There was a girl in one of my classes at BYU who had a little baby boy and I overheard her say once, "I cannot get pregnant again until I have forgotten how painful it was to have my first baby because that pain was so bad."
Aaak! That scared me out of my mind to hear that!
So, I was hugely relieved when after I gave birth to Ella I thought back on what had just happened and I can definitely say that I would totally go through that again.
You want to hear the weird thing? Giving birth to Ella was kind of a fun! The pushing part was probably the funnest part of all. Although, there definitely were some painful parts too.
K, so for your reading pleasure and since I know you are just dying to hear the details, here is kind of how it went:
The contractions were coming regularly by Thursday morning.
It wasn't until Friday morning that they started to sort of hurt.
By Friday night (as we were watching Corpse Bride) I had tears streaming down my face with each contraction and I was squeezing the life out of Adam's hand-- insane amounts of pain.
But my contractions were coming every six minutes and not every five minutes, which is what I needed to have in order for the hospital to admit me.
Adam was going crazy with how helpless he felt and finally at 9pm, he declared that we were going to the hospital, whether or not my contractions were five minutes apart.
Adam was going crazy with how helpless he felt and finally at 9pm, he declared that we were going to the hospital, whether or not my contractions were five minutes apart.
They had mercy on me and let me be admitted and called that blessed epidural man to come to my room.
Epitome of pain: being in the middle of a contraction while having a nurse-in-training spend five minutes digging an IV needle into my arm, trying to get it placed into "that vein that keeps disappearing."
Dying seemed like a favorable alternative to the situation.
Adam distracted me from seriously considering that alternative, he had jumped to his feet and had a look on his face that guaranteed the death of the nurse-in-training if she continued to stab his wife with her vicious needle. Afraid for the nurse's life, I focused on making myself look calm so that Adam would sit back down.
(Two weeks after having Ella I still had a massive purple and green bruise on my arm that made people stop to ask what on earth attacked me)
Dying seemed like a favorable alternative to the situation.
Adam distracted me from seriously considering that alternative, he had jumped to his feet and had a look on his face that guaranteed the death of the nurse-in-training if she continued to stab his wife with her vicious needle. Afraid for the nurse's life, I focused on making myself look calm so that Adam would sit back down.
(Two weeks after having Ella I still had a massive purple and green bruise on my arm that made people stop to ask what on earth attacked me)
The epidural man came, I would have danced for joy and kissed his feet but I didn't want to disconnect the IV that took so long to get into that disappearing vein.
Epidurals are probably THE best invention that have ever graced this earth. Honestly.
Mere minutes after the epidural the contractions had more than doubled in severity-- moms who go all-natural are amazing.
Life was bliss after that. I slept better while in labor than I had ever slept in the previous nine months.
One thing that made the event even more awesome: listening to Michael Buble Christmas music on my ipod while I slept.
Baby Girl's heartbeat was slowing down so I had to wear an awesome oxygen mask so that she would wake up and keep on trying to push herself out.
At 5 AM my doctor (who is so amazing-- I LOVED him!) came in and declared me fully dilated
Around 5:30 AM I started pushing. It didn't hurt a single bit (because I couldn't feel anything below my waist), but it was exhausting
The doctor and the nurses were joking around and laughing with me and Adam even while I was pushing! After every push they complimented me on my pushing skills and then demanded that I push even harder next time. The nurses and doctor were so nice-- it was fun!
5:58 AM: Ella arrived!
They put her screaming little body onto mine and she quieted down and just cuddled with me. It was very surreal to think that the little feet now curled up on my tummy used to be the ones kicking fiercely inside of my tummy.
It's still hard to believe that this little girl is my daughter and not some ridiculously adorable girl that I've just been asked to babysit.
(Yes, I was just as exhausted as I look-- I could hardly keep my eyes open at that point)
"She is so beautiful." Adam and I seriously said that about two hundred times in the next 24 hours. We were smitten with her right away.
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