3.17.2009

adventures of making a grand debut!


introducing GABRIEL STEPHEN RUCKEL...

since i was scheduled to be induced, i called labor & delivery (at 5:30am) to see what time i was scheduled to come in. they had me down for 6:30 am! so i took my shower, finished packing my bag & off we went. i had to get admitted & answer a million questions, so it wasn't until about 7:30am that they actually started the pitocin drip. we sat and watched the TODAY show and some other news. we were all prepared for a long day...matt took a nap & katie brought homework to do. the contractions hadn't gotten terrible so i was just hanging out watching tv with my mom. that didn't last for long. apparently my doctor likes to do an "aggressive" pitocin drip-aka they increased it every 20 mins. this was even after the nurse had noted & said outloud that i was sensitive to it. so as the pitocin increased, so did the pain of the contractions. i grabbed the epidural when the nurse told me that the anesteisologist was 'on loan' and it was a busy day.

i was 4 cm, at about 11:30am, when gave me the epidural...again, it only took on one side. apparently my body isn't as sensitive to the epi :) i was a little disappointed because i didn't get the epidural until i was 7 cm with ben. i got over it though! the heart monitor for gabe was showing his heart rate dropping during contratctions, so that had me & the nurse on alert. she tried to get my mind off of it, but i knew that meant the cord was more than likely around his neck. but i laid back and tried to rest between contractions. they really seemed to have picked up cause i could still really feel them even with the epidural. so i had them check me again a little after noon and she said i was 8cm! no wonder it hurt so badly!!! the nurse ran off to have a quick lunch and quick it was.

at this point i was really feeling every contraction even though i'd had another 'dose' of the epidural (thank God i got one!). i was having terrible pains on my right side just above my hip. then i was having everyone take turns pushing as hard as they could on my back during contractions. the counter pressure helped tremendously! i never thought i'd let anyone touch me while i was in pain, but it came down to it & i'm glad i asked for help :) it was only about 45 minutes later that i felt "the pressure". so they came in & checked...sure enough, i was 10 cm and ready to go. the nurse had me to a practice push or two to see how i was doing. apparently i did fine cause off she went to get the doc.
i pushed for about 20 minutes, of course to me, seemed so much longer. it got a little freaky for a moment when gabe's head & one shoulder came out, but the other one was stuck...on my right side. the doc remained cool, calm & collected and did what she needed to-another episitomy-to get gabe out. so she literally reached in & pulled him out.

and then there he was, with a sigh of relief, in all of his 8 lbs. 3 oz. & 19.25 inches of screaming glory! he officially entered this world at 1:23pm March 16, 2009.

3 comments:

  1. Way to keep it real. It's good to get a real birth story from someone. Great to have a possible friend for Ryder.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad to see you're blogging again! Great delivery story..:)

    ReplyDelete

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