the long-awaited long version...

after three months of waiting...here it is! i know it's kind of anti-climactic now, but at least it's finished. it's been weighing on me for too long!

it all started with my friends coming to town from las vegas. those bolton girls... i planned on meeting with them friday morning after i dropped off my 24-hr urine sample. i headed out with isaac in tow. we visited for a short while...about an hour and a half...before isaac decided he was tired and wanted to go home. all of friday (feb 12th) was as usual.

saturday we headed out to my gpa's to hang out for the evening. my aunt and uncle were there so we all decided to make dinner. isaac had been fine all night and i was just big and tired. afterall, i'm 3 days overdue at this point. at around 6ish that night isaac started acting weird. he was screaming and drooling all over my shirt. shortly thereafter he threw up all down the front of me. i was sitting on the couch and NOTHING got anywhere besides on me. i headed to the bathroom to clean up...stole a pair of gpa's jammie pants and broke into my bag of clothes that i had packed for the trip to bella vie. isaac had puked in my hair so i got the gross side of it washed with gpa's pert plus. then i scrubbed my body with dial soap to get the puke off. after i got myself and isaac all cleaned up i headed outside to get isaac some fresh air. everyone had just started eating (how could you eat after witnessing that?!) and i told derik that we should go home as soon as he scarfed down his food.

isaac seemed to be fine, just a little shaken up...until the ride home where he puked on me again. in the car. gross. every time he was about to puke he'd start screaming and crying and slapping his stomach. so when this started happening we knew we had to prepare ourselves for upheaval. so when we got home and in the shower to clean ourselves off, i put on some more clothes and then isaac threw up on me again. by this point, i'm crying, totally stressed out and don't know what's going on with him. not to mention all the pukey clothes and towels everywhere. we were running out of things fast. so i called my mom and she came over. i kept asking why this was happening. the last thing i needed, being overdue, is a sick boy. he was in really bad shape. after being thrown up on about 5 times, i started feeling sick. i thought it was isaac's vomiting that was getting to me, not that i might be sick as well. isaac got to watch me puke in the shower and was totally freaked out, yet compassionate. every time derik tried to take isaac he would just flip out because he wanted me, but in my condition i couldn't take care of anyone. i couldn't stand to hear him screaming and subsequently throwing up so i made derik take him outside...so the neighbors could :)

i finally called my midwife to let her know how i was feeling. afterall, they were willing to try inducing me soon anyway. one midwife (patricia) said there was a 24-hr flu going around but she wanted to call my main midwife (angie) to talk to her. when angie called me back she had me take my blood pressure. my machine said it was like 149/92 or something crazy like that. so angie called the doc at the hospital in fear that it wasn't a 24-hr bug, but advanced stages of preeclampsia. the symptoms are pretty similar.

the doc recommended i come in to run some tests. apparently there was some protein in my urine from my 24-hr sample so they wanted to check that again. i kept trying to talk angie out of it because i knew i'd get there and have high blood pressure and they'd induce me and ruin all my plans. she fought for me but wanted to be safe rather than sorry.so she drove down from portland to meet me at the hospital around midnight (bless her heart).

i got to the hospital and hooked up. they gave me some iv fluids and anti-nausea medicine (thank goodness). surprisingly, there was little protein in my urine, my bp was the best it's been since my 32 week appointment, and the baby looked good so i was free to go. the only problem? i couldn't stop going to the bathroom...the #3 way. i was dressed, unhooked from my iv, but couldn't fathom making it all the way to the car.

in between my frequent trips to the ladies room, i started to have stronger contractions. i'd had lots the whole time i was there but they were getting bad enough that i was having to breathe through them. so the nurse decided to check me again before i left. i was a 1 1/2 just 30 minutes before...now i was a 3! hello, labor! where have you been hiding?

angie and i talked over my options for delivery. it was about a 25 minute drive to bella vie, but i had such a hard time with the drive down to the hospital in the first place that i really didn't feel like getting in the car with such strong contractions. plus, i was afraid i wouldn't make it without messing myself. sad, but true. i also didn't know how to deliver naturally being as sick as i was. i mean, i know i could do it, but i was kinda banking on being healthy and delivering in the birthing tub. how sick and unsanitary would it be to labor in there with my insides coming out of both ends?! pretty sure it wouldn't be possible. and who wants to deal with that anyway? so i decided to just stay at the hospital and deliver there but do my post-natal care at bella vie. when the nurse told me they could do the birth as naturally as i wanted, i said, "oh i'm getting an epidural. i'm not THAT crazy!"

as soon as i got to my room and dilated enough to get the epidural, i was all over it. they even gave me some temporary pain relief to take the edge off before the anesthesiologist could get there. angie was so good to help me through my contractions. she did the counter-pressure on my hips and it seriously took most of the pain away. she was amazing. i was having such a hard time with throwing up and having contractions at the same time. it was so hard to bare. i don't know what i would have done without her.

the anesthesiologist was the worst ever. he was not friendly and it hurt like a mofo. i always told friends that were worried about getting an epidural not to worry that it wasn't as bad as people say. obviously that was true when i got one with isaac...but holy cow, this was so different. after talking to a couple friends, he apparently hit my spine. sad to say i've had gnarly back pain ever since. but i was glad to get the pain relief. my body was numb up to my armpits so it was extremely hard to move when i had to sit up to throw up.

the doctor came in and broke my water to make sure there was no meconium. it was clear and that made me happy. i never had my water broken before...too bad i couldn't feel anything. he probably broke my water at about 6 or 7am. and shortly thereafter i wanted my epidural turned down. i was probably dilated to an 8 or so. so i knew i didn't have much time left. they said if they turned it down it wouldn't do anything by the time i delivered so i opted to turn it off. i had to be really careful to let them know if i wanted it back on because if i missed the opportunity and the pain was too bad it wouldn't do anything to help. so i thought about it after, oh, 20 minutes or so. and i wanted it back on fast! as soon as they turned it back on i was feeling really strong contractions. it didn't feel like the epidural was working, but i know it would have been way worse without it. i dilated really quick after my water was broken. i have a feeling it would have gone fast no matter what.

i was in a lot of pain and i really wanted to push. i didn't feel the urge to push, but i felt like i'd rather be pushing than sitting through contractions that hurt. actually, i know i felt the urge to push, but i could tell it wasn't like the baby was going to fall out. before i started pushing i was trying to convince the nurse to let me start because "it shouldn't hurt this bad unless i have to push." so they let me start pushing when i wasn't fully dilated.

at this point, there are 4 other women in the hospital who are dilated to a 10 at the same time. needless to say, my doctor was busy. so they sent in a midwife from willamette valley midwives. her name was happy. i didn't open my eyes to see her until i was almost done delivering jonah. i was a little pre-occupied to meet new people at this point. but she was wonderful! i was so happy they sent happy. she was gentle. helpful in getting me to visualize pushing jonah out. soft spoken but very funny. i couldn't have been more pleased.

i kept asking how many more pushes until he came out and happy made up a number. she said three and i said, "really?!" and she says, "i don't know. just keep pushing!" it was pretty funny. i could tell when i was making progress though. everyone would squeal and gasp in awe. apparently jonah was on my left side so she had me roll onto my left side to push him out better. it hurt my head for some reason to push that way, but i could totally feel the difference. and because he was such a good sized baby i could feel him coming down way more than i ever did with isaac. it was so neat. i pushed that way for awhile and when he was getting close to coming out she had me move back onto my back. when the counting would end i would give it another half a second to make sure i was doing everything i could to get this over with! after 50 minutes of pushing my little jonah jason was born.

after he came out (perfect, i might add) they brought him to my chest. they let the umbilical cord stop pulsating before they cut it and she let me deliver my placenta naturally. it took about 30 minutes. she picked it up and showed us the veins and the lining. it was so neat! i was so blessed to have a midwife just 'happen' to deliver me. she was perfect.

he was born at 9:29am on february 14th, 2010. i think it's kinda funny that both my kids were born on a sunday morning. we'll do anything to get out of church. just kidding. jonah is such a sweet little baby. perfect in every way. he went straight to the breast and was nursing just minutes after birth. what an amazing testimony of human life.

after he was born they moved us to the mother/baby unit. ugh, that was a nightmare. they kept coming in and disturbing me and jonah for all the vitals. they wouldn't check him out on my chest where he was perfectly happy, but they made him go to the cold, hard bassinet to stick their blue hospital gloves in his mouth. my midwife told me i could transfer to bella vie for my post-natal care but the hospital was dumb about getting me out of there in a reasonable amount of time. i told them at 2pm that i was going to leave for bella vie and they had to have the pediatrician come release jonah and sign me out, blah blah blah. finally at 6pm they were done.

we drove out to bella vie and i spent the night there. derik went home to stay with isaac (who was a complete wreck). it was so nice for me to be there though. i was the only person there so i had full attention. the girl (crystal) that was working even rubbed my back with some oils while i nursed jonah on the queen sized bed. it was really nice. i just wish i was well enough to actually enjoy the food everyone raved about.

that night went really well. jonah was quiet and slept and ate a lot. i was exhausted and sore. the hospital didn't give me anything for my pain. they sent me home with tylenol, advil, and a stool softener. oh really? cause last time i checked i had diarrhea so i'm guessing the stool softener wouldn't help much. thanks anyway for charging me who-even-knows for that crap. idiots. i told crystal i couldn't even move my leg when it happened to slide off the side of the bed and she went to make me an herbal drink that she said helps some and not others. i would take anything. so i tried it and it really seemed to make me feel better. later that night i asked for another one and she acknowledged that it must've worked and went to make it. it tasted disgusting and i had to chase it down with some water. i asked her what was in it and apparently they brew herbs in some vodka and after all's said and done there's not much alcohol but i'm guessing that little bit sure made this light-weight feel better. i didn't know if i was going to tell anyone about the concoction she made me, but for heaven's sake, i was given morphine when i was in labor with isaac so i think anything goes.

the next morning derik brought isaac to see me. all he wanted to do was go outside in the rain and hang on to me. he wanted me to take him home. he was still sick and so sad when he had to leave with derik only. it broke my heart. i had to physically tear him out of my arms and give him away with his arms outstretched for me and crying my name. it was then i knew this was NOT going to be easy. i cried and cried and went back inside where the new post-natal worker (valerie) had picked up jonah and seen the whole thing. she had tears in her eyes and just walked over and hugged me. she told me it would get better and let me vent for a minute.

derik came back after awhile and i was so tired but i really wanted to take a bath in the big birthing tub that i didn't get to birth in. so valerie made me a huge turkey sandwich and started the water. they emulsify herbs in the water to make it smell good and it's supposed to soothe your traumatized body. it was so nice and warm and huge. i just laid in there and soaked it all in. my body was starting to feel better, but my back still hurt pretty bad. if i would have stayed one more day they were going to call in a massage therapist for me. but because isaac was doing so bad i felt like i couldn't stay one more night. so i left monday night at 6.

when i came home isaac was so happy to see me. i just left jonah with derik and hung out in isaac's room while he made sure to hold on tight so i couldn't go anywhere. i could tell he was super depressed on top of being super sick. he hadn't eaten much in the last couple days and he just looked really pale and lethargic. i was scared to death to introduce him to jonah. he had been in the same room as him, but didn't notice. soon i knew i would have to feed him. i was really anxious, but decided to just bite the bullet and dive in. so i took jonah into isaac's room where he was watching a movie. i sat on the bed and began to nurse jonah. isaac still hadn't noticed. he was telling me something about the movie and he turned to me mid-sentence and goes, "whaaaaaat's thaaaaat????" it. was. hilarious. i told him it was his baby brother that was in mommy's tummy and i pushed him out, remember? he just looked at me. kinda looked at what that thing was. and then continued watching tv. not much interest, more bewildered.

anyway, this is the story of my first couple days as a mother of two. i know i have a lot of catching up to do, but this should appease my crowd. hopefully i'll get back into blogging. it's kinda been a nice break, but i can just see my life passing me by without getting out all those blog-worthy events!