Asa's Birth Day

I'm pretty sure some of the numbers are off, but here is the general story of all the convincing it took to welcome Asa into the world!

The hospital had us come in on Sunday night at 11:00 and I was at 1 and not effaced. By midnight they started cervidil. The midwife really wanted to give it a full 12 hours to work. She checked me again and I was 1-1.5 but still closed for the top half of the cervix. I think we were 20 or 40% effaced or so at that point. We'd been up most of the night because Asa kept squirming away from the monitor and the nurse would have to come adjust it. Around noon, the midwife ordered another round of cervidil for 12 more hours, assured me we would be at 2 and 70% by the end of the night, and that then we would start pitocin and an epidural if I wanted (and trust me, to me the word "pitocin" = "epidural"). Well, I did get to 2 and 70%, but she didn't keep her end of the deal. Suddenly she said they don't give epis until 4 cm. I was in active labor on my own--cervidil had worn off--and breathing hard through every contraction, and they were 2 or so min. apart. She wanted to start the pitocin and see what happened. It took less than 30 minutes to kick in, and I now know why people have such strong feelings of dislike for pitocin! I would not wish med-free pictocin contractions on my worst enemy. She still wouldn't give me an epi; she would only agree to Stadol, which I really didn't want--I hate feeling loopy like those kinds of meds make you feel. But after 24 hours of labor, contractions 1 min. apart that my mom said were like HER transition contractions, I had to have something. They did the stadol, I slept for 4 hours with CRAZY dreams that I can only equate to what an acid trip must be like, and then I woke up. At that point, she still wouldn't give me an epi, but said I could have another stadol. It lasted one hour, and labor was so intense my mom apparently left the room because she couldn't stand it. I have to laugh looking back on one hand, because apparently one of my coping mechanisms was to categorize the contractions in my head (isn't that just like me...as my dad said, to create a taxonomy of contractions in my doped up state?). I had them all grouped by length and intensity, and I would think to myself, "Oh, there's one of THOSE contractions," etc., but I had names for each type. The hardest type I called "the big man" contractions" in my head. I remember thinking, "There's ANOTHER big man contraction?! These are all big man contractions... What happened to all the other ones?" once they were ALL the most intense, back-to-back type. I also knew I was in for crazy dreams the second round of Stadol and said to Matt, "If you were in my Stadol dreams, we would have a REALLY good time." At the same time, I totally remember starting to think to myself at several points once the pitocin started--and especially once the second stadol wore off, "I can't do this," but not finishing the thought. I knew if I did, I would not be able to breathe and try to focus through the contractions and then I would lose what little control I had to get through them. The next midwife came on and saved the day! She said I was ready for a epi no matter how dilated I was, but in fact I was at 4 and 90%. I did not know HOW I was going to hold still for the epi, but God allowed me to do it. They actually had to do it twice, though the doctor was awesome (I'm not just saying that because he took way the pain. We were blown away by the care of several people at the hospital). The first time, I had a contraction right when the epidural was going in, and apparently contractions make your blood vessels swell. So, he went into a vessel instead of the epidural space. He got it placed right the second time, and the midwife and nurse said it must have been a really good placement because I couldn't feel, but I had good control of my legs. I slept for about 2 hours, and then they checked me and I was complete! The nurse had me do a set of 3 test pushes with one contraction to see where Asa was and how things were going. With that one contraction he moved down to where you could see his hair! She called the midwife and less than 30 minutes of pushing later, Asa was born. We loved the midwife who delivered Asa and the nurse who was with us all day in labor and delivery on Tuesday (and part of Monday, too). They were both outstanding, along with several other nurses. They were so encouraging and supportive. And all the nurses were shocked each time they came back for their next shift and we were STILL there. :) Most of them came to see him after he was born, and all the midwives came down to see him--almost right away. :)

Asa is a sweetheart, and we are loving getting to know him. He looks SOOO much like Matt, though he seems to change a little every day, of course. We love his fluffy, hairy head, his snorts, his sock puppets (socks we put on his hands so he doesn't scratch himself), and his long-ity self! :)

So, it was a crazy, exhausting, harder than I ever imagined possible labor, but all worth it. And even now, 4 days later, I know mentally and emotionally how awful the pitocin contractions were before the epidural, but I cannot "physically" recall how hard they were. God was so faithful to get us through it, and we are so thankful for His provision, plan, and incredible gifts.