Once they got my epidural started, I was able to sleep off and on through some of the night. Mr. MOTH camped out in the chair next to the bed – occasionally getting me ice chips or a cool cloth. I’m pretty sure my parents were there, but I don’t actually remember seeing them until after the delivery. My MIL and SIL stayed for a little while, but they cut out before delivery (and came back shortly after).
I should also mention at this point that the head of the department was one of the doctors who came and checked on me periodically. I honestly believe if not for him, this story would end differently. It’s also important to note Mr. MOTH’s stance on this whole delivery situation. He was pretty adamant that he wouldn’t really be “involved” in the whole thing…just kind of a by-stander. You know, hold my hand, get me ice chips, but absolutely no viewing of the actual birth. HAHAHAHAHAHA!
I was finally allowed to start pushing around 5AM. And I pushed. And pushed. And pushed. At one point the nurse put my foot in Mr. MOTH’s hand (as they were the only two in the room) and he got a front row seat. Needless to say he was a trooper. At 7AM, it was shift change. Apparently, being in the middle of delivery doesn’t qualify someone to stay and I had a whole host of new folks make an appearance. The “new” doctor was, in fact, new. He hadn’t been at this facility very long and, as I mentioned, the head of the department had been monitoring me (he apparently doesn’t follow shifts). This means that my new doc had something to prove. I literally could have killed him, had I had the strength or the means. At one point he told me that I obviously wasn’t trying hard enough. WTF?!?! Who says that to a laboring woman unless they have a serious death wish?!?! He also had two (female) residents assisting who really should have given him some advice after that one. I was pretty good about watching my language but at one point I looked down and said, “Right now, I don’t like ANY OF YOU!!” Finally, they decided they needed to use a vacuum. Not what I wanted, but really there was no choice. He told me I got three pushes with the vacuum assistance and then we would have to do an emergency C-section. At one point I looked up at Mr. MOTH and realized he was crying. THIS was enough to scare the sh*t out of me. I have never before (or since) seen him cry. He later told me that was after he had seen the doc put the vacuum on the baby’s head and then put his foot up on the bed to get better leverage while he pulled on it. Nice. Finally Oldest Boy was born on the second push over three hours after the pushing started and 31 hours after labor had begun. But, about 15 minutes after his birth, Mr. MOTH asked if I was ready to do it again and I answered, without hesitation, “Yes. In a heartbeat.” We found out that the reason for the difficult delivery was because instead of being face-down, he was face-up which caused him to get more or less stuck. There was a lot of tearing (4th degree lacerations, if you know what that means) and while they were doing the, uh, repair I told the doctors that I liked them a lot better now!
Oldest Boy was pretty marked up from the delivery and he ended up with moderate to severe jaundice. We brought him home, in a blizzard of course, on a wallaby blanket (which is a UV blanket used to cure the jaundice). A visiting nurse was supposed to come to take his blood and monitor his bilirubin levels to let us know when we could stop using the blanket. She called the day after we brought him home and told us she couldn’t get out because of the storm. Nice. So, instead, we packed him into my SIL’s SUV (because of the 4WD) and headed up to the local hospital. Thank goodness we live in Hicksville, USA because at the hospital they gave my SIL all of the necessary supplies and she was able to draw his blood at home the next day (something she did daily at work) and then drive it up to the hospital lab for testing instead of us having to drag a NEWBORN BABY out AGAIN! He recovered nicely and is now my incredible, funny, sensitive, sweet, wild, inquisitive, adorable 6-year-old! And our lives were never the same again…
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