I was not allowed to eat and with no sleep and the hours ticking by, I was beginning to think this would never end! J.T. was awesome, but at one point that next morning I just called my mom (who was a little more than 20 feet away) and cried because I was so exhausted. A little after the tears, I go really silly and then sometime around 1:00 (a full 24 hours after we had arrived) they checked me and declared me 9.999cm dilated, fully effaced, baby girl was at the proper station and it was time to push.
And push I did. Luckily I could still move my legs because pushing on my back was a no go for me. We tried a bunch of different positions until we found a few that I liked. However, as much as I liked them and as hoarse as I was getting we were well into my four hour play list when the doctor came back and explained that I had pushing for almost two hours with very little to show for it (he said it better than that, but that's how I took it!). He began to use the c word which immediately dissolved me to tears. He took pity on my sorry soul and said he would let me push until 7 (my magical intervention time apparently) and then we would have to seriously consider a c-section.
This new challenge sparked new life in me, but unfortunately this new life did little in the way of physical progress and by the time he came back it was obvious to all that I was headed to the operating room. By this time I had managed to have massive shoulder pain and they way I had to lay on the table made it infinitely worse.
I will spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say the only good thing about a c-section is that it brought us our baby girl at 8:18pm. Turns our girl was a big 'un measuring 8 lbs. 10 oz. at just under 39 weeks. She also has a big ole head AND was "sunny side up". So even if I did not enjoy the c-section it turns out it was the best way of brining Isabella into the world.
J.T. got to see her arrive (while still holding my hand) and cut her umbilical cord. When they handed her to me I was shaking/convulsing uncontrollably from the medication but it must have been like a bouncy chair because as soon as they laid her on my chest she stopped crying.
J.T. joined us in the recovery room where he got to change her first diaper and I got to give her her first feeding. Our hospital only has a NICU, no general nursery, so all babies room in with their parents. Around 10:00pm they took us back to our room where our parents all got to meet her and we got to spend our first night, finally, as parents.
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