We arrived to the hospital and checked into our room. My mom brought us PASTA FRESCA my go to meal of pregnancy. The nurse started an IV and then put the cervidil on my cervix. Cervidil is a hormone that can help dilate the cervix. It was hell on earth. Apparently, some women have no problem with this drug. But for some (ME) it can cause cramping and pain. It was absolutely miserable. The entire night I cried, prayed, and practiced deep breathing with every cramp. My dear husband was getting the best sleep of his life on the couch. WHAT I WOULD HAVE given TO TRADE PLACES WITH HIM. Every time they had to check my cervix was absolutely gut wrenching because of how sensitive and bothered it had become from the medicine. Finally, morning came and I dialted to a whopping ONE centimeter (QUE the even more dramatics, soul crushing). The next shift of nurses and doctors came through and the doctor on call for my practice luckily will insert a foley which is a tube with balloon on the end that you can inflate with saline to manually open the cervix. This procedure was the worse thing I HAVE ever felt in my life, after dealing with the cervidil pain. I was hysterically crying (and screaming to any god up above to help me and wondering why the hell I was such a wimp) and luckily my nurse was the bomb.com and was in the business of getting shit done because she got my epidural process started and within an hour I was resting peacefully (QUE the end of the dramatics and my last hours of uncertainty of what this little boy would do to my life)
Side note- a long time ago I would of been so against all the medicine and epidural talk but when you are actually in that moment things are happening quickly and you'll do just about anything to keep your babe safe and apparently I was not mentally ready to be induced (that shit is for the birds).
Eventually a pitocin drip was started and around 6PM that day I was finally ready. My immediate family was in the room talking and hanging out. I remember looking at my mom like get them all the F out of here NOW. All it took was a look and she knew what to do. I started feeling super out of it in an out of body type of feeling. I got nauseated and the nurse gave me medication for that. She said that is a sign of being ready to push. Everyone left the room but Marc and my mom and she checked to see if I was dilated and YAY I FINALLY WAS.
It took around an hour of pushing for Cope to be born. I never felt stronger in my life. The nurse took the sheet and turned it into a rope. I pulled on one end and she pulled on the other when it was time for me to push. I have a lot of upper body strength and that really helped, instead of holding onto the side railing. I felt focused. I had one job and I was kicking ass at it. When I think about it now I feel like I am watching myself because it really did feel like an out of body experience. I am so proud of myself for how amazing I did.
Finally, he was in my arms.
