Birth Story of Shepherd

We checked into the hospital on Thursday (Jan. 28th) evening at 6pm. I was soooo nervous and anxious about what was going to happen. After I changed and we got settled the doctor came in. He checked me and then inserted the cervadil inside of me. Ouch! It hurts so bad. It felt like sandpaper. After it was inserted it felt much better. After that we had to wait 12 hours for it to take its full effect. The next morning the doctor checked me and I had not changed. Argh! So they started me on my first round of pitocin. I was worried because I was still thinking I could go natural. It was difficult because I was hooked up to so many monitors and IVs I couldn't walk around easily. We managed to try a few positions right by my bed. I did well though. So around noon my doctor came in to check me. I changed a little, I was 2 cm. Not much of a change. She broke my water and said she'd check back with me in a few hours. The sensation of my water breaking was so bizarre. It kept coming before every contraction. Every 15 minutes the nurse would come in to increase the dose of pitocin. So now I had my water broken and pitocin flowing strong. About an hour after my water broke I was still doing ok with the contractions. Breathing and focusing on other things trying not to think about the pain. After that hour, the contractions came so heavy and very fast. The doctor checked me and I was unchanged! I told Marvin and my Mom, I can't do this. If I had changed some I might think I could, but still... nothing! I made the decision to get the epidural. I felt a little sad I couldn't go natural, but I know I did the right thing. My poor Mom, she had to leave the room when I had bad contractions or when the doctor checked me. She couldn't stand to see me in so much pain. Anyway... they ordered the epidural and we had to wait. It seemed like forever, especially since the contractions were even stronger. I had to focus on Marvin's face and breathe. Wow! I really admire women that have done this naturally. The doctor came in and got the epidural going. It took a while to feel it's effect, so I got to have many more contractions until then. I finally started to relax and feel less. So every 15 minutes they increased the pitocin. We watched the monitor anxiously to see how strong the contractions were. After we hit the top dosage of pitocin the doctor checked me. I was inbetween a 2 and a 3. ARGH! After all of that.... Ok so we had to make a choice. We could stop the pitocin for several hours and start again or go for the c-section. We talked and decided to try another round of pitocin. If that didn't work we were out of options because they had already broke my water and had 18 hours to get him out. So... they restarted the pitocin 3 hours later and increased the dosage every 15 minutes. We we topped out in the early hours of the morning on Saturday. The doctor checked me and.... no change! We put the c-section into motion. It happen very quickly. The nurse got me ready and Marvin put his scrubs on (he looked so handsome!). They were wheeling me out of the room and I was ready to go around 6am. Oh! The night before my sister-in-law Mandy came and she stayed with us the whole night. She was such a HUGE help. Anyway... They got me on the table and prepped me for the c-section. I had that drape in front of me so all I could do is listen. The surgical people were so funny. They made the experience so much better with their good humor and great bed side manner. They brought Marvin in and they got to work. Marvin stood to watch what was going on. After they got to the baby and pulled him out Marvin got a little weak in the knees. They noticed it and told him to sit down. As soon as Shepherd hit the outside he screamed his head off. What a glorious sound!!!! I was sobbing. Marvin was in awe. They showed me the baby over the drape and I squeaked out, "He's not that big!" They all had a good laugh. After they cleaned him they brought the baby to Marvin. He was such a proud Papa. I just kept crying and crying. The baby stopped crying as soon as he was in Marvin's arms. I got so worked up that I had a hard time breathing. The doctor came over and helped me to calm down. Marvin went with Shepherd back to our room (I told him to stay with the baby). The doctors finished closing me up and wheeled me back to the room. Marvin brought me the baby. What an amazing feeling to hold your child the first time. After a few minutes the nurse (a good friend of ours from church. I was so happy to see her there) said she needed to do a few more things with Shepherd. She brought him back a few minutes later and we attempted to breastfeed the first time. It was very awkward. I was still very numb and doped up. But we gave it a good try. The nurse hooked me up to a morphine drip for the pain. I took used the morphine for the first hours but I hated it. I felt sooooo out of it. Shepherd and I were trying to learn how to nurse and I could barely keep my eyes open from the drugs. I decided to stop taking it right then. No more morphine! So I went the rest of the hospital stay without any pain meds. I did have some ibuprofen and that helped enough. When we came home I was given a prescription for pain and I still haven't taken it (I have it just on case). I'm using ibuprofen. I just couldn't stand the way I felt with the meds. Anyway... since we've been home we have gotten to be pros at nursing. We fall in love with Shepherd more and more everyday. My Mom is dreading going home on Sunday. She adores this little guy. So do we!
Well it's been 4 days since we've had our sweet miracle baby. Looking back on the 36 hours of labor and then having the c-section. All the pain and discomfort we went through is long forgotten. I would go through all this again, in a heartbeat, to have Shepherd.