All the gory details...

Well, I have been pretty worn out so it has taken me time to get to the computer.

It all started Saturday night. 1am contractions started 10 minutes apart. Just enough to keep me from sleeping a wink. At 6am I go to get Dave. I told him I wanted him to cuddle me and keep track of the contractions. He put his arms around me for about 2 minutes and rolled over and went to sleep. Thanks!!! A few minutes later Josie was yelling for him. (We need to work on that!) So I was all alone, and they moved to 5 minutes apart. So after about an hour of that I was hungry, got up and ate some Cheerios. They stopped. So I was excited to get some sleep. Isn't that an odd feeling? I laid down and they were 5 minutes apart again. So I got up in utter frustration and showered. They stopped. So if I laid down they started if I got up they stopped. Not exactly conducive to sleep.

I had contractions all day Saturday, a couple an hour. Just enough to keep me awake through the day. Sunday night I slept 11pm-4am, then they started 10 minutes apart again. I got up and showered and they stopped. AhhhhHHH!HH!HH!!!!!!!!!! So I was up for the day. I did get an hour nap in that morning while Dave watched the kids and we all skipped church. I continued to have contractions all day. Sunday night I was up to the bathroom about 5 times between when I laid down and about 1am when contractions were about 5 minutes apart. At 2:30 they started to be 2-3 minutes apart. I showered and had contractions the whole time. I ate a snack. They continued. I took a bath and they continued. So I couldn't get them to stop. I remember laying in the tub and yelling "HELP! Dave!!! HElP!!!" Nothing. I was so tired. And so in labor I was sure I was going to deliver all alone in the tub and at that point I had no qualms about it.

I finally got out of the bath and told Dave we needed to go. He asked me questions like, "What about the kids?" "What about calling Christen?" I figured he would know that he had to take care of all of this. My frustration was at an all time high. I just wanted to go.

So I just sat in the car. I remember just being super hot and wanted the keys. Dave was inside what seemed to be forever. Finally the kids were in the car and we took off. Dave dropped me off at the hospital ER entrance and brought the kids to our friend's David and Christen's house. I was miserable.

They put me in a room and it took about 2 hours for them to come back to me. I was thirsty. Finally they came in. Then were going to help me to the bathroom. As I got to the doorway of the bathroom a really strong contraction came on and a held the doorway. She said that they would check me before helping me into my gown. I was only 3-4 cm and 80%. I was pretty disappointed. Dave got there shortly after.

At about 6:30 I got a doula. She was off at 7am. So about 8:45 we got Lisa and she was awesome the entire time. I have had a dream of a normal, textbook labor that I could do naturally, but started to lose hope already. Lisa was great in keeping me moving and trying new positions and getting the baby to move down and dialate me. At about 11:30 am they checked me and I was 4-5cm and "very thin". The nurse said that I had to move the baby to the center since he was on the right not pressing down evenly. So I laid on my side and he moved over. Things were hard. I was tired. They wouldn't let me eat. I was just so frustrated and worn out. I asked for an epidural. Lisa had been at lunch and I think she was disappointed for a while. She worked so hard with me. Later she told me she understood because I was so tired. It took over 2 hours for the anesthesiologist to get there. I was getting even more mad and frustrated. I had to have at least 2 people press on my lower stomach and back at the same time with each contraction. It was an extreme belt of pain around me. Like the back labor I had with the other 2, but all around me.

I finally got the epidural. People never talk about how much that hurts, but it burns to get it. I had contractions during it. And when the actual epidural went in I felt shooting pains down my left leg and my leg started kicking out. They laid me down and it took about 5 minutes to really work. It made my legs feel like they were 500 lbs each. And then the pain went away. I was then pretty happy. Just super starving. I can't believe they make a woman work so hard with nothing to energize her. I got a popsicle and that was it.

About 5pm they checked me and I was 8cm and completely effaced. I started feeling the contractions completely again. As if I didn't have the epidural at all. So I called for the doc right away. It took about 45 minutes for him to come. I started feeling a lot of pressure. Lisa said don't say anything about pressure or he won't give me a redose. Finally I got it and had relief. I was still starving since it had been 24 hours since I ate.

About an hour later they checked me and I was ready to go. I did one practice push and she said it was perfect. One more push the baby was through the birth canal. And then we waited about 30 minutes for the doc and tech to be ready. One more small push, the doc told me to just do a small one. I looked in the mirror and was crowning already. I was pretty shocked. He told me not to push, but my body with the intense contractions was slowly pushing him out on it's own. I just saw his head come slowly out. They suctioned him out and then said, "Just a super small "grunt" push." I did and he was out. Dave said, "It's a boy!"

Dave had been 'down there' the entire time and had a sour look on his face. They had the baby down on the bed and all I could see was an occassionally red leg pop up. It had been Dave's job to keep me from tearing and he knew that I did so he felt bad. When I was thinking something bad or super disgusting happened. I ended up with a second degree tear.

Dave ran to Subway for me. Thanks!! I ate a whole footlong which I don't think I have ever done. He kept saying, "If you need help with that..." You have got to be kidding me!!

My nurse was supposed to be off at 7pm. And said she could stay until 11pm if they needed her. Zachariah was born at 7:16pm. She stayed at least until 10:15. She tried to get my epidural out but it bothered me when she touched it gently. So she took out my heparin lock. And then I never saw her. She was a great nurse.

So I sat there and nursed and nursed and nursed. I was supposed to shower. I couldn't move my legs yet. My butt started to hurt. Can you imagine sitting in the same position for 5 hours? Well, that's what happened. Not only the stiches, my butt muscles hurt from not moving.

I couldn't put him down because I couldn't twist on my bottom to put him in the bassinet. I kept bonking him on the side. So we were stuck. At 12:30 I called for help. I got my ice pack changed. I got Motrin. And washed up a bit. Things get pretty messy when you have no bladder control and bleeding a lot after 5 hours. Pretty much inhumane. Then she started actually checking on me. At 3am I showered and that felt so good. I moved to my recovery room. I still had problems with my left leg being numb. But I made it.

The nurse in the recovery room spoke so loudly. She went over all this discharge papers and stuff. It was ridiculous. I was just so tired. I didn't care.

At 4:30 I was hungry and Zachariah couldn't get enough milk. So I got a turkey sandwich. I also couldn't get enough to drink. It was crazy. The nurses aide probably thought I was doing something with the ice water. At 6am people started coming in and doing the checks and all. So no sleep again.

Through the morning I had tons of docs come in. Then it was breakfast time. That was actually nice to just make a call and have them bring whatever food I wanted. But I really just wanted to sleep.

Zachariah continued to nurse and nurse and nurse. He just wanted to be held. I was worned that if I dozed I had to put him in the bassinet. He didn't want the bassinet. He wanted me. So no sleep during that nurses shift. The kids came later with their "Big Sister" and "Big Brother" shirts on. And they had gone to Build A Bear and made a big dog and little dog for Zachariah. I changed Zachariah into his "Little Brother" shirt and got the pictures.

We gave Zachariah his first bath and he peed in both of our faces. I had called the nursery for a tub or something and they said that they already bathed him. I said, "No, he hasn't been away from me. You didn't have him in the nursery." I wouldn't let him leave me.

That night at 6pm the hospital had a special dinner for me and Dave. Asher had fallen asleep, Josie was overly tired. So we ate our "romantic" dinner like that. It was pretty not bad for hospital food. I had Chicken Cordon Bleu and Dave had Coconut Crusted Talapia.

They headed out right after that.

Zachariah and I watched the Olympics with Phelps numerous record breaking, gold medal performances. Then nighttime. He nursed all night long. No sleep for mama again. He was just really confused on day and night. So about 6am I fell asleep with him in my arms. I woke up at 7:30 with someone coming into the room. No sleeping for mama rule, it really sucks.

The checks and etc started for us then. And then Zachariah had to get a shot, PKU test and hearing test. I just went back to the nursery without asking. There were 14 screaming babies and 1 Nurse Practictioner checking them out. It broke my heart. I said to one little girl, "It's OK..." And the NP asked my nurse to bring me to the other side of the desks. It was heartbreaking. I couldn't believe other mothers let their children go without them. He passed his hearing test and had the other test and shot. And then they checked him over again.

We got back to the room and I called Dave. I just wanted out. It was now Wed and I had gone too many days with no sleep. They eventually got there and I was out about noon.

Zachariah continues to be a incredible, amazing little boy. He just wants to be held and nurse. Easy enough.

Even though things were rough from the time Dave left for Iraq right after I found out I was pregnant...6 months with 2 toddlers all alone. I swore I didn't want to be pregnant again. But holding him makes me kind of sad to think this may be the last newborn. And it makes me sad that I will miss these days with our China born baby.