Labour and delivery...

Everyone always wants to know how labour and delivery goes...I will spare you the super details...but here's a gist of what went on.

Friday June 19
-Early signs of imminent labour

Monday June 22

3am--early labour begins with early contractions (increasingly painful but erratic)

Tuesday June 23

4am--went to Women's Hospital (contractions were within 5 minutes apart)

6am--sent home after a shot of morphine and gravol to labour some more at home (the nurse felt we should've been admitted...but the resident disagreed...bah!)

--morphine was GOOD...slept for 3 hours when we first got home

--hadn't slept since contractions started...

--then the meds wore off and it was back to the pain again...sigh...

7pm--back to Women's hospital--admitted--bring on the EPIDURAL! Tears of joy when I saw my saviour in green scrubs with the drugs... =) The epidural did not take away all of the pain though...Baby S must have been pushing against a nerve or something because I had continuous pain in a particular spot despite the many increases in medication...it did not cure all...but close enough! =)

***can't imagine how women go through labour and delivery without drugs...there was a woman in the next room SCREAMING during her delivery...it was her third child...no drugs...INSANE! Mucho respect to anyone who can do it without pain meds...I sure as heck can't!

Wednesday June 24
6am--started pushing for an hour...no good...

--got drugs to help strengthen the contractions...

--pushed again for an hour...no good

10am--doctors figured out that Baby S's head was turned the wrong way

--docs tried turning the head...no good

--we were given two options: A) forcep assisted delivery or B) c-section

--at this point I hadn't slept since the morphine coma, hadn't eaten since Monday lunch (indigestion associated with labour), and the baby needed to be delivered soon...we were exhausted...and there was no guarantee that the forceps would work...we may end up with a c-section afterwards anyway...

--c-section was the choice

--Baby S delivered before 11am (geez they were efficient!)

Recovery from the c-section itself wasn't bad. My pain was minimal thanks to the meds and I was mobile pretty soon afterwards. My problems were mostly associated with the side effects of pain medications (ibuprofen screwed up my tummy) and just having my whole system being screwed up from the anesthesia from the epidural for surgery.

Yup...this was my worst nightmare...the great "double whammy" or the "two for one"...having to suffer through labour only to end up with a c-section...argh! Next time it'll be straight to a scheduled c-section...skipping the labour and pushing sounds good! =)

Wimpy...I know... =)