Ah, sweet labor. I don't care what anyone says, childbirth hurts a lot. I keep explaining it as being as painful and arduous as running 2 marathons, studying for the Bar Exam, and dating into the mid-30's-- but much, much worse. We ended up having a C-section when my body failed to dilate after hours of contractions and drugs. For me, the experience was overwhelming because it was such a roller coaster: one minute we would have a victory-- such as getting an epidural or learning my body dilated to 3 on its one-- and then agonizing news the next time we talked to the doctor-- such as the baby is in distress during contractions, which were coming every 2.5 minutes. I have no words for how I experienced the C-section, but as soon as I have them, I will broadcast them to the world. I adore my daughter and am thrilled she's here safe and sound, and having yourself sliced open and your internal organs jostled about and then stapled such was a traumatizing experience for me. I have never had major surgery or spend the night in the hospital and now I have to use phrases like "my incision" and "my pain meds" and "my catheter." While I am glad we went the C-section route to keep Sadie and me safe, I am very sad that the pain and the after effects are so distracting and painful, especially when all I want to do is hang out with my baby and be her mommy. Much more to come on this.
Here are two angels who helped carry me, Jeff and Sadie during our labor and beyond. These troopers spent the whole night with us. I heard that Joyce (right) used a table cloth to wrap herself in while we were prepping for our C-section and the support crew tried to get some sleep. I am also slightly devastated that Sadie's Angels were not able to join us for her live birth experience, which was the plan had I been able to have a vaginal birth. I am deeply grateful for these ladies for brushing my hair, rubbing my feet, praying with me, and being around during some scary times when I had to come to grips with the biggest surrenders I have ever have to make.
Here's Krista bravely giving my hair some loving after about 20 hours of laboring. She's got nerves of steel and a very light touch, which is more than I can say for some of those anesthesiologists, but again, that's another post.
Jeff and I snuggling up before we got the news about my body not quite progressing. Lucky for Jeff, this was BEFORE my epidural wore off so I was game for a little visitor in my bed for the sake of a photo op. Five hours from the picture was a totally different story and I didn't want anyone touching me or talkinng to me. Drugs were a good decision for me and that was never more clear then when they wore off.
The full complement of Sadie's Angels-- Joyce, Trish and Krista. If you think it takes a village to raise a child, I am here to tell you that it takes at least a village to get them out of the womb. I assure you without these women, Sadie would be an only child. She may be anyway, but her future siblings only have a chance of being born because these ladies kept my spirits up, my eyes on the prize, and my hair shiny and styled.
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