Sunday, June 9, 2013
Monday, January 14, 2013
On Ava
Ava Anne Ipson
Born December 28th at 1:43 PM
6 lbs 11.9 oz, 18 inches
Ava's "story":
Ava was due Christmas Day. By now, I am unhappily resigned to the fact that my babies do not come early, so I knew it was unlikely we'd see her before Christmas. But I prayed and prayed she would come BEFORE Christmas, and then I prayed and prayed she would wait until AFTER Christmas!
A few months ago, my doctor asked me if I wanted to be induced this time. I said "If she doesn't come by the end of the year on her own, then YES!" So we scheduled an induction date for December 28th. Christmas came and went. I was utterly wretchedly uncomfortable, but grateful she didn't come. We pawned the kids off on my parents the night of the 27th, and then headed to the hospital the next morning, bright and early. I made SURE we were on time (we were supposed to be there by 6:30 AM) because I didn't want any chance of being turned away! Thankfully, we weren't!
I got all hooked up to the monitors, and they got the Pitocin started around 7:30 or 8. A colleague of my doctor came in to break my water. THAT was highly unpleasant, I felt like I was peeing my pants, and every contraction would bring a fresh gush of fluid. Yuck. After awhile, the flow seemed to ease up, so my nurse cleaned me up and I begged for my epidural. The anesthesiologist got it in no problem, but only my left side got numb. I got really nauseous and puked my guts out at one point during the morning. The contractions started getting really intense, and since I was only numb on one side, I felt them. I was trying to take slow, deep breaths through them, but mostly I was clinging to the bed rail and sobbing in pain. I was in no way prepared for that kind of pain. The
tweaking the anesthesologist gave the epidural didn't fix the problem, so he had take it
out and then put it in again. Then as the epidural was setting in again, I was heading into a panic attack.
That was a new experience for me. But the doctor and nurse told me to take deep
breaths, so I closed my eyes and did that and was able to calm myself down
reasonably well. But they still stuck an oxygen mask on me. I didn't feel a
thing waist down after that, until I hit transition and then was fighting the
nausea again. But I was ready to go, so we just waited for my doctor to get
there, and then I pushed three times each through three contractions. The top
of her head was out, and my doctor was going to have me wait until the next
contraction to push again, but little Miss wiggled her head out on her
own...eager to get out, I guess! So she just grabbed her and pulled
her out the rest of the way. She jokingly said that Ava delivered herself. And
I felt so much better instantly. No more constant nausea. Not to mention, no
one kicking my ribs or squishing my organs! In fact, the first night I couldn't
fully fall alseep, I just dozed until it was time to nurse Ava again, because
all I could think about was how GREAT I felt! Anyway, they laid her on my
chest, all ooey gooey, and it was wonderful. I cried, in part because I had a beautiful baby girl, and in part because this pregnancy was finally over!!!
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