I feel like I haven't been on a computer for forever, and it's only been one week! I've officially turned into my father who only checks his his personal (and AOL) account every few days. But the reason is because....I had the baby!!! McBaby can now be referred to as Clive Toby McBride! He was born a few days early on 4/4/12 after I was induced for low fluids. As you know, this is something that plagued me towards the end of my pregnancy, and when I went to that final doctor's appointment, she told us to pack our bags and head straight to the hospital.
Because I'd been dealing with the low fluids issue for weeks, I wasn't alarmed in the slightest that doc sent us packing. But I had no idea what was in store for me in the following 24 hours. We got to the hospital about two hours prior to "shift-change" and I loved our nurse Anna from the first minute. She got me hooked up to an IV and a few other things, and then left for the night, replaced by the equally awesome Lillit, our night nurse. A fellow then came in to insert a ribbon into me to help soften up my cervix, which stayed in place for 12 hours while they watched me and the baby on a fetal monitor. This was the calm before the storm for sure--with the only interruptions being the screams in the middle of the night from my neighboring women who decided against the epidural (which in turn made me want one even more).
The next morning my cervix was deemed ready, so they started the petocin. That jump started my contractions pretty quickly, which Clive did NOT like in the slightest. He "de-celled" a total of four times in the next few hours, meaning his heart rate dipped down to around 50 BPM due to him cutting off his own circulation by pressing on his umbilical cord. Each time a dozen nurses and doctors would bust into the room and yell a bunch of things, and twice they threw an oxygen mask on me, which was the scariest thing ever. Nothing can prepare you for the look in the doctors' eyes when you just know something is wrong. Thankfully each time, little Clive was resilient and recovered.
My contractions got increasingly more intense, and by 10am the docs inserted a foley balloon catheter to get me more dilated. In the meantime, about once an hour, someone's entire fist was up inside me "checking my cervix," which is something I care not to discuss any further. The next drama was my infamous 3-AND-A-HALF-MINUTE CONTRACTION. I hadn't gotten my epidural yet, and had been "breathing" through each one up to this point. But girlfriend can only take so much, and that had to have been the longest 3+ minutes of my life. Clive hated this pain as well, and they decided my body was going through too much stress. My doctor showed up to the hospital at this point, explaining that she was going to break my water and do an amnio infusion to pump me back up with saline to keep the baby safe. After I mentioned how painful that sounded, she looked shocked when I told her I hadn't gotten the epidural yet, and said simply, "It's time."
That part was a cinch, and does NOT hurt, for those of you wondering. After the epidural, you could have sawed off my feet and I wouldn't have noticed. It also didn't "slow down" my labor, which is what everyone says; I went from 6 centimeters to 10 in a matter of two hours. This is when I finally got nervous--getting wheeled into delivery. I couldn't feel a thing, but the thought of having an actual human come out of me was really starting to scare me.
There was zero time to process any more thoughts though, because it was time to start pushing right away. Kev took one leg, and Lillit took another because I was that numb in my legs that I couldn't hold them up. My doctor also ordered for the epidural to be "cut in half" so that I could start "feeling" a little more--talk about a motivator to get the baby out. I pushed like a total maniac. After ten minutes, I casually asked how long it usually takes for a first-time mom and my doctor replied, "Oh...2 to 3 hours." The competitor in me uttered a helllll no, and I pushed even harder for about 30 more minutes.
Next thing I knew, I was in stirrups, the doctor was suited up in her protective gear, and she was telling me I'd have a baby on the next push. She was right! Clive arrived and was placed right onto my chest, where we both had a major bawl fest. I'm so glad I did the "skin-to-skin" right after delivery because it was a great distraction from everything else happening down there. I won't gross you out with the details, but just google "afterbirth" and "placenta" if you're really curious as to what happens after the baby is born.
That moment at 7:57pm on 4/4/12 has to be the most amazing, emotional, surreal and miraculous moment of my life. It's hard to put into words, but it's like reading the last page of the best book you've ever read. You want to keep reliving it over and over, and any pain you endured getting to that point just does not matter. Clive Toby McBride weighed 7 lbs. even, was 19 3/4 inches long, and more perfect than we could have ever dreamed. And yes, I'm definitely going to do this again.
