Labor Day

Monday, June 23, 2008 at approximately 5:15pm, my water broke. It was the beginning of a great adventure. :-)

Monday started out like any other day. Well, kinda...Mary was staying with Geoff and I for a few weeks and that morning I decided to treat us both to a movie. :-) However, I'm a very active person...so we WALKED the 1.5 miles there and 1.5 miles back. lol. Not the SMARTEST idea when I was 39 weeks pregnant and Mary is well...Mary. ;-) She's not that big of a fan for walking.

So we made it there and treated ourselves with Jamba Juice and the new movie "Hancock." Then we walked home. By that time it was 2:30 or 3:00 pm so we decided to take a nap. I woke up at about 5:15pm and felt a huge gush...ew.... so yeah. I called Geoff and off we went to the hospital.

Once we arrived, they placed us in an observatory room. We weren't moved until about 10:30pm and at that point they moved us into a luxury suite (or so it seemed). :-) They checked my cervix and I was only 1.5 cms dialated so they gave me a cervix softener and the contractions began...

The beginning wasn't so bad. The contractions were tolerable but still painful. After a few hours I decided to get some pain medication. They gave me some IV pain medication that just pretty much makes you feel REALLY drunk and then you fall asleep. It was WONDERFUL! :-) The downside...you can only get it 5 times and each time it works less and less. The first time I slept for a full hour. After that though...the meds would only last like 20-30 minutes. Better then nothing I suppose.

Anyways...My cervix was not dialating very well (I was only at 3.5 cms and you're not considered in REAL LABOR until you're at least 4 cms...) so they gave me Pitocin. It's a drug that induces your contractions and they hurt SO much more. At this point I was becoming a bit delusional with pain. I finally made it to 6 cms (at 4pm) and decided it was time for the epidural. Oh boy...

So I had the WORST luck with this epidural. The anesthesiologist that gave it to me had absolutely NO clue what she was doing. She tried it FOUR times and still failed. That's A LOT of needles to be stuck into your back...ugh. It was HORRIBLE. So the more qualified anesthesiologist came in and did it on his first try. Just to give you an idea as to what goes on during an epidural...so...you're in EXTRAORDINARY pain from the contractions and then you have to sit completely still with NO movement and have you back arched the entire time. So I had to do this for 50 minutes! I hate ignorant anesthesiologists.

Once I got the epidural, I was supposed to feel the effects. Well that didn't happen. For whatever reason the epidural wasn't working. So we had to call an anesthesiologist back in to up my dose. Well that took forever. Once she arrived and upped the dose it FINALLY took effect. Then they decided to check my cervix. I WAS 10 CM +1!!!!! So now it was time to push...

Just so you know...once the epidural takes effect...you have NO control over your lower body. Literally. I was numb as can be. It was HORRIBLE! Geoff and my mom had to physically pick up my lower body and put it into position to push. (I had been laying on my side). This was around 7:30pm. I tried pushing but couldn't feel anything, so we decided to wait a little. So around 8:20 pm I decided to try pushing again. :-) YAY!!!! It was working!

Shelby Brooke Kniesch was born at 8:55 pm on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 weighing in at 8 pounds 7.6 ounces and was 20.5 inches long!