If At First You Don't Succeed..

After a very sleepless night, the hospital room doors opened bright and early at 4am. The nurse on duty removed the cervidil and I was allowed to shower. Thank God they let you do this... I rushed the shower and gave myself enough time to do hair and makeup as well. This should shock no one.

And so the timeline begins:
5am - pitocin on board again. Hopefully we will have better outcome this time. I am dilated to a solid 1cm and maybe a pinch more.

7am -  contractions are starting. They are super manageable, but definitely more apparent this time around.

9am - I AM PROGRESSING! Dilated to 4cm. Contractions are definitely felt and uncomfortable.

10am - bring on the drugs. Biji was a huge help in making the epidural a non-event. I don't really know what I was expecting, but it really was not bad at all... and then sweet relief.

10:30am - grandparents arrive for day 2 duties. Ice chips, entertainment and popcicles.

11am - dr. check in. Still progressing. We will have a baby today. Very surreal.

12pm - everyone enjoys lunch again... I eat ice chips. Goodie.

1pm - My dr. arrived and broke my water with this thing that looked like a giant crochet hook.

2pm - starting to feel some real pain again through the epidural. I was given some additional pain meds.

3pm - 8cm! Wow, that went so fast. Biji opened this cabinet and pulled out all the tools. I lost it. I had held it together for 2 days and it just became to real. I hid under the blankets and burst into tears. Was I really ready for this? How the hell are we going to do this?

3:30pm - time to start pushing. Zach went out to tell everyone that we were getting started. Biji and I did a few practice pushes until he got back. Once he was back in the room it was time to really take a go at it. I pushed once and thought to myself, this is happening. I pushed a second time and then a third. Biji kept looking at the monitor and Zach was watching her like a hawk.

Biji brought me some oxygen and said that it was just to help the baby. Things starting moving very quickly in my head at this point. She said stop pushing. Laid me back and put a washcloth on my head. She said that the baby's heart rate was getting too high when I push. Zach would read out the numbers 180... I knew that was high. I learned later that she really got up to 220.

Dr. Petrovski arrived and she took a look at what we were dealing with. Apparently Dylan was still face down, but she was not tucked she was looking up, causing her to get hung up on my pelvis. She had even developed a caput (a bump on her head from my pelvis). She was not coming out naturally. C-section it is.

I actually took the news surprisingly well. A few tears came out, but Zach quickly wiped them away. I gave a thumbs up and we moved on. Zach texted the news to the grandparents and in the blink of an eye, I was wheeled to the operating room.

At this point, I was shaking uncontrollably. I was told this is normal, but I could not stop. Even on the table my upper body was in a full-out convulsion. I was given something to help relax me. It didn't. Zach was able to watch the surgery and try to keep me calm. When they tell you you will feel pressure, they are not lying. There was an immense pressure and tugging and pushing and moving and all that... everyone thought I was in pain from my face, but it was just the pressure. Within a few minutes Zach was given the heads up that his photography duties were almost needed.

4:41pm - Dylan has arrived. She is quickly moved behind me to the baby station and then I got to hear her cry for the first time. As soon as she was out Zach was on his feet and capturing the moments since I was barely able to even turn my head around that far to see her. He accompanied Dylan to the recovery room and waited the 40 minutes for me to get patched back up.

Some time after 5 - I was wheeled back into the recovery room where I saw my husband, a new daddy, just rocking his baby girl waiting for me. He didn't even let family in until I was able to hold her for myself. Once all my wires were moved over to the bed, I was handed my baby girl. She was perfect. Not squishy, not alien, perfect. Biji helped me position her to attempt nursing. She latched right on. I had no idea what I was doing as a mom, but she knew exactly what to do as a baby. Now, later I learned (from the giant scab) that she wasn't latched correctly, but who cares. I have a baby,

Sometime after 6 - proud grandparents (sans Papaw since he had to get my dog meds) made their way into the room. I was kind of out of it and still shaking, but overall in good health.

Now it was time to say goodbye to Biji, as we were being moved into our post-partum room upstairs.
We all crammed into the elevator and on we went.

I was given a liquid dinner, the grandparents left and now we were completely responsible for the care of a baby. Just like that.