The Agony & The Ecstasy

The Ecstasy:

Ruby Elizabeth Wilson came into the world on Wednesday, Oct. 8th at 5:07AM! She weighed 6lbs 9oz, 18 inches long, and much to my surprise, she was born with a head full of brown hair! She is beautiful and angelic and her brothers just want to hold her and kiss her all the time.

The Agony:

For those of you who like to hear all the miserable details of labor and delivery, I will recount them now. For any of you who read my previous blog entry, you know that I've been feeling miserable and especially anxious for the last week. My due date wasn't until October 23rd, but both of my boys were 2 weeks early. . .and I just knew it was getting really close. My body was so ready. My doctor has been telling me for more than a week that I was getting so close and progressing so well. . .which actually made things seem slower.

Anyway, at my 38 week appointment on Tuesday, the doctor tells me that he doesn't think I'll make it to my next appointment. He says I am so close and he decides to go ahead and strip my membranes. For any of you who have experienced that, it is miserable. I felt horrible the rest of the day. I felt nauseous and was having really severe contractions. As yucky as I felt, I got anxious and thought I was having some progress. So, my Mom and I decided to go walking up by Bridal Veil falls to help send me over the edge. Well, during my walk I actually felt much better and stopped having contractions. Darn it. I went to bed without any contractions.

At 3AM the following morning (Wednesday), I suddenly wake up because I think my water broke. It was just a little bit, I wasn't even sure what had happened. I didn't even feel any contractions. . . .and then it hit me! It all progressed so quickly. I was just going to wait and hang out as long as I could stand it. I hadn't even awakened Michael at this point. But, then it started happening so quickly that I had to act fast. I packed my bags, called my Mom to come over, woke up Michael, and headed off to the hospital by 4AM. I let Michael stop at Walker's to get a drink, I thought we had plenty of time (my labor with my last child lasted like 15 hours), but by the time we got to the hospital, which is like 8 mins away, I was screaming in pain. The contractions were so fast and long and horrible. It seemed to take forever for them to assess me and decide I was actually in labor. Come on people I need drugs!!! It was getting to be unlike any labor I had ever before experienced. It was horrible! I was screaming and crying and the nurses had to teach me how to breathe, even how to scream. (Apparently you are supposed scream at a low pitch, and grunt, rather than high pitched squealing.) So, the anesthesiologist comes to give me my epidural, and I was shaking so hard and crying and the nurse had to teach me some lamaze breathing technique so that I wouldn't bear down too soon. Well, in the process of prepping me for the epidural they realize that the baby was coming out and I did not have time for an epidural. So he decides to give me a spinal block as quickly as possible. Even though it was happening so quickly, there was no way in hell I wanted to do it naturally. Before my legs were even completely numb, I was pushing the baby out. (My doctor didn't even have time to get to the hospital.) The baby's heart rate started dropping, so they just had me push nonstop as hard as I could. The doctor called for forceps. . .that freaked me out, so I pushed my little guts out and she finally popped out! (Forceps weren't needed afterall, but I did have a major episiotomy.) I had pushed for less than 5 minutes--about 55 minutes less than my previous baby. It was crazy and awesome!

I actually consider it a much harder and more painful labor than anything I had ever before experienced, but it went so fast! It kind of left me and Michael both in shock. We were like, "Seriously, that's it? We did it?" And yes, there are many who might say, "You could've done it naturally. The drugs only worked for the last 10 minutes." But, that spinal block was like a gift from God. I shudder to think of what it might have been like to do it "naturally." I experienced more labor than I'd ever intended to. I can not believe that women have done this "naturally" every day since the dawn of time.

So that was my agony. I thought it was frightening and awful, and I behaved like a deranged lunatic. But, you just can't beat a two-hour from start to finish labor and delivery. Ruby and I both came through it healthy and happy.

She is so tiny, even her newborn size clothes don't fit.
This one looks a lot like baby pictures of me. Her hair almost looks red in this picture, too.
They never leave this poor kid alone. She has already been smooshed, smashed, poked, licked, nearly stepped on, etc. . . But, someday they will be the ones protecting her!

P.S. For those of you who participated in my blog poll "Vanessa vs. Natalie"--I apologize that your input was not needed or even considered. The name Ruby just kind of hit me a week or so ago, and I fell more in love with it every day.