Midnight - 4 am: The blood pressure cuff automatically takes my BP every 15 minutes, but I'm so tired I barely notice. Erin came in to flip me from one side to the other at about 1:30, and says she'll check my progress at 4 am. I am amused that I can use my left leg, but can't feel a darn thing or move my right leg to save my life. I happily fall back asleep.
4 am: I'm awake when Erin comes in but Alex is still asleep. I'm excitedly nervous. I tell her I could felt something different, but no urge to push yet. She is surprised to find that my water hasn't broken, and she breaks it in order to check my progress. I fist pump when she tells me I'm a 9. Woot! We get another fist pump when she says Little Miss is facing the right direction for delivery now. Woot Woot!
5 am: I am complete (-ly dilated and thinned), Erin reports that the Doc said I can keep resting and let my contractions keep working to bring Little Miss down so I don't have to push so long. Win.
7am: Erin is off shift again... and I get another nurse that I've seen before. I wonder if they are getting sick of me. It is time to push!
7:20 am: As strange as it may seem for some people, I decide I want a mirror to help me see her delivery. It was a great motivator for me to see how much progress I was making while I pushed. It also helped me to know that I was pushing the right way. Doc arrives sometime soon after this. He and the nurse do a great job coaching me and cracking jokes while I rest.
And I can't forget how wonderful Alex was during this process. He got to lift my dead-weight right leg, and accidentally dropped it once. I was still numb enough that it was just funny and didn't give me pins and needles. He was a fantastic coach, and partner. I couldn't have done it without him!
8:15 am: Ok, no one tells you that even with an epidural, pushing hurts! I should have guessed, but I was surprised near the end when I could feel... stretching.
8:32 am: After an hour and a half of pushing, Little Miss arrives in to world with a mighty wail. She turns pink right away and they lay her on a towel on my chest. I am in such shock that it takes me a moment to realize that I should help dry her off. She is wailing away, and just beautiful.
Alex was a great photographer. He was busy snapping pictures away while the doctor was tending to me. I remember at one point I was talking to the doctor and asking him questions about what he was doing and my recovery when it kind of dawned on me that that was MY child on the other side of the room wailing, and I should be asking about her too. So strange!
She weighed in at a healthy 8 pounds 11 ounces, 20 3/4 inches long. And to think I was promised she'd be around seven and a half pounds... Don't worry, I got to give that Doc a hard time a couple days later. :)
I wrote about some of my thoughts on motherhood in this post, so I won't repeat myself too much. But I fell in love with this Little Miss pretty quick.
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