Leo - Part 2

The Epidural

So we finished our card game and I asked for some pain medication. The nurse checked and made sure I was dilated enough for the epidural (I was...barely). They called in Dr. Mark Christopher Simon to give me the epidural...why do I remember his full name you ask? Well once he found out we were having a boy and weren't set on a name yet, he offered any of his three names. I told him that I would have to wait and see how much the epidural helped; if we were going by that alone, Leo would definitely be a Mark...the epidural was great! Getting the epidural didn't hurt nearly as much as I had thought it might and it made receiving the cathedar completely painless.

My legs got pretty heavy and so it was tricky to turn on my sides- I kept switching from one side to the other for Leo's monitoring- but it made it possible for me to rest and almost nap while we were waiting for Leo. Kudos to those women that can or want to go through childbirth without an epidural, but I am a big fan and won't be attempting it without one! :)

Pushing

Nick had been at my side all day and my parents and been in and out. My doctor was going to come by after her regular office hours and hopefully finish the job. She arrived and we started pushing about 7:30pm. I had a great nurse name Kris that coached me well and Nick dove right in to help! At the beginning I couldn't feel too much when to push because of the epidural, however it wasn't long before I could tell- the doctor and nurses would look at the monitor and each other and confer if we should push this contraction or not and I could beat them to it by the end. We pushed 3 sets of 10 seconds each. There were only a few times by the third set, count 7 or so that I thought I couldn't push any longer...for the most part it really wasn't that bad.

Birth

They asked if I wanted a mirror to see the head...are you kidding me? No way! Just get him out! They kept saying they could see the head and finally with one big push his head was out, I felt the doctor kind of twist him or something to get his shoulder out, and then the rest of his little body just slipped out! What a miracle! We looked at the clock- 8:40pm. They weighed him immediately- 9 lbs .07 oz (rounded up to 1 oz). His head was so long from being in the birth canal for so long, but it only took a day or so to get to its nice round shape.

Recovery

After that, it was kind of a blur...I laid there and the doctor finished up with me and the nurses were taking care of our baby boy right next to my bed. Everyone was taking pictures and texting and such, myself included! We called my dad back in from the waiting room and ooh-ed and ahh-ed over the perfect little being that just joined the world. We tried to feed immediately and then baby and Nick headed off to the nursery!

The doctor and nurse finished me up and I got into a wheelchair to be wheeled down to our new room. We passed Nick on the way and sent him to gather up all of our belongings- he joined us shortly in our nice private room and my parents headed out to McDonalds to get me a Big Mac...after a long day with only ice I was dreaming of a Big Mac (which is weird because I have only ever had one in my life and it was a few months ago...I figure being pregnant I had a good excuse to eat one!)

It was getting late, already 10pm or so, and so my parents headed home and my nurse for the night - Stephanie - came in and helped me figure out what was going on and how to make it through the night...both for my sake and little Leo's! There was a pull-out couch for Nick to make a bed on and we soon settled in for night one as a family of three! :)