Birth Story

On Babycenter.com there is a thread that asks Mommy's to share their birth stories. I have not shared mine there, but thought that I should write it here so I don't forget it. This story is in detail - may be too much detail for some.
I think beginning in May I was begging my doctor to induce me. I was miserable being pregnant. Huge and uncomfortable. Ethan had wedged his little hiney up under my right rib and it constantly ached. Dr. Daus was adamantly against inducing. He wouldn't even entertain the idea. He did not want me to wind up with a c-section unnecessarily. (I have the best doctor!) Every time I went in for my visits he would tell me I wasn't even close to going into labor. I was only a centimeter dilated at the most days before my labor started. Ethan was due on July 7th. I would have loved it if he was born that day because his birthday would have been 7/7/07. But I did not want to wait until then to have him. For some reason I kept thinking that June 18th would be the day. But it came and passed and still no Ethan. Oswald didn't think he would come until his due date.
Dr. Daus stripped my membranes on June 22nd hoping to move things along and it didn't help. There is this restaurant close to our house by the name of Scalini's. They serve an eggplant parmesian that is supposed to help induce labor. It is known world wide and has been on Good Morning America and such. We went there mid-June and again on June 26th. Still no Ethan (but the eggplant parmesian was delicious!). I went back to see Dr. Daus on Wednesday the 27th and he stripped my membranes again. The next day I lost my mucous plug around 10 am and it was then that I knew labor would be right around the corner. It was Thursday and I was at work and miserable. I was so swollen. My feet and ankles were HUGE. I still don't know how I made it through work that day. I basically just sat at the front desk all day and complained. That night Oswald and I were watching Law & Order re-runs and I was crampy. I had to stand behind the sofa and lean on it to get comfortable. Oz fell asleep on the sofa and I was so glad to have the bed to myself.
At 5:17 am I woke up because my water had broken. I wasn't exactly sure if it had broken and I woke Oswald up to get his opinion. We lay in bed together until 6:00 when I called Dr. Daus. I didn't want to call him earlier than that if it was a false alarm. He was already at the hospital and told me to come on in. On the way there, I had 2 contractions. Painful, but quick. After we arrived (around 7:30), the nurses and Dr. Daus checked me out and said that no, they didn't think my water had broken. I had just used the restroom and therefore was "dry". However, they wanted to monitor the baby for movement before they would let me leave. They had me drink juice to see if the sugar would get him moving. We were in the triage room watching the news and Regis & Kelly. On the news, they were discussing how two cars were found loaded with explosives and nails in England. The bombs were diffused and thus the terror attack averted. That was the headline story on Ethan's birthday.
They were about to release me when I asked them to please just make sure my water hadn't broken, because it sure felt like it had. Lo and behold, my water had definitely broken. They said my "hindwaters" had broken, not my "forewaters" (whatever) and that is why they didn't know for sure.
They moved me to L & D (maybe around 11:00 am) and Dr. Daus guessed Ethan would come sometime in the middle of the night or early am the following day (my birthday!). We called our parents to give them the news and to tell them not to rush. Well, it wasn't long before they said I was fully dilated and to start pushing. Dr. Daus told us the baby was going to come sooner than expected! Probably mid-afternoon. I do remember feeling so much pain, it was like an out-of-body experience. I have never felt anything like it. I was begging for an epidural. Forget all of those natural birthing classes! As soon as I got my epidural, things were fine. I was pushing and pushing and it was very weird. The atmosphere was so relaxing. Just me and Oswald and our nurse. My family was waiting outside and Oswald's family was on the way to Atlanta. Dr. Daus kept coming in to check on me. Oswald felt Ethan's head as I was trying to push him out and he got a big kick out of that - me, not so much. I didn't even want him in the room. I think giving birth is a very personal thing because of all that a woman's body goes through, but oh well. Oswald was really excited and in the end I am so glad he was with me. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
Not much was happening with my pushing. Ethan's heart rate was slowing and when Dr. Daus checked me, I was pushing out my bladder! He said he had never seen that happen before. How scary (and gross)! He decided to do an emergency c-section and they wheeled me to the operating room. I think I passed my family as I was going in, but I am not sure.
The nurses and anesthesiologist asked me who would be in the operating room with me. I said "the father". They asked me who that was and I answered "my husband". They were shocked when I told them I was married. (Are there that many people having babies who aren't married, etc??) They were all laughing and joking about it. It was nice to have a little humor during this time.
The c-section was weird. I could feel Dr. Daus pulling at me. It was very uncomfortable and I was scared. Oz was behind me holding my hand. When Dr. Daus finally pulled Ethan out of me, the first thing he said was "Wow, this boy has some big balls!". Hahaha!
The nurses did what they needed to do with Ethan and handed him to Oswald. I just lay there looking at him and I was shaking. The shaking was from the anesthesia, but I would have been shaking anyways. Ethan had his hands clasped together and I remember looking at his fingernails, thinking that they were very long.
The next thing I remember was waking up, begging to see my son. That was the worst part of having a c-section. It was 3 whole hours before I saw Ethan. I was extremely upset. I feel that after the shock of being born, he should have been comforted by his mother's loving arms. I wanted to be able to hold him close to me the minute he came from my womb - just like I had dreamed of for 9 months.
When I was finally able to...... WOW. All I felt was immense love. I know some people who say it takes a while for them to fall in love with their child, but it was instantaneous for me. And my love keeps growing every day. He is developing such a personality. I love thinking about his birth day. What a great day!
Maybe I will write more about the rest of the weekend later, but right now I just want to revel in the memory.
Ethan Oswald Drawdy was born June 29th 2007 at 6:50 p.m. He weighed 8 lbs. 9 oz. and was 20 in. long.