I am alive and finally smiling!

I thought I would sit and write a post to share about my labor and delivery since I have not really talked to very many people and some of you have been wondering how I am doing :)

First off thank you for your love support and prayers through out this pregnancy and last weekend, we could not have made it with out you. So we set an induction date for last Saturday the 17th at 7:30 am. Everything looked good, I was 100% effaced, at a 2 and the baby was super, super low so we all thought it would go relatively fast. Saturday morning came and the hospital called and told me that they had a large number of women go into labor and they had no rooms available and they would call me later that day. So Jeremy and I had a nice Saturday morning and finished up a few last minute things we had to do before the baby came. We ended up heading to the hospital at noon and started the admittance process. Our nurse Kathleen was super cool and we felt like we already knew her somehow, well come to find out she was the same nurse when we delivered Ike two and half years ago - funny huh? Anyway, we all were a little too chatty and didn't get the paperwork done and the patocin going until around 3 pm. Dr. Bair came in to pop my water at 5:30 but I had not got my epidural yet so I wanted to wait because in the past I have gone very very fast once I got my water broke. So we made a game plan for him to come back at 6:30 after my epidural to pop my water and we would have a baby by 7:30, however he didn't make it back to our room till 8 and then it took me a little bit longer to get fully dilated. I was ready to push at around 10 pm and we thought it would be a one contraction push kinda thing since the head was right there but Brek was a little bigger than we had thought and his head was way bigger than my other boys. Max was 6.10 lbs and Ike was 7 lbs. So pushing was not bad but a little more work than I am use to and his face was looking up which makes it for a harder labor also. 10:42 Brek Barlow Thelin finally made it into my arms and I was so happy to be done with the crappy part. However it was just the beginning of a really hard weekend. When I was pushing I felt super nauseated and kept thinking I was going to barf but made it through fine. After he was born I got super dizzy and I did start throwing up and the nurses were worried I was going to pass out so they waited quite awhile to move us to our postpartum room. We finally got settled into our new room at 3:00 in the morning and we were beat to say the least and I felt like total crap. The next morning came and I was really excited to spend time with my new baby and get to know him. As the day went on my head started to ache and I started feeling this constant pressure in my back and and neck. The nurses increased my pain meds and I just thought it was due to lack of sleep and the stress of delivery. As time went on the pain continued to get worse but it was tolerable as long as I was lying down. The anesthesiologist came in and told me that it could be a postdural migraine due to a leak in spinal fluid from the epidural. He said that we could do a blood patch to fix it but he would not recommend it. He had needed a blood patch in his past and had a horrible recovery with it leaving him super stiff and not able to bend for about 4 months. After listening to his experience (stupid man) I decided to try and wait it out and just keep it at bay with pain meds. They discharged me from the hospital on Monday morning and that is when I entered hell, literally I have never experienced anything like it in my life. Since I was moving around and not in a hospital bed the pressure in my head, neck and back became unbearable. I could not even stand, I would crawl if I had to get anywhere and I was sobbing non stop. Justin and Ashley came and took my kids which was a huge blessing and I just lay there paralyzed on my bed. I felt scared and totally helpless. Obviously I couldn't go on like this anymore so I called crying to the hospital and the anesthesiologist office in the middle of the night. In the morning my Dr. who had put my epidural in called me back (I love him, honestly he is the most wonderful man) and I told him what has been happening and about the other dumb doctor and his experience with the side effects and I asked him what I should do. He told me to come in right away and he would do a blood patch and it should fix the problem with minimal side effects. For those of you that don't know what a blood patch is let me tell you what I know. When you get an epidural sometimes they enter into the "dura" (sp?) layer and it leaves a little hole where spinal fluid can leak out. In my case the hole was not leaking at the time of insertion but must have teared during labor or whenever and caused the leak. The result being no cushion for your skull to sit on your spine since there is no fluid causing pressure and migraine headaches. Your body will fix this hole on its own over time but it could take a couple of weeks. When they do a blood patch, they take blood from your arm and preform another epidural and shot your own blood back into your spinal space and it acts as an adhesive and seals up the hole and the pressure is almost immediately gone. Yes it hurt pretty bad, the needles they used were big and nasty but I didn't care at that point, I just wanted the pain to stop. I passed out from all the drugs, he gave me some oxygen and 20 minutes later I sat up and the pain was gone. It felt like a miracle had just taken place and it was impossible to believe that it was over. I am really sore in my back and I occasionally have a few shooting pains down my legs but nothing in comparison. I am so grateful, so extremely grateful to be sitting here healthy and being able to care for my wonderful baby. Honestly it put things in prospective for me; sore nipples, lack of sleep and throbbing butt is nothing to complain about.
Brek is perfect, i love him so much. I was sad because I felt so rotten since the time he was born that I didn't get to bond with him right away. He is such a blessing and was worth every bit of pain I went through to get him here. Now I just sit and stare at him and smother him in kisses all day.

So that is my story in a nutshell. What are the chances huh? You never think that you will be one of the ones that has the side effects when you sign that little release paper for your epidural but I think I will take the time to read the fine print before i sign next time :)