:00 I was in excruciating pain. By 11:00 I had my epidural and by noon I was told it was a no go. Damn here comes the c-section.

The nurse eventually rolled me into the operating room ALL BY MYSELF! The chill in the room was immeasurable. I lay on the operating table waiting and getting increasingly nervous. My baby was almost here. You know, the one that has been kicking every organ, bone, and nerve in my stomach. The one who helped me to gain 46 pounds and make me look like an alien because I was so swollen. Soon I was shaking. Not the kind of shakes when you are cold. No, those would have been pleasant. These were the kind that make you think something is really wrong. "ddddddoctor, why, why, why can't I stop, stop, stop shaking?" Oh, its the drugs.

The anesthesiologist arrived and explained the procedure. "I'm going to put some medicine in the line I started for your epidural. I takes about ten minutes to work. Once everything kicks in we will start and your baby will be here." Ok, well maybe that is how it works with normal people but we all know that I am not a normal person. After ten minutes I could still feel them touching my stomach, after more drugs and another ten minutes I could still feel my stomach.

Now the question is, did it hurt? I don't really know the answer to that. I was so freaked out that I was going to feel them cutting my stomach open and then digging through my purse (well, at least that is what the nurse described the feeling as) that I kept telling them that it HURT. Needless to say the doctor turned to my husband told him he was putting me out and that was it!

I woke up an hour later in the recovery room as a mommy.