My Labor Story...
I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE being a mom and having a gorgeous huggable squeezable lovable baby boy! Life has been very different from the moment I left the hospital on October 23. After 5 days of being in the lap of medical care luxury and having my NURSE's button, I am now at home and learning to be a good parent.
Labor Story...
It's long overdue so here's a brief labor story. Friday October 17, my mom had all of our family over at her house to say goodbye to Bianca, RJ's sister. I was due October 14, so 3 days late I decided to go and hang out. Anything to kill the time. I was in my 9th month of pregnancy and miserable as ever. I felt like a water buffalo and waddled everywhere and had to stop every few steps for a deep breath. I gained an unmentionable amount of weight and felt like I was carrying the world first 30lb baby.
My mom's house and being with family was exactly what I needed to feel a little better. every night was hard because you think, gosh I felt no contractions today. I hope tomorrow something happens. Anyways, everyone was at my mom's house. Neil was working late so my aunt had picked me up around 6pm. I started having my contractions in her car while my cousins (aryana and cyrus) screamed and played in the backseat. I was shocked. When I least expect them they decide to come. Whatever. :)
I met Neil over at my mom's and told him that I was having contractions but that they were 45 minutes apart. he seemed excited and chilled with me at my mom's, helping me get through them every so often. It was nice having everyone around though. It made for a good distraction.
I just hung in there and just rolled with the contractions and pretty soon, the pain and intensity of the contractions became a little too much to bare. We headed home and I said bye to my family and everyone kept telling me that it was gonna happen any day. My mom was freaking excited and the look on her face just read, I'm gonna meet my grandson soon :)
I took everyone's advice and labored at home that evening. I was waiting for my contractions to be 5 minutes apart. It was getting late but the contractions were not getting close..
important phone numbers (doctor, hospital etc)....
timing our contractions (this list ended up being 3 pages long by the time we went to the hospital)
At around 3 am, Neil started to fall asleep. I called my mom and she came over. I was up all night in pain, but the contractions were only now 10 minutes apart!! Not close to 5 minutes. Saturday morning, Neil got me some McDonalds breakfast and I don't know what was in my food but my contractions started getting FARTHER APART instead of CLOSER together. I was pissed. So I labored contracting every 45 minutes - 1 hour most of the day. Then again, that evening, the contractions got closer together. At around 11pm, I told my mom and Neil that I was exhausted and wanted to call my doctor. So we did and he told me to go to Good Sam and checkin.
My mom drove me to the hospital while Neil got our dogs situated and packed our bags and pillows. He met us at the hospital about an hour later.
We were checked into our room, filled out all the paperwork then got drugs. I got pain meds (THANKS GOD) thru and IV and was able to finally get some sleep.
Me in my room, waiting to go into real labor :) God I look FAT!
I was barely dilated however I was 100% thinned which was good. My mom said bye and headed home and told me she'd return in the morning. Neil made his bed in my hospital room and we both went to sleep, knowing that our lives were never going to be the same.
Sunday morning came and I was slowly beginning to make progress dilating. The fentanyl pain killer that they gave me wasn't working that well and my contractions were getting stronger. Around 9am, I was put on Pitocin which helps you dilate. It was then that the nurse asked if I wanted an epidural. I was like, already? I was in pain, but not that much. I asked her to just give me another shot of fentanyl but she warned me that it would'nt work. BOY WAS SHE RIGHT. About 30 minutes later, the anesthisiologist came in and hit me up with the wonderful life-saving amazing miracle drug they call EPIDURAL. The shot didn't even hurt!!! It was awesome. From that moment on... Rouge was in labor heavennnn.
I was loving life and thank god I got that epi... because the lower half of my body was no longer mine. It belonged to all the nurses and doctors who were poking and proding around. I just laid there falling in and out of sleep, trying to save my energy for the actual pushing part of labor.
As the day went on, my family started pouring in and out to visit and say hi. They were all dying to meet the baby. When Neil and I got some alone time, we had to talk about the baby name. I looked over at Neil and said, "Babe, what are we going to name our baby? He's going to be here any minute!" and Neil said Leonidus Joshua Parry and the way he said it...the tone of his voice just made it sound beautiful. I was sold on the name at that moment. I was excited that after 41 weeks, we had a name and I was now really ready to meet my little man.
The nurses came in that afternoon around 1pm and looked concerned. I was dilating as expected and my body was reacting well to the pitocin however the baby's heart rate was going bonkers. For the next 8 hours, my doctor and nurses tried to play around with the dosage of pitocin to see if I could dilate and also at the same time monitor the baby's heart rate. The two just didn't seem to go together so around 9pm the doctor said we shouldn't compromise the baby's health. Let's do a c-section. I had to give it to my doctor. He waited almost 8 hours before making that decision and I appreciate the fact that he didn't just do a c-section right away. So on Sunday, October 19, 2008 I was rolled into surgery, along with Neil, all in scrubs. Our families waited in the waiting room, I heard my mom was all in tears :( I had no idea what to expect and I was pissed at myself because I didn't read any of the C-section chapters of the 8 pregnancy books that I had. WHAT THE HECK! I should have at least skimmed a couple of paragraphs. I was going into the unknown, with just some baby story episodes of experience to take with me....
Right before we went into surgery
this picture is hilarious because i swear it captures neil's emotions. He was FRANTIC before we went into surgery....
Our last kiss before we meet the baby:
Quick snapshot of the Operating Room:
I started shaking uncontrollably in the OR and they pumped me up with more and more drugs down my back... or i think it was. I don't remember much at this point because I was so loopy. I was nervous and my teeth were clenched tight. I don't know why but I was just really anxious. I had Neil next to me but god he looked so freaking nervous that I was scared to scare him even more by saying anything. He looked almost franctic. He asked me if I was ready. I smiled and I swear a few minutes later Leonidus entered our world. Neil got to see him first and all of the nurses and doctors were all saying, congrats and told us he's beautiful. The time was officially 9:46pm.
OCTOBER 19, 2008 9:46pm Leonidus Joshua Parry entered the world at a whopping 8 lbs 1 oz, 21 inches long
Neil was asked to look at the baby as they were pulling him out. Neil got to see Leonidus's ass for the first time. It was the most beautiful booty
Neil and Leonidus were then taken to another part of the room where Leonidus was being cleaned off and I was being sewed backup in the meantime. I was in some pain because when they push on your diaphram to get the baby out, it hurts bad. Not cool dude.
Leonidus Joshua Parry's first breath of air:
Getting all kinds of stuff done to him:
soon, I got to meet neil and leonidus in the recovery room. The 3 of us got a moment together and then all of our families started coming in to meet their newest family member!!
Neil and Leonidus waiting for me in the recovery room:
My first time holding Leonidus
The grandmothers first got to meet Leonidus. 2 guests at a time were allowed in the Recovery Room:
Back in our room finally...Leonidus rest. His first nights sleep!
Here's a video clip of Leonidus that we send to my sister from the recovery room. My dad filmed them with his blackberry.
I spent the following 5 days in the hospital and slowly recovered from my surgery. C-sections are no joke. I will write more later but I am glad to have been able to share my labor story with my readers. It's one of the most insane yet magical time of one's life and I loved every minute of it.
Labor Story...
It's long overdue so here's a brief labor story. Friday October 17, my mom had all of our family over at her house to say goodbye to Bianca, RJ's sister. I was due October 14, so 3 days late I decided to go and hang out. Anything to kill the time. I was in my 9th month of pregnancy and miserable as ever. I felt like a water buffalo and waddled everywhere and had to stop every few steps for a deep breath. I gained an unmentionable amount of weight and felt like I was carrying the world first 30lb baby.
My mom's house and being with family was exactly what I needed to feel a little better. every night was hard because you think, gosh I felt no contractions today. I hope tomorrow something happens. Anyways, everyone was at my mom's house. Neil was working late so my aunt had picked me up around 6pm. I started having my contractions in her car while my cousins (aryana and cyrus) screamed and played in the backseat. I was shocked. When I least expect them they decide to come. Whatever. :)
I met Neil over at my mom's and told him that I was having contractions but that they were 45 minutes apart. he seemed excited and chilled with me at my mom's, helping me get through them every so often. It was nice having everyone around though. It made for a good distraction.
I just hung in there and just rolled with the contractions and pretty soon, the pain and intensity of the contractions became a little too much to bare. We headed home and I said bye to my family and everyone kept telling me that it was gonna happen any day. My mom was freaking excited and the look on her face just read, I'm gonna meet my grandson soon :)
I took everyone's advice and labored at home that evening. I was waiting for my contractions to be 5 minutes apart. It was getting late but the contractions were not getting close..
important phone numbers (doctor, hospital etc)....
timing our contractions (this list ended up being 3 pages long by the time we went to the hospital)
At around 3 am, Neil started to fall asleep. I called my mom and she came over. I was up all night in pain, but the contractions were only now 10 minutes apart!! Not close to 5 minutes. Saturday morning, Neil got me some McDonalds breakfast and I don't know what was in my food but my contractions started getting FARTHER APART instead of CLOSER together. I was pissed. So I labored contracting every 45 minutes - 1 hour most of the day. Then again, that evening, the contractions got closer together. At around 11pm, I told my mom and Neil that I was exhausted and wanted to call my doctor. So we did and he told me to go to Good Sam and checkin.
My mom drove me to the hospital while Neil got our dogs situated and packed our bags and pillows. He met us at the hospital about an hour later.
We were checked into our room, filled out all the paperwork then got drugs. I got pain meds (THANKS GOD) thru and IV and was able to finally get some sleep.
Me in my room, waiting to go into real labor :) God I look FAT!
I was barely dilated however I was 100% thinned which was good. My mom said bye and headed home and told me she'd return in the morning. Neil made his bed in my hospital room and we both went to sleep, knowing that our lives were never going to be the same.
Sunday morning came and I was slowly beginning to make progress dilating. The fentanyl pain killer that they gave me wasn't working that well and my contractions were getting stronger. Around 9am, I was put on Pitocin which helps you dilate. It was then that the nurse asked if I wanted an epidural. I was like, already? I was in pain, but not that much. I asked her to just give me another shot of fentanyl but she warned me that it would'nt work. BOY WAS SHE RIGHT. About 30 minutes later, the anesthisiologist came in and hit me up with the wonderful life-saving amazing miracle drug they call EPIDURAL. The shot didn't even hurt!!! It was awesome. From that moment on... Rouge was in labor heavennnn.
I was loving life and thank god I got that epi... because the lower half of my body was no longer mine. It belonged to all the nurses and doctors who were poking and proding around. I just laid there falling in and out of sleep, trying to save my energy for the actual pushing part of labor.
As the day went on, my family started pouring in and out to visit and say hi. They were all dying to meet the baby. When Neil and I got some alone time, we had to talk about the baby name. I looked over at Neil and said, "Babe, what are we going to name our baby? He's going to be here any minute!" and Neil said Leonidus Joshua Parry and the way he said it...the tone of his voice just made it sound beautiful. I was sold on the name at that moment. I was excited that after 41 weeks, we had a name and I was now really ready to meet my little man.
The nurses came in that afternoon around 1pm and looked concerned. I was dilating as expected and my body was reacting well to the pitocin however the baby's heart rate was going bonkers. For the next 8 hours, my doctor and nurses tried to play around with the dosage of pitocin to see if I could dilate and also at the same time monitor the baby's heart rate. The two just didn't seem to go together so around 9pm the doctor said we shouldn't compromise the baby's health. Let's do a c-section. I had to give it to my doctor. He waited almost 8 hours before making that decision and I appreciate the fact that he didn't just do a c-section right away. So on Sunday, October 19, 2008 I was rolled into surgery, along with Neil, all in scrubs. Our families waited in the waiting room, I heard my mom was all in tears :( I had no idea what to expect and I was pissed at myself because I didn't read any of the C-section chapters of the 8 pregnancy books that I had. WHAT THE HECK! I should have at least skimmed a couple of paragraphs. I was going into the unknown, with just some baby story episodes of experience to take with me....
Right before we went into surgery
this picture is hilarious because i swear it captures neil's emotions. He was FRANTIC before we went into surgery....
Our last kiss before we meet the baby:
Quick snapshot of the Operating Room:
I started shaking uncontrollably in the OR and they pumped me up with more and more drugs down my back... or i think it was. I don't remember much at this point because I was so loopy. I was nervous and my teeth were clenched tight. I don't know why but I was just really anxious. I had Neil next to me but god he looked so freaking nervous that I was scared to scare him even more by saying anything. He looked almost franctic. He asked me if I was ready. I smiled and I swear a few minutes later Leonidus entered our world. Neil got to see him first and all of the nurses and doctors were all saying, congrats and told us he's beautiful. The time was officially 9:46pm.
OCTOBER 19, 2008 9:46pm Leonidus Joshua Parry entered the world at a whopping 8 lbs 1 oz, 21 inches long
Neil was asked to look at the baby as they were pulling him out. Neil got to see Leonidus's ass for the first time. It was the most beautiful booty
Neil and Leonidus were then taken to another part of the room where Leonidus was being cleaned off and I was being sewed backup in the meantime. I was in some pain because when they push on your diaphram to get the baby out, it hurts bad. Not cool dude.
Leonidus Joshua Parry's first breath of air:
Getting all kinds of stuff done to him:
soon, I got to meet neil and leonidus in the recovery room. The 3 of us got a moment together and then all of our families started coming in to meet their newest family member!!
Neil and Leonidus waiting for me in the recovery room:
My first time holding Leonidus
The grandmothers first got to meet Leonidus. 2 guests at a time were allowed in the Recovery Room:
Back in our room finally...Leonidus rest. His first nights sleep!
Here's a video clip of Leonidus that we send to my sister from the recovery room. My dad filmed them with his blackberry.
I spent the following 5 days in the hospital and slowly recovered from my surgery. C-sections are no joke. I will write more later but I am glad to have been able to share my labor story with my readers. It's one of the most insane yet magical time of one's life and I loved every minute of it.
