You Want Details?

So some have requested more details about Ainsley and such, so here goes...

Thursday, September 18, 2008
6:30am We arrived at the hospital to have our little bundle. I changed into my beautiful gown, climbed into my bed, and thought that I would have a new baby in six or seven hours at the most! =) I was wrong! Darn it!
7:30am They started my pitocin. I didn't feel much for quite a while. The morning went fairly fast.
I don't remember any more times after that. I guess things started picking up a bit. =) I did well for quite a while again (like I did with Asher), but when I could tell that soon it was going to get REALLY interesting, I opted for an epidural. That's when the excitement began.

The epidural...When he was putting it in, I could really feel him moving it around in my spine, and that FREAKED ME OUT!!! Maybe that's everyone's experience, but I did NOT remember that with Asher (never mind that that epidural never worked one bit!). Anyway, I started really tensing up and crying and being terrified that I was going to be paralyzed for the rest of my life. It was all probably completely unfounded, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not get a grip. THEN I started feeling it work, which was great for a minute until the anesthesia went up too high in my body, and I COULDN'T SWALLOW!!! I could breathe fine. My oxygen levels remained fine the whole time, but I literally could NOT swallow a DROP of saliva! So I had a panic attack. I've never experienced anything so bizarre in all my life! I was acting really nutty. I would just cry and cry. Even after they fixed things to where I could swallow (which felt like an eternity), I felt warm all over, which I LOVED. I would be telling Beau how amazing and worth it it was to feel so good, and then I would just start BAWLING my eyes out again. I'm telling you, my emotions were WAY out there!!! I was out of control! But I eventually got better...thank goodness!!! Towards the end of that whole thing, I let my family come in to see me, and I think it's safe to say that we ALL got some good entertainment from the bizarre swing in my emotions. Even I thought it was funny after I started feeling "good". It was terrible and weird!

I felt good for a while after that, but eventually I started REALLY feeling the contractions again. I would feel decent in between, but it was pretty painful when they would hit...which was often.

And somewhere in there, Ainsley's heartbeat started dipping every time I would have a contraction. So I started getting scared that I was going to have to have a c-section. But we prayed, they had me turn to my other side, and that pretty quickly solved the problem! Thank you Lord...although later, I was wishing I could have had a c-section! Just kidding!

***This part may have a thing or two in it that guys might not want to read. =)
I think it was about 5:00 when I started pushing. Last time I pushed for thirty minutes and had Asher. So I thought this would surely be comparable. =) (If I learned anything from this experience, it's that you CAN'T count on something just because that's the way it happened before or because that's the "norm"!) Every time my doctor checked me from the time I was 36 weeks on, he commented on how high Ainsley was. Well, this was no exception. She was not dropping like she should. So in the midst of pushing I had to "take a break" for about 10-15 minutes to see if my relaxing would help her to drop. It was not easy, but it worked...a little. We were making progress, but when my doctor came in for the first time, my first push with him in the room, he stuck his finger inside of me, and it felt like he was STRETCHING me from here to kingdom come! It hurt!!! After that set of pushes, he let me know that her face had been the opposite direction of the way it was supposed to be, and that he had to "guide" her head to turn her. OH MY GOODNESS!!! I thought he should've warned me at LEAST, but Beau made a good point in saying that I would have just tensed up more, and that probably would not have been good. Anyway, after that he had me take another "break" for about 15 minutes to allow her to drop some more. It worked, and soon after that she was BORN!!! The last few sets of pushes before she born, I thought I might DIE and that I could NOT do it, but lo and behold, she was born...MIRACULOUSLY! And it was INSTANTLY AMAZING and ALL WORTH IT!!! Although I was QUICK to say that I NEVER wanted to do that again.

I SO WISH that I was one of those people with amazing birth stories...but I just haven't been so far. It HURTS to HIGH HEAVEN if you ask ME!!! =) But even the next day, I thought MAYBE I could do it again. And now I think we'll PROBABLY have at least one more. =) But like people say, I don't have to think about that right now. I'm busy trying to recover from this big baby exiting my body, and enjoying her SO MUCH!!! We love her to pieces!!! And we're so thankful for our little princess!!!

I would probably add a little more. But my other little one is waking up, so I better go get him. Pictures to come soon...I promise. =) (Of course, "soon" is relative!)