Nora's Story

Technically, little Nora should still be in my tummy until Feb 28th.........thank the Lord she decided to come early! On Wed Feb 17th around 5am my water broke. It's not as dramatic as it looks in the movies. In the movies it's like "my water broke and my baby is coming out in five minutes..." no so much. Antonio's response, "Are you sure it's not just pee?" So.....my water had broken but I was having no pains or contractions so of course I consulted my many pregnancy books and I couldn't really find any info so I just went back to sleep.

*side note....I only had gone to two maternity classes and this week was supposed to be about " giving birth" maybe I could go in and teach the class?

So, Wed afternoon rolls around and I'm still leaking...that's another thing....it's not like one big GUSH it's more of a tiny leak. I also lost my mucus plug...you can look that up online. So, I called Dr. Bro and he's like " go to the hospital!" Oh my bad. Apparently you should go to the hospital right when your water breaks so you do not risk infection. Again....missed the class. Oops.

So, A and I went to the hospital totally unprepared to stay. For some reason we thought we would just go back home and wait. Um..not so much. Upstairs I went!

Basically there are four different rooms during the labor process.....1. monitor 2. dilate 3. push! 4. observe

1. Monitor........... This is where you have to wait until you are 3 cm dilated to get the glorious epidural. Again..you have to remember that I was in absolutely no pain at this point and having no contractions. This is also a room that you have to share with other women as they are going through the same process. So, I walk in with my jeans and tennis shoes and these two women are basically already dying. Sweetness. It's a terrible feeling knowing that in just a short while that's going to be me...boo hiss. Also, I was alone at this point and A had to wait outside...but eventually they would let him come and go...Ok, so I get changed and in the bed and they give me the IV etc and I'm basically just waiting for the pain to start. Each woman has their own little section with a curtain and the lady next to me was groaning and eventually she farted really loud. How can you not laugh? I knew it would prob be the last time I would laugh in awhile! HA!

So, the pains came and I found it helped me to stand up...sitting in bed was the worst. *side note......during my whole entire pregnancy no one had ever even checked "down there" and throughout the period of the day I can't tell you how many hands were inside my lady parts or touching my boobs and I was basically completely naked. And it's so true what they say......YOU DON' T GIVE A RIP!

Thankfully I dilated to 3 cm in about 3 hours and then it was off to epidural land. All of the doctors were SO nice and super young so that was cool. Getting the epidural does not hurt at all and again...I was alone here too. The hard part is sitting still why they are jamming a needle in your back and you are having contractions at the same time. I think they had to " re do it" but that's okay. I hated when people tried to talk to me and make jokes like "looks like Americans have the same pains as Spaniards." What a STUPID thing to say idiot face. I hate you. I just looked at him and said, " probably more."

So, in epidural land they put it in and the dose was kind of small.......I would find that out in phase

2. Dilate and wait! This was my favorite part...I was alone in this room and occassionally A would come in or my mother in law or sis in law etc. I could basically still feel the contractions just the same so I told them to UP the dosage! She did and it rocked. Seriously...thank you God for epidurals. Seriously. I can't decide if women that don't get them are just idiots or my heroe. So, the nurse is like " Can you still feel the contractions? You need to feel the contractions." me: " Yes, of course." Truth.......not at all! bwah! Ok, I could feel something, but I wasn't about to tell her how much.

This part actually went very fast too...a few hours. Oh, I think I threw up twice at this point which is crazy because you basically can't eat or drink anything so you are throwing up bile. Awesome!

So, after you dilate your baby basically has to move down four "stairs" so that takes awhile. I had to push a little in this room and the nurse was like, " You went pee!" My bad! I prob did some other stuff too....... I also had a lot of blood on my sock.......did you know that you bleed before the process even begins? I didn't!

3. PUSH I got to the hosp at 5pm and at 5am it was time to push. 12 hours. Not too bad for a first labor. Legs up! Lights up! PUSH! Sweaty...hot.....oh, and I threw up here too pretty much on top of Antonio. Awesometown. I was pushing like a mad women because I did not want a C section! Pushing for about an hour and everyone is whispering around me and I was wondering what was going on. She wasn't coming down! Basically, during one of my contractions Nora decided to flip into a weird position and instead of coming out face down she was face up. So, Antonio had to leave while they had to help me get Nora out. They pushed on my stomach during contractions and I had a level 3 out of 4 cut and they suctioned her poor little head. So, she came out at 620 and it was kinda sad because A wasn't in the room....and her head was all bubbled and her eye was swollen.....and I cried. But you've seen her now and that all went away:) It's crazy holding your baby for the first time......thinking about the entire pregnancy....afro hair, facial hair, puking, stretch marks, back pain, swelling, gaining weight.....and the list goes on and on.....but it's true what they say....it's totally worth it.

A few interesting comments while stitching me up....Doc: Tienes buena vagina Translation:You have a good vagina. Hmm..thanks? And then he explained.........if Nora wouldn't have turned around it wouldn't have been so difficult. Second comment..." And a nice set of hemmrhoids." HAHAHAAAAAAAAAAa again...thanks??????

4. Observe. Nora and I were in a room for a few hours just to see how we were doing and she had to get a few shots etc. She was in an incubator for a bit because she was kinda tired from the long journey! Here is where you breast feed for the first time etc.

Wed night in labor...Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun in the hospital and we finally came home on Wed. Honestly, for me the after part has and was the hardest. EVERYONE comes to visit you in the hospital here so there were literally like 20 people in my room on a daily basis. Also, you share a room...and there is no TV or internet or anything......and the temp was 500 degrees..I wanted to jump out the window but oh wait, I couldn't because you couldn't open those either! It was probably the longest five nights of my life and we had to stay since my wound was bigger and Nora turned a little yellow the last night so we had to stay and put her under the light. I also had to do #2 before going home. Ok, no pressure or anything. (no pun intended)

So, now we are home and parents to a beautiful little girl. She is the best eater and sleeper and pooper around:) Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts and thanking God for this wonderful gift from Him!