Madelynn's birth story... finally.

September 17th, 2007

5am: Started having pain. I thought it'd go away as usual. It didn't.
630am: Decided to start preparing to go to the hospital.
7am: Headed for the hospital.
730am: Checked in to OB assessment. My pains were not registering as contractions but I was dialated to 4cm and 90% effaced.
830am: My doctor said the hospital could keep me. I was relieved.
9am: Put in the labor & delivery room.

Lost track of time after that.

I was stuck 3 times trying to put in my IV. I got my fluids for my epidural. I was hooked up to pitocin. The contractions started getting stronger. Eventually the anesthesiologist came in to give me my epidural. When I saw him, a part of me panicked. Haha. He looked... hmm... too shakey. LOL! Sure enough, he messed up. He was hurting me, which I didn't experience with my first epidural. He told me he had hit something and was going to go around it. Lovely. I didn't have that problem the first time either. When he started to put my medicine in my catheter, he noticed blood in the line. He hit a blood vessel!!!!!! He told me that if he had given me the medicine, it would've went systemic and crazy stuff could've happened. I could've stopped breathing. I could've died. He backed the catheter out of my blood vessel but I was still paranoid about him putting my medicine in. He told me to let him know if I tasted metal and he told the nurse to watch my heart rate. GREAT! I didn't like him after that. Someone came in a little later to check my epidural. I was starting to feel some pain. The 2nd guy checked my line again and saw blood. UGH! He had to back it out of my blood vessel again. GRR! I was sooooo nervous having that epidural in the remainder of the time I had to have it. Luckily it worked well enough for me to give birth without feeling anything but maybe a little pressure.

After I received my epidural, my OB came in and broke my water and checked me. I was at 7cm. I told them that I would be complete in no time. Sure enough, it wasn't long after that that I was complete. They called the doctor and she acted like she had time to waste. They were trying to let her know that the baby was RIGHT THERE. The doctor showed up a little while later. As I was laying there, she told me to stop pushing. I wasn't pushing! The baby just slid right now. Ha! I ended up getting one stitch. Madelynn weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces. She was 21 inches long.

The following day, I was scheduled to have my tubes tied. They left my epidural in for the surgery. When I went into the OR, they put medicine in my catheter and I wasn't going numb. ANOTHER PROBLEM! Gheeez. I started to panic slightly. I told them I was having 2nd thoughts. I mean, I was laying on a cold metal table with a bunch of people standing around me. They were discussing putting me to sleep and I had never had to have anesthesia before. I was skeered. Finally, some black man grabbed my hand and said 'we'll take care of you. you're going to be okay.' They put the mask over my face and I remember laying there thinking 'this isn't going to work.' and then I was gone. Haha! When I woke up, I was choking. I thought I was aspirating on food and water I had had that day. LOL! My stomach was killing me. I said 'my stomach hurts.' *gag* *cough* 'I want my husband.' *cough* Hehe!

Anyway, after all that trauma, I survived. I was super sore that day and the next. I was relieved to have the epidural out of my back. I have fully recovered and am now adjusting to a very hectic schedule with a 2 year old and a 4 1/2 week old.

I am exhausted!!!