I found out that I was pregnant in mid-September 2016. I could not wait to tell Zach. I took two pregnancy tests and did the first thing anyone does in this situation. I ran to Target and bought a box of Star Wars Lego and a box of fairy Lego. You see, I am married to an engineer who has a very large Lego collection – this was my version of pink and blue onesies to announce the pregnancy to my partner. Next, was announcing the pregnancy to our families. We’re Harry Potter fans as you can see from the picture below. Ellie’s name in utero was Dobby, we REALLY like Harry Potter. Here are our dogs letting the world know of our news.
Overall, my pregnancy went pretty smooth, until my final trimester. Around mid-February 2017, Ellie started kicking my ass. I began experiencing shooting pain in my rear, hip, and right leg. My sister (who experienced something similar) as well as my doctor thought it was my sciatic nerve. At best, I had a nagging pain, at worst, I was vomiting from the pain and could not get out of bed. This is the sexiest I have ever felt in my life. I took solace in the fact that this pain would go away once the baby was born (joke was on me – it did not, but that is for a different post).
May 19th rolled around and baby girl did not come, not even the smallest contraction. I pictured her chilling in my stomach, lounging on a beanbag (do people still have beanbags?), listening to Stevie Nicks. At this point, we scheduled an induction for the following week. Every day I was hoping to go into labor leading up to the induction. Afterall, I only heard how much healthier for the baby it is to go into labor naturally and how miserable inducing pregnancy was for mom (bullshit – at least in my case). Well, labor did not naturally come, so bring on the induction!
So, here’s the deal. I feel a little guilty sharing my labor and delivery story because I had it so much easier than so many of my friends. I was induced at 8am and I had my baby just after 5pm – a work day baby. I had extremely light contractions all morning, I almost did not feel them, all the while Zach and I binge watched Friday Night Lights. My doctor came in at 12:45pm to check on my progress and I was at 3 cm. At that time, she broke my waters. Then the real contractions started. I knew I wanted an epidural (the title of this blog is for real). My goal was to make it to 6cm but I was flexible. If I was in a ton of pain at 4 cm, then bring on the good stuff. One thing was for certain, I sure as hell knew I would not do the whole thing naturally.
I asked the nurse to start filling the birthing tub so I could labor in the warm water. I really wasn’t tracking how close my contractions were, I was just focusing on getting through them. I was in the pool for about an hour and began feeling really warm and uncomfortable, I wanted to get out. At this point it was about 3:15pm. The nurse checked me and said I was 6cm! I asked her to order the epidural which came at 3:45pm. The nurse checked me again 30 minutes later and said I was at 8cm. She began to teach me how to push but very abruptly told me to stop and said we needed to call the doctor because this baby was coming. And come she did. I began pushing at 4:40pm and baby girl came into the world at 5:18pm. She was 9lb 8.6oz and 20 inches long.
I had a perineal tear and also tore my labia but both healed just fine, at least I think they did – no one has told me any differently. I did have some decent size cysts that my doctor found on my ovaries during an ultrasound so I had to have surgery to remove them in early August. Once those creepy little bastards (the cysts not the baby – what kind of monster do you think I am?) were gone, I felt like my body was beginning to become my own again. Well sort of, there was that whole breastfeeding thing. Ellie was born with a personality. She is spunky and cheery and is also incredibly chill – pretty much she rocks. Ellie has so many of her dad’s traits, including being a ginger. While I am not the most sentimental person, I can honestly say that I am a damn lucky person to be able to share this life with Zach and Ellie. Thanks for letting me share my story with you.
Where's My Epidural? 