Wow (Michelle's take on things)

So, Wednesday morning, I woke up about 5:15 AM and thought, "maybe I should keep sleeping... I'm so tired, and it's going to be a big day and all... I'll probably have the baby about noon or so..." So, Eric woke me up about 5:45 AM and as soon as I got up, I started having some contractions, which were very exciting. When we got to the hospital, I was about a 2, so they started the pitocin right away, which was great. I was afraid they were going to say "since you're already having contractions, why don't you go home and come back when they are every five minutes apart." I would have probably staged a sit-in if they had said that! But, once we got things started, it went pretty quickly at first, until my epidural. Like Eric said, it took her three times to get it to work... apparently the space between my vertebrae isn't very big, so she kept hitting bone. It was pretty uncomfortable and it felt really strange to have that kind of pressure in an area where you shouldn't feel pressure. She asked me if I'd rather her try to find a bigger needle (bigger than the 9 cm one she was completely burying in my spinal column), or just say we couldn't do it, or try it from a different angle. None of those sounded pleasant, but I told her I'd do whatever she thought was best. So she gave it one more try and with much prayer on my part (and I'm sure on Eric's as well, since he was watching that huge needle go in my back), it worked! After that, my contractions were painless - I could see on the monitor that I was having them, but I couldn't feel anything in my abdomen. And I thought that was it... I'd continue having these pain free contractions and then a few hours later, I'd push (pain free of course!) a few times and then Hannah would be in my arms.
Ha!

So, no one told me that epidurals don't really cover the INTENSE pressure that starts to happen down there once the baby starts coming down the birth canal. Oh man, it was not cool!!! I was dilated to a 5 at 4:30 and I was ready to start pushing then... the pressure, combined with an oh- so-exciting catheter experience, was really getting to me. Thankfully, the pitocin kept getting increased, so that in the space of about 2 hours, I was dilated to a 10 and it was time to start pushing. Once my doctor told me I could start pushing, it took them no time at all to get the bed rearranged so that my legs were in the stirrups, Eric was by my side holding my hand, and the doctor was telling me to take a deep breath and count to 10. My nurse had told me that she thought the pushing part would take the longest, but I was determined to prove her wrong! I know people that have pushed for 2 hours, but after my first set of counting to 10, I knew that couldn't happen... after a few more counts, I was ready to give up! So, I gave it all that I could and 8 minutes (8! Take that 2 hours!) later, I heard her crying. I looked at Eric and I was just crying... I couldn't believe it. She was here and she was beautiful and healthy and it was the most amazing moment I've ever experienced.

After that, they took her to the side of the room and measured her and weighed her and Eric was taking pictures and then bringing the camera over to me to show me how beautiful she was and we just kept staring at each other and mouthing "I love you" to each other... we were just completely in awe of this new life we had created. The next couple of hours passed by in a blur, my parents and aunt Pam came in after the doctor got us all cleaned up, and we all just kept staring at Hannah and talking about how big she was. I didn't even care that I was still in pain from the stitches or that I was starving after not eating anything but ice chips and popsicles all day; all I cared about was her. It was truly amazing. I'm not as eloquent as Eric is and I have trouble writing down all of my emotions, but trust me when I say I was completely blown away.