Our original plan was to deliver at Best Start Birth Center with a midwife and a doula. I wanted desperately to avoid the hospital setting because of the rise of medical interventions I see being used in births that seem to make them more complicated than necessary. But alas, at the end of the day, we are not the ones in control (right, Mom? :) ) My water broke early Thurs AM and 24 hrs later I had to transfer my care to a hospital because it is considered too high risk for the B.C. After 24 more hrs of laboring at the hospital (this time with more intense contractions) there was still no considerable progress. Watson wasn't reacting well to any amount of Pitocin and the risk of infection was getting too great, so they decided to do a c-section. Blah, blah. At this point I just have to trust that we did what was safest for the baby, regardless of my personal views of the whole thing. So...onto highlights and lowlights:
HIGHLIGHTS
- The end result. No kidding. I don't feel like I can even attempt this post except to say that I feel so, so blessed to have Mr. Watson Samuel as the end result. Oh, and the fact that labor HAS an end! Haha.
- Contractions. Is that weird to say? I wanted to deliver naturally because I wanted to feel what billions of women throughout time have experienced and what I believe is a beautiful part of motherhood. Even though I never got to push, I love that I could feel the depths of the contractions that I did have for that second day.
- My support team! My sweet mama, my best friend/sista, my dear friend Sharon (doulagrapher extraordinaire!! So super glad we flew her down!), and of course Tyler. Many ppl would argue that 4 ppl is a little much to have in the room but they all brought a unique energy that I needed and it was a long couple of days so I was glad they could swap each other out. They had so much faith in me through the whole thing.
- Tyler. Can I say him twice? I think my fam was pretty impressed with how he handled me and how incredible and supportive he was. I can't say the same because that's exactly what I expected from him. Those are the qualities I've seen in him all along and the reason I married him so to me, it just felt normal and perfect and right. He is the best. :)
- The nurses! So even though it was totally random that we ended up delivering at Palomar, I really feel that the nurses we had (one of them who saw us through 2 night shifts) were meant for me. I really came to love and trust them in the short time we were together. Both came back after Watson was born to check on him. Both of them have a special place in my heart for their encouragement, skill, and sensitivity. Love Judy and Jen!
- My remote support team. :) Once I resurfaced from the whole ordeal and finally checked my voicemails, I had many, many messages of encouragement from people I love. It warmed my heart and made me ready to get back to life!
LOWLIGHTS
- No room in the inn. Not only were we not able to labor at the birth center (since my water broke and 24 hrs went by with no significant progress), but Kaiser, our backup hospital, was full. They had to call around and finally found us a place at Palomar. It was a drive to get there but it was lucky to be close to our families there and the nurses and docs were pretty open to my idea of a natural birth, I think more so than our other hospital options would have been.
- Throwing up. I don't like doing that. Ever. Especially not 3 times in one day.
- Getting the epidural. I don't like pumping drugs in my body to begin with but we were going to try it to let me rest while the Pitocin was administered until I was closer to being ready to push. My body was shaking uncontrollably from the drugs, plus I was still having pretty intense contractions. The mean lady kept getting mad that I wasn't holding still and questioning why I took so long to get the epidural. Grr. Even after the drugs kicked in, I didn't love the feeling, so I don't think I was missing out on much up to that point...
- Finding out I needed a c-section. This was tough news to handle, and even tougher I think on my sweet sis who's had 3 c-sections herself and was really rooting for me. It's nearly impossible to keep from playing the "what if..." game and thinking what I could have done differently to avoid this outcome. It's not so much about not obtaining my goal this time of delivering naturally/vaginally. It's more the concern about how this will impact subsequent pregnancies. But I'm so happy to have my new little buddy here safe and sound and I'm trying to just focus on enjoying that!
- The gnarled mess that my hair became. After 3 days of blood, sweat, and tears it was a team effort to get it untangled enough that I could even shower!
So much for an "unplugged" labor experience. :/
Seeing Wats for the first time!
First family photo. Huge fail. Haha.
There, that's better!
Ms. Sharon holding Watson before she had to hop back on a plane a few hours later. :(
The best nest.
The requisite sleeping baby on sleeping dad pic.
