Labor and Delivery

Since I never actually posted about my delivery, I will do that now. My water broke sometime in the middle of the night (or at least that is what I thought) so I went to the doctor's office just to check to make sure that is what actually happened on December 17. Of course, my doctor was off that day and I had to see another doctor that I had never seen (Dr. Chwe). He said my water had broken and that we were going to have a baby that day. Immediately I got a little scared. I didn't expect to go into labor that day, I really expected him to tell me that my water hadn't broken and I'd be sent back home. I hadn't even washed my hair that day yet or had my pillow in my car, or even had lunch. I was then told I couldn't leave the hospital, I got wheeled downstairs to labor and delivery and the next thing I knew I had all these monitors hooked up to me. All of this happened between around 11:30-12:30. Ten hours later, lots of ice chips, and an epidural, it was finally time to start pushing. I pushed for an hour and half and then at 11:55 p.m. Connor was born! I was so relived until I realized something was terribly wrong. Dr. Chwe immediately cut the umbilical cord because it was wrapped around Connor's neck several times and he wasn't breathing. Then, several nurses ran into the room and started working on Connor. One of them even made Clay turn off the video camera and stop taking pictures. I was scared to death because I still hadn't even heard him make a sound yet and there was nothing I could do. When they finally got him breathing (2 1/2 minutes later) he was taken straight to the NICU and we were told to wait and they would come give us an update as soon as possible. We waited an hour before anyone came and told us anything. That was the longest most miserable hour of my entire life. I was supposed to be holding my little newborn and taking pictures and cuddling and enjoying this time with Clay, but instead we are just sitting there waiting on news. We had our families with us and that helped a lot, but all I wanted was to hold my little man. When they finally came to tell us he was ok, I was so relieved. They told me as soon as I could walk I could go into the NICU and see him. Within an hour I was up walking and we got to go in and see him. I was then told that I couldn't pick him up or hold him. Again, I was crushed. He had so many tubes and monitors on him, he looked so helpless. We were then told he wasn't digesting his food. Just what we wanted to hear, more complications. It was several days before we got to actually hold him and then when we did, it was only for a very short amount of time. Seven days later, we got to bring Connor home. That was Christmas Eve. It was the best Christmas present we could ask for. Now he is home and doing better every day. He is almost back up to birth weight (6 lbs 13 oz). When we left the hospital with him he was 6 lbs 4 oz.

As far as how I felt through the whole labor and delivery process, it went much better than what I imagined. Once I got the epidural I didn't feel anything. Pushing for an hour and a half was a lot of work, but not painful. All of my pain came after he was here. I have had the worst trouble with my breasts and the massive supply of milk that came in. I wanted to breastfeed, but since he was in the NICU I had pump and take it to him.I had lots of trouble at first, and I was in a LOT of pain! It has finally gotten somewhat better, but I still hurt. I'm not sure how much longer I will keep this up though. Other than that, I'm doing great. I still look very pregnant and can't fit in anything but maternity clothes still. I've been kinda down about that, but I know it takes time and it will eventually get better. Connor was and is worth every amount of pain I had to go through and I would do it all over again for him.