39.5

My last blog left you with a bit of a conspiracy on my hands. The doctors versus the nurses and I was stuck in the middle. What was I to do?

We checked into the hospital (I'm making it sound like a hotel or something). I went upstairs (no wheelchair, thank you, I'm doing just fine) and then I kept my mouth shut. Before I knew it I was in a room, then switch to an even larger room (maybe this is a hotel) and was brought something to eat (sorry, I didn't eat breakfast or lunch).

Dr. Lampert visited me and confirmed that Dr. Hernandez told her about my situation and then helped things along. Holy crap. Any mom knows what I'm talking about. The word "gush" doesn't even describe it. Needless to say, I'm very glad Aaron went to the cafeteria just before Dr. Lampert arrived. After that happened, Ella was on her way...eventually.

Dr. Lampert wished me luck and told me that Dr. Vincent was the next doctor on call and go figure, this was the one doctor I didn't meet during all of my pre-natal appointments. Great.

I still felt great and was talking to the nurses, hanging out with Aaron, texting, etc. Contractions started to kick in a bit more heavily at 4pm when they started the pitocin but Ella did not like it very well at all and I was barely on that. I ended up getting an epi around 5pm when I was about 6-7cm. From here until pushing started it was pretty relaxing, I didn’t even know I was having contractions…Aaron needed to tell me. We watched a bit of TV and just hung out. Aaron turned off the TV and turned on the music later on…I’m glad he did or else Ella would have been born to “Family Guy.”

I was fully dilated and she was low enough at 10pm. I started pushing at 11pm (though technically they count the hour before b/c I was full dilated and ready to go...). They said I was a great pusher and gave me a mirror so I could watch (even though I didn’t want one original…I was ok with it coming in. When the Dr. came I could barely see anything since she was right in front of it anyway). When I pushed I did four sets of pushes rather than the usual three…just because I wanted to. Ha.

So at about midnight Dr. Vincent came in and tried to turn Ella since she was sunnyside up (which is why my lower back was hurting so much…). She got her to turn but then had to leave and when she came back she was already turned around again. She tried one more time and had to keep her hand there for the rest of the time in order to keep her from turning again. Yes, that's way TMI but eh, whatever.

I kept pushing but she did not want to come down on her own…she was being very finicky and already showing her stubbornness (which she – admittedly – gets from her mom). After a few more sets of pushes she told me they would have to do a vacuum assist and I said that was fine…after all of this pushing (and time…) I didn’t want to have a c-section but if I had to…I had to. I’m glad the Dr. even offered the vacuum…she said that if I wasn’t such a good pusher she wouldn’t have offered and we’d be in the O.R.

During the second to last set of pushes I could feel her very close to coming out. At this point there were about 10 other people in the room including some doctors to help Ella. Since I had a fever and we were doing a vacuum Ella needed to go straight to her little bed and be checked by the doctors. During that last set of pushes I could tell everyone was getting a bit ready for a c-section but I looked at Aaron and said, “This has got to work.” I knew she would be out on the next set of pushes.

When the contraction came (which were now every 5 minutes giving me not much opportunity for pushing…) I really needed to dig deep and get this little one born! During that last set I pushed and saw her arrive…I immediately leaned back, said, “Thank God!” and kissed Aaron. My little Ella was taken away to her bed and checked over as daddy grabbed his camera and followed.

In all seriousness everything -- despite it being not the easiest delivery -- was so much better than I expected. The Dr. said it was amount her top 10 vacuum deliveries...I said we aim to be in the top of everything. She started cracking up. :)

It was such an enjoyable experience and everyone at the hospital was so wonderful. I was so proud of Aaron for being so strong during everything as well; he was so supportive and perfect.

I wish I could do it all over again tomorrow and I'm not sure if that makes me crazy or not, but it's 100% true.

My little angel is nearly 20-weeks old now and it's flying by. I never realized how quickly newborns grow up, but they grow up so damn quickly. Part of me is so happy to see her change each day and part of me wishes she'd slow down so I can let it soak in a bit more. No luck though, she's going to 18 before I know it (God, help me).

36...37...38...

The last few weeks of pregnancy are perhaps the most annoying and most wonderful. I loved them and I hated them at the same time. Don't get me wrong, I loved being pregnant and even at the end I was completely fine with lasting to the 40-week mark. I didn't mind being huge or seeing the scale hit a number that I had never come close to in my entire life. I didn't mind the fact that I couldn't go long distances in the car, or the fact that it was literally one of the hottest summers on record in Boston (thank you, central air). What I minded was not knowing when she would arrive. Yes, is the annoying part of pregnancy that every mother has to deal with.

My last post mentioned how I was told that I could go "any day now" fairly early on. I think it was week 36 or week 37 when I was first told that Ella was basically ready to go. I was 100% effaced and 3cm dilated and my doctor even said, "I'm at the hospital this weekend!" with a smile. And she's conservative. The conservative doctor who never indicates anything that might mean I'm remotely close to delivering said I might see her this weekend. "Oh my God," I thought, "I'm going to be a mom this weekend!"

Nope.

The anticipation was getting to me. Everyone expected me to go early, a week or two at least. They would call or e-mail or post messages on Facebook about when I was going to deliver. My response: "still pregnant." I didn't mind that they were asking, heck, I'd ask me, too. And, I kinda like that they were asking because it meant that they were excited about me delivering. And, that only added to the anticipation. But, my husband will tell you, I'm horrible with surprise. I love them and I absolutely hate them at the same time. I kept waking up every morning wondering if that was the day I was going to become a mom. I kept wondering where I would be when my water would break...or if it would break at all. I will tell you, that freaked me out more than anything. Not knowing then liters of water would come rushing out of you was weird...and scary.

But yes, I was "still pregnant." And I would be pregnant for a while, until that weird and scary moment happened.