Waiting: Blake's Birth Story Part 2

Part One
My nerves were at an all time high, for a few reasons.
One, I was laying in the labor and delivery room,
Two, Contractions were steadily getting more intense and hard,
And three, I knew that eventually I was going to have to push out a baby...
and that TERRIFIED me!
I was so extremely excited to be done with this scary thing called child birth, 
I was ready to not be pregnant anymore
and mostly I was ready to meet the sweet baby inside of me.
BUT 
We had a lot of waiting left to do.
And waiting isn't really good for nerves.
Like I mentioned I got induced at 2:00pm on friday afternoon.
The doctor said that the balloon things would be ready to come out after 12 hours.
by that time I should be dilated to about a 4 or 5 
Then they would give me an epidural if I wanted one
and then pitocin to get things progressing faster.
So we waited. 
I learned what it means to breathe through contractions.
Breathing definitely helps... but only so much. 
Both of our families started making their way to Rexburg to be here for Blake's arrival  into this world.
My mom showed up later that night, and it was nice to have her there for a little extra support :)
I had them crank the AC way up because I was so warm!
Spencer got a little chilly


I finally got some sleep thanks to some wonderful something that they put into my IV :)
At 2:00am Saturday morning they came in to remove the balloons, break my water, and start my epidural.
I was a little nervous for the epidural but way excited not to feel anything.
I held on to spencer's hands tight when they put in the needle,
and surprisingly I hardly felt a thing! 
The most painful part about the whole process was trying to sit still through contractions!
Pretty soon I couldn't feel anything on the lower half of my body
which was awesome!
Except for the parts when I needed to roll over 
and Spencer and my mom had to each grab a leg to flip me to the side.



One time when Spencer left to get some breakfast, my blood pressure dropped and the baby's heart rate dropped too, 
I got really dizzy and couldn't really hear or see anything.
So the doctor and nurses started rushing around, 
They changed my position, gave me an ice pack
and put me in an oxygen mask for a little while!  
Spencer was pretty surprised to see this when he came back!
Although this picture makes it look scarier than it really was...


One of the best parts about the whole experience was getting to have Spencer with me the whole time :)
He is my best friend and greatest support.
I sure love him



As the morning continued, and my cervix became more dialated,
I started to feel a little more than I was supposed to be feeling after having an epidural.
We got the anesthesiologist to come in and they decided that I must just need a higher dosage.
So they pumped me full of more.
But it didn't change anything at all!
(not a very comforting thing when you're 6 centimeters and pushing is in the nearish future!!!)



So I continued to breath through contractions for a few more hours,
Wondering why this epidural wasn't doing its job...
Then all of the sudden I felt a little trickle down my back.
like there was water running down it.
So I told Spencer and he looked and sure enough there was fluid coming out of the epidural site!
It had slipped out!!
No wonder I was feeling things!!
So in came the anesthesiologist again, and she took out the old one and stuck me again with that big old needle. 
luckily I couldn't really feel that one either,
I was just ready to stop feeling the contractions!
Finally I was completely numb,
and it was back to waiting.
As things continued to progress we just kept getting more and more excited to meet our little boy.
And become the family that we always dreamed of becoming.


The doctor came and checked me and I was finally 7 Centimeters dialated.
Usually this means that pushing is pretty close, 
because I should have progressed pretty quickly from there
But an hour later...
I was still 7 Centimeters
a few more hours later...
 I was still 7 centimeters!
Thank goodness my epidural was working properly or all of those cervix checks wouldn't have been very pleasant. 

At about 1:30pm Saturday afternoon
I had been sitting at 7 Centimeters for about 5 hours.
The doctor told us that a C-section was probably going to be the only option.
He said that we could choose to start the C-section right away, or we could give it a half hour to see if I would miraculously progress further.
and if I didn't... then we needed to go through with the C-section to keep everything safe for the baby.
I was crushed.
I wanted the experience of a vaginal birth so badly.
So we told him we would give it the extra half hour.

But then after he left, 
and we got to talking
Me and Spencer decided that a C - Section would be okay,
 and it would probably be the best thing for our baby.
So we told the doctor so that they could get things started right away.
I was so sad.
The last thing in the world that I wanted was a C - section
It seemed like the scariest thing in the world to me at that moment. 
But we knew it was the right thing for us to do.
Spencer called his dad to come to the hospital, 
So that they could give me a blessing.
All of our family that had already arrived came too
(My dad was still on the way)
It was so comforting for me in that moment to have all of them there :)



This picture was taken right before they wheeled me into the operation room



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