1.29.2006
Courtesy of Evergreen hospitals wifi and my trying to stay awake for another half an hour to feed Ryan again, here is it!
As a few of you may know, I was chosen to host a "passion party" Saturday night. If you don't know what this is, it's basically a tupperware party for sex toys. So it's in the middle of this fun and frolic that I get up to go pee...no biggie right? But I go to sit back down and *gush*. Oops, what's that? So I rush back to the bathroom, thinking, have I just peed my pants? I changed into a pad and went back out. I announced to my 10 friends sitting in my living room that I thought my water had broken. So of course, everyone flips out and starts rushing around! Total mayhem! In any case, we finish the party out, cause everyone was just about to order their goodies anyway, and I still had to get Michael home from work and all that.
So, I spent another hour and a half at home, finishing up the party, doing dishes, dealing with the dog, all the while, just cramps coming every 10 minutes. I'm thinking, hey, no big deal!! We finally get out of the house, me, Michael, my best friend Alyssa, Julie and Mary. It's an entourage! Which is what they called us when we arrived at the maternity center! But Mary and Julie were at the party and I didn't have the heart to tell them not to come on down. Plus, I figured it would be a while and I'd need the company and so would Michael. This is about 9:45.
By the time I'm in the room and all dressed in my SEXY mesh panties and HUGE diaper pad, I'm having pretty good size contractions and I'm at a good solid 4cm. Still irregular though. 20 minutes later, they're getting more regular and much much closer together. By 11, they are nearly on top of one another, and terrifying. I couldn't talk, breathe, walk, even move...I just cried. So, despite my original plan for a drug free birth, I begged for an epidural. Maybe begged isn't right, I think I demanded with a few expletives. But whatever. I wanted to kiss the anesthesiologist. I LOVE that man. Got the epi at midnight and by 12:15, I was laughing and joking with my friends, and having a great time! We were joking around with the night nurses, watching David Hasselhofs newest video ( And I was dialated to 7! Rock on!).
I hung out, slept and just generally chilled all night, all the while, progessing slowly. At one point, the labor nurse, Kathy, (my other new friend) gave me some pitocin to help make the contractions a little more meaningful. I was stuck at 9 cm for about 2 hours, but to tell you the truth, I didn't really care. I got to rest and sleep and store up my energy.
By about 5:30, we started pushing!! At 5:35, I had to stop pushing so she could get my doc in there. By the time my doctor arrived, I'd been pushing for about 20 minutes and the baby's head was crowing. Let me tell you, epi or no epi, you're gonna feel that! Ouch, they call it the "ring of fire" for good reason. (And having just seen Walk the Line, all I can hear is the Johnny Cash song) After 45 minutes of pushing, Ryan came out!! She was so desperate to accesorize, that she helped herself to that pretty necklace known as her cord, and came out a bit blue at first. But as soon as they got her a shot of oxygen, she was bright pink and screaming!
Michael and I just kept looking at each other saying that we can't believe she's ours, that we made that, or that we actually did it. It's the most amazing feeling in the world. I love Ryan more than anything, and watching Michael give her eskimo kisses, I love him a VERY close second.
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