The Birth of Greyson Efran

So I had a plan to type this all out while at the hospital and then just copy and paste everything over.... that didn't happen. It's a miracle I'm sitting down to type it now, actually, but I'm determined to record it, even though my memories are somewhat failing.

Tuesday, June 18th 2019

• 4:00 AM: Woke up Philip and drove to the hospital to get induced... No idea why we had to be there so crazy early, OR why I had to call at 2 AM to tell them I was coming. Upon arrival we were taken to the second floor waiting area and told that they were getting my room ready. 
• 5:00 AM: Still waiting in waiting area... what's the point of calling ahead? 
• 5:30 AM: Finally in delivery room getting hooked up to things and answering a lot of questions. The IV needle hurts, nurse places it in the exact spot as with Emmett's delivery (I can tell because it left a mole-like mark on my hand and she said that was the best vein she could find). 
• 6:00 AM: Baby Greyson won't stop moving around and the monitors keep going silent, it is extremely uncomfortable (almost painful) for me to sit up reclined on the bed, I haven't been able to do this comfortably for weeks. The only comfortable positions are sitting straight up cross-legged or laying on my right side completely horizontal. 
• 7:00 AM: baby has finally stayed on for 50 minutes, I'm afraid to move and mess it up. Lots of pressure on my bladder. Penicillin makes my entire arm sting and it's impossible to sleep or rest since moving my arm around eases the sting. 
• 8:15 AM: Oxytocin started on the lowest dose, still too painful to sit reclined so I lay on my side. No pain from contractions, but pro is that I am able to get up to use the bathroom whenever I want... and the IV fluids make me want to pee a lot. It's awkward, but manageable. 
• 9:30 AM: My mom shows up, Oxytocin was increased because my contractions are spaced too far apart with no regular pattern. 
• 10:00 AM: Still nothing happening (or so I think). Contractions feel uncomfortable, but not painful. It's also getting hard to breathe. 
• 11:30 AM: Tried to get up to use the bathroom for the 3rd time and a gush of blood came out of me. I called the nurse to help me clean myself up, and instead of letting me go use the bathroom she made me get back on the bed and called my doctor. Evil. 
• 11:40 AM: I was forced to pee in a bedpan while my doctor was on her way, so awkward. 
• 11:50 AM: Mom asks "are your contractions hurting a lot yet?" I begin to respond "not really" and halfway thru speaking an extremely painful contraction shows up and they never leave again. 
• 12:00 PM: Doctor comes in, checks my cervix, and I'm dilated to 5 cm. Without removing her hand she also breaks my water (gross feeling) and places an internal fetal heart monitor on baby's scalp because the belly monitor is not consistent. All of this is awful. They ask if I'm ready for an epidural yet, I think it's still too early for one but thank goodness I said yes. 
• 12:30 PM: Anesthesiologist finally shows up, (I was second in line) and all this time I've been moaning in pain and struggling to breathe. It takes him a while to set up, and to me it feels like an eternity. It was so hard to keep still during such painful contractions. Also, I tried to break Philip's fingers off. He looked at me like he was bored and done with the whole thing. 
• 1:00 PM: After the epidural (which hurt a lot more than the one with Emmett, I felt it shoot up all the way up my spine) I'm left waiting for the warm, soaking-in-a-bathtub feeling that I had with the previous epidural... it never comes. My entire right leg and side became numb, but the pressure on my bladder became insanely painful. 
• 1:15 PM: Nurse half helps half forces me to turn to my left side so that the pain medication will numb my left leg too... it sort of does but a lot less than my right. My bladder is in agony. 
• 1:35 PM: I've been telling my mom "ok I'm going to switch sides, I'm going to switch sides" but the pain is so bad that I take forever rolling over. (But hey, I did it, contractions and all.)
• 1:45 PM: Still moaning thru some crazy pain, I'm terrified at the thought of pushing for 90 minutes at this level of pain (that's how long Emmett took). I felt like I needed to push, so my body sort of did it without my instruction. Once I announced "omg I'm pooping" Philip freaked out and ran to get my nurse. 
• 1:50 PM: Nurse came in, removed my blankets, lifted my leg (I was on my side) and said "You're complete, girl!" and called the delivery team. I was hella confused and said "what does that mean??" and she responded with "it means baby is coming" and again I said "WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?"
• 1:55 PM: Nurse literally grabbed my leg and pulled me onto my back because I couldn't (or wouldn't) move, delivery team cleaned me up, someone forced Phil off the couch and to come help hold my left leg. (Phil looked at literally anywhere besides me, I hated him at that moment).
• 2:00 PM: Doctor told me to push! Things happened too fast for me to process, I gave one minimal-effort, experimental push and couldn't believe her when she said "almost there, almost there..."
• 2:01 PM: Next contraction, I actually pushed like I was supposed to and baby was out! I could not believe how quickly it all went! Two pushes vs the hundred or so with Emmett... I asked her "did that really just happen?" and she said "Yes! It's over!" and they comment on how quickly I went from 5cm to birth. 
• 2:05 PM: (probably) placenta is delivered, Philip cuts umbilical cord, and doctor asks for a chair so she can stitch me up comfortably. She said I tore along the same line as a previous tear, but not as badly.