Diapers and a dream: Yes, labor does indeed hurt!

I guess I should probably continue recapping my labor experience. I have been pretty busy with Adrianna lately and fixing up my house. It's funny how putting up a little bit of decorations and pictures makes a house feel like a home :) OK here goes:

So like I said, by 12pm on Thursday my support system was by my side awaiting the arrival of Adrianna. Joe's parents were with us, it was nice that they dropped everything to come help us out for a couple of weeks. So at 12pm I was checked and was told that I was already 2 CM dilated, this is before given any meds, so my body must have been aware that baby had to begin her entrance into the world....who knows why I was dilated....anyway I was about 30% effaced (the thinning out of the cervix) so they gave me this medication called Cytotec which helps thin out the cervix. The nurse Patricia, I will NEVER forget her name, explained that if I were to be given Pitocen without having a thinned out cervix I would be having contractions for no reason because the baby would not be able to come down. By 4pm I was checked again and I was now 40% effaced, they began the dreaded medicine that is Pitocin. Pitocin is a synthetic form of oxytocin which is the naturally occurs in a woman's body when labor begins. It also hurts more to have labor started for you with medicine other than your body doing it naturally, so I've heard, all I know it hurt like hell! An IV is attached with Pitocin dripping at the rate of 5mm.....it can go up to a maximum of 20mm before they start thinking about C-section if I do not progress. A couple of hours go by, we eat dinner...me a special diabetic diet =/ at least I don't have to take insulin any more, and I am checked again. Each time I am checked for dilation and progress it feels like someone is stabbing my vagina and all they are doing is using their fingers to press around in there, graphic I know but you need to know the truth. I am now 4CM dilated and 50% effaced. At this point it is 6pm and I'm thinking "wow this may happen tonight!" Ummm, no I was wrong.

It is about 9pm when Joe's parents leave so now we are both alone. I am not having any contractions and Pitocin is pumped up to 15mm. The labor and Delivery beds are hard as a rock! The most uncomfortable I have ever layed on. They have to be like that in case the doctors and nurses have to use force or I have to go into surgery. I have to sleep on this all night, god help me. My back has been killing me at this point because I have to sit in bed all day with monitors strapped on to me checking the movements and heartbeat of the baby and my contractions which are non-existent. I cant even roll onto my side because if I move they lose the baby's heartbeat and alarms go off so they have to reposition the monitors etc....such a hassle. So I get no sleep at all. Around 2AM the OB on call comes to check me and I am still 4CM but now 80% effaced.....FML this baby is never coming out is what I am thinking. Around 7am I get a new nurse and she pretty much tells me that at the rate I am going I am not giving birth for a couple of days....seriously was that necessary to say to me! ugh....At this point I was just tired and cranky with what felt like menstrual cramps and Adrianna seemed to not want to make her grand entrance.
12:30pm Joe's parents return with lunch, I can't eat because while I am on Pitocin I can have nothing but liquids, so I sip my diet ginger ale with thoughts of burgers in my head.....I really wanted a burger and I will never forget that intense craving. My original nurse came back and said, "wow the Pitocin is going to be pumped up to 20mm and you do not look like you re in labor." I was watching A Baby Story on TLC for some inspiration, and the nurse said, "that is what you should look like right now" the lady was in screaming pain on TV, I was laughing and talking in no pain....this is going to take forever. The nurse asked if I wanted an epidural since Anesthesia was on the L&D floor at the time for a C-section. I said no because I truly was not in any pain at all. The nurse said the next step would be to break my water and see what happens after. She said that would happen around 4:30pm. I thought "OK how bad can that be" omg I now know just how bad it can be.
5:30pm and my OB Dr. Cole comes in and says "OK time to break your water." She does what she needs to so and immediately after I have the most extremely painful contraction that I have ever felt! It feels like I am being stabbed! I can't breathe, they give me oxygen and tell me to take deep breaths....I can't even talk at that point. Every contraction lasted 2 minutes and they came every minute and a half, after 3 of those I scream for an epidural....the anesthesiologist thinks this is the perfect time to begin asking me questions about my medical history, I yell at him, he seems annoyed, I say "does it look like I can answer that right now!" He leaves haha. He comes back and tells me I have to sit on the edge of the bed, I can hardly move at that point and sitting is putting pressure right where all the extreme pain is coming from. I have nothing to brace myself on and the pain is coming quickly and frequently and it is burning like crazy! Right before my water was broken I was 5 Cm dilated....I got the epidural, the nurse said I can now relax and take a nap and I think "I cant wait for relief!" It is still hurting though so the nurse says it takes about 15 minutes for the epidural to work. It has been about 3 minutes and I tell the nurse that I feel pressure like I have to poop and her facial expression was priceless....she said "omg I need to page the Dr." I am checked and within 5 minutes I went from 5 to 10 CM and I am still not numb so I feel everything! No time to relax, I had to start pushing immediately after getting the epidural. 4 pushes, burning pain, and Adrianna was born. The pain is immediately gone and I am now hysterically crying because I can hear her crying! That right there made all the pain and grief of pregnancy and delivery worth it....it is so true! I hear when the nurses weigh her, 1925 grams 4 lbs 4oz 17 inches.....my heart drops, I can't believe she really weighs 4 lbs I am in shock. Joe and his mom say she is perfect and beautiful, I haven't seen her yet so I am still scared at her weight. When the nurses are done and they wrap her up I finally get to hold her for the first time. And at that moment I fell in love with the most beautiful, perfect, tiny little peanut I have ever seen....she looked just like her daddy <3

She went to the Special Care Nursery, never nursed but she did drink my breast milk through a bottle, smiled for the first time on July 13th, pooped for the first time on July 11th, was rushed to Boston's Children's Hospital for a possible digestive system injury which ended up being a milk allergy which they deemed Allergic Colitis paired with milk allergy and she was sent back to Winchester Hospital 4 days later. She was sent home with us on July 21st and has been thriving ever since. We bottle feed her a special formula called Neocate which is very hypoallergenic and she no longer has any issues. She is funny, smiles all the time, is growing, and is the joy of our lives!
That is my pregnancy recap and I am hoping not to have to recap another pregnancy for quite some time. Now I can start blogging about our everyday lives with Adrianna...I will leave you with some pictures: