He's HERE!!

Alright!  Here's the story!

6:15 we checked into the hospital.  We got the paperwork all signed and met our fantastic nurses.  We LOVED C and M!!  They got me settled in, took my vitals and all that and poked me.  I don't know what exactly it was -- the needle stick?  The warm room?  The anticipation?  The fact that I hadn't eaten or drunk (ugh, what is that past participle?) anything since about 10 pm the night before?  But I started feeling VERY lightheaded.  They actually ended up putting oxygen on me as well as a cold compress.  JJ said I did not look good - all white.  I eventually turned around and they started pitocin.  My doctor came in around 7 am and my water was broken around 7:15.  My doctor asked me about an epidural.  She said that she anticipated things to move pretty quickly so if I wanted one I should think about doing it sooner rather than later.  I asked a few questions like don't epidurals slow down labor?  She said that actually sometimes people without an epidural get stuck at a stage and can't get through it because they're so tense.  The nurses also were super supportive of me going naturally but said that in their opinions epidurals were the way to go.

I pondered it some more with JJ, who was like, dude, you've done it naturally why not try the epidural?  After already feeling so faint in the morning I decided it just wasn't worth trying to stick it out.  AND then I got an epidural about 8:15 am!  The anesthesiologist came up right away and began reviewing my charts.  He was concerned a little with my prior history (HELLP/low hemoglobin generally/feeling faint already this morning) but after reviewing my chart he felt like everything would be just fine.  He began prepping me and it was SO EASY.  It was not painful at all -- the oddest thing actually was sitting up and hunching over and having practically all of my amniotic fluid burst out!  The nurses were like, oops, we should've warned you that would happen!

Then I just rested and relaxed.  JJ and I were ecstatic to find that Bravo was doing a Top Chef marathon!  We don't get Bravo and love that show!  I ended up falling asleep and then WHAM.  About 10:00 I woke up with a startle as people started pouring into the room.  My nurse (C) was all over me rubbing my belly saying, "Come on baby!  Come on baby!"  The other nurse (M) said, "Baby's just not so happy right now.  We're trying to make him happy again."  Two more nurses accompanied my regular nurses as well as two nurse anesthetists and an anesthesiologist.  Then an OB on the floor came in.  The whole while I was just totally out of it not sure what was going on.  They tried turning me on my right side.  Nope.  Left side.  Nope.  What about on my hands and knees?  This was interesting.  By this time I could not feel my legs... at all... So some people had to hoist me up.  I was crying just so not sure what was happening. 

Eventually we found out that baby's heartrate had gone to 60.  It was comforting to know that the nurses responded so quickly.  As his heartrate went back up, up, up to mostly the 120s, my doctor, who had come in at some point in the commotion, checked me.  In just a little bit of time, I had dilated two cm at once.  Also, the medical staff was wary of how baby was responding to the pitocin.  A third thing was that baby didn't seem to like me lying on my back.  So.  Pitocin was shut off.  I was told to lay on my left side.  And also, the epidural was shut off in the commotion - everyone was preparing for me to have a c-section.   

With baby comfortably hanging out in the 120s (and me now watching the heartrate monitor like a hawk!) we just sort of hung out for a while.  My contractions lessened (with no pitocin) BUT I started being able to feel them.  And feel them.  And feel them.  JJ asked the nurse at one point why the epidural was off.  She was like, "It shouldn't be!"  He reminded her that it had been shut off during "the commotion".  She quickly got in touch with my doctor and the anesthesiologist, who said to turn it back on.  The pitocin was also started again at a much lower "dose".  Baby's heart rate would go lower at times (never back to 60 again) and pitocin was dropped down and then gradually increased, etc.  I continued to feel every contraction so the anesthesiologist was called again (a different one).  This guy came up and said that I shouldn't still be feeling them.  He gave me a bolus of meddies and, well, let's just say that did the trick.  Now not only could I not feel my contractions, but I could no longer feel my legs at all OR be able to move them.  At all.  That got to be a little interesting!

The rest was just totally smooth sailing.  At 1:45 I was at a "9 +" and the nurse prepped my room.  The nurse had me do a "practice push" and the top of the head was out!  Randomly my doctor called my nurse right at that moment and she said, "YES!  Come over right now!"  The nurse (with JJ in total agreement!) told me to sit out the next few contractions.  Sure, whatever, I couldn't feel them anyways.  At 2:00 I started to push and at 2:15 on the nose, Mr. CEJ was crying!!!  It was SUCH an easy delivery.  I am now the poster child for an epidural, let me tell you!  My recovery time was so minimal -- the worst part afterward was (IS) the cramps (I was told they're worse with every pregnancy).

So that's the story!  More details about CEJ and BIG SISTER MVJ to come!