Happy Birthday Roman!

Ok... so I really didn't blog the second that Roman entered the world, but I figure that I might as well start from the beginning. This blog is really for him (and his brother if Marc's right about the gender of our next baby), so Rome, here's your birth story:

Well... I went into labor around 3 am on Saturday (which means that this is going to be a long story). I had had a couple of false alarm days, so I wasn't really sure if this was it or not. But then at 5 am I had my birth show, and I remember running out of the bathroom and telling Marc that I thought we were really doing it this time; he was able to go back to sleep, but I was far too excited. Things progressed regularly, but slowly. We went for multiple walks around the block, watched some movies, I baked some muffins, and Marc vacuumed for me, and we waited. And waited. And waited. Can I just say that one of the biggest pieces of advice that I can give to you all (dads included) is to SLEEP when your labor is light. We didn't even think about how long the labor could/would take, and so we just carried on as usual, which probably wasn't the smartest thing in the world. Around 11 pm I finally started feeling like something was actually happening, and sleep was no longer an option. We headed to our bedroom and turned on our hypnobirthing music and did the "opening script" and then we just started to really focus on being as relaxed as possible. I think that that was about the time we called in our doula/montrice, Robin, and I think she came to our house around 1 am Sunday morning. Then things felt like they were really on a roll. My surges at this point were totally bearable, although there were few that were a bit more intense than the others which started to test my ability to remain focused. I really stuck with the "breathing in relaxation" mantra and just kept telling myself that each surge would only last a minute, and for some reason that was the most helpful thought because I knew that the surges would disappear as quickly as they came, I just needed my body to relax. I had always wondered how I would know it was time to go to the hospital, and I really just knew. It seemed like things were stalling a little bit, and I thought that perhaps I was subconsciously concerned that I needed to be there instead of at home. We got to the hospital around 7:30 am, and I was happy to hear that I was about 5-6 cm: progress! I remember thinking, "Awesome: a baby by lunch time!" We had an amazing nurse who knew and respected the whole hypnobirthing routine, and so she just let me labor quietly in our room. I cannot tell you all how much the hypnobirthing class helped me. I was able to stay calm and relaxed, and even though I was uncomfortable, I NEVER felt like things were getting out of hand... well until the end, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Skip to 4 pm and I was still only at about a 6, so it was decided that I should have my water broken. Things moved really quickly after that, but I still had very little urge to push. We all decided (Marc, our doula, our doctor, our nurse, and I) that this little guy was going to need a bit of help getting out, so even though I didn't feel like I needed to push, they had me start pushing.

Ok, now skip 2.5 hours ahead and there we were... still pushing, still nothing, and I was getting very very tired, and I think I knew that something was supposed to be happening that wasn't. My doctor was absolutely amazing. She told me I could keep trying as long as I wanted, but then as I was pushing she realized that his head was not getting past my pelvic bone... I guess it is too low or curved, I don't really remember now; I will have to remember to ask. So anyway, she had me try to go to the bathroom to see if my bladder was causing the issue, but sadly it was not. They tried opening my cervix further with their fingers with each push, they tried moving his little head, we tried every different position we could think of, and still nothing. So as I was in the bathroom I looked at Marc and told him that I knew that Roman wasn't coming, and I wasn't sure that I could keep going. We spoke briefly with my doctor, and she told me that she really thought that he was stuck... our choices were limited, but Roman's heart was still very strong, and she said that I could keep trying if I wanted, but I just couldn't go any longer. After 40 hours or so of labor I was whisked away to the O.R. to have a c-section. And even that I must say was a little amazing. My doctor and nurse (and husband and doula) had already told me how proud they were of me for laboring so well for that long, but it also seemed that everyone in the O.R. had been told of my experience, and they were all kind of congratulating me... especially the anesthesiologist, which I thought was quite funny. He had actually come into my room earlier because he had thought I had asked for an epidural. "Oh no, not this girl," I responded... who knew that we would be meeting up again just a few hours later? After they gave me my spinal block the jokes just started flying- from me. I think everyone was really concerned that I would be disappointed or down-in-the-dumps about the whole thing, but I figure that this was just the way it had to be, and for almost 40 hours I was able to labor without medication, and I had an amazing group of people who were all phenomenal in trying to help me realize my goal. At 7:53 pm Roman finally entered the world with a rather large bruise on his arm and one the back of his head just above his neck, where he had gotten stuck in my pelvis. So my doctor and I were right; he simply wasn't going to make it out the "old-fashioned" way.

So that's my little birth story... certainly not what I expected, but great in its own little way. Happy Birthday Romey!