blake makes his debut... reluctantly

Blake Samuel Rieger

Born 2/12/13 at 10:35 PM. 7 lbs 13 oz. 20 inches.

I must preface this story by saying that, at first, this story will not sound very uplifting at all. But as you can see from the above picture, there is a happy ending! It just goes to show you that even a story that starts with the word "induction" and has the word "c-section" in the middle is beautiful because it ends with the words "beautiful baby boy."

As previously mentioned, I was not too happy about being induced, but we were tired of waiting for Blake, so on Monday at noon, we went for my induction. The midwife suggested, since I was hoping for a more natural birth, that we start by inserting a balloon in my cervix to encourage it to dilate. She said that in 6-8 hours, I would be dilated 4 cm. By the end of 6 hours, I was so uncomfortable with these random tubes coming out of me down there. Then a nurse and the new midwife on duty came in and happened to mention the words "12 hours." Apparently this procedure actually takes 12 hours, not 6-8. Hmm... good to know. By 1 AM, exactly 12 hours after start time, I went to the bathroom thinking I had to poop, and instead, I pooped a balloon out of my vagina. What a weird feeling. The good news was that I was dilated 5-6 cm at that point! I was so excited.

The next step (starting at 1ish Tuesday morning) was the pitocin, which pretty much confined me to the bed, save a few bathroom trips in which wires had to be unplugged and IV units dragged to the bathroom with me. The contractions quickly became painful, and I hadn't intended on getting an epidural, but since I was already confined to the bed and thus wasn't able to do any natural coping methods, I opted for the epidural. I got kind of loopy as it took its effects and started talking about my tingly legs and ponies. Anyway, the epidural allowed me not to feel any pain at all, so I slept the day away.

Just before 6 PM, the midwife told me I was finally 10 cm and could start pushing. I was pushing pretty well and after a half an hour or so, the nurse said that they could see some of Blake's head. TJ told me that he saw it and that Blake had dark hair like mine. That was all the motivation I needed to push harder. So I pushed and pushed, but there didn't seem to be any progress. I kept telling them I needed to know if we were getting closer, and they kept giving me the same answer--that Blake's head needed to descend into the pelvis. Which didn't sound like anything had happened at all. So I pushed for three hours until I started crying that I couldn't do it anymore. Which leads us to the dreaded words... c-section.

They made my mom leave shortly after 9 PM as they got me ready for the c-section. She had to wait in the lobby. But it wasn't until almost 10 that they took me in the O.R. It was the scariest thing I have ever been through. They wheeled me into the brightest room I had ever seen, and there were so many nurses and doctors in there. I had been dealing with nausea all day, so the first thing I did was lean over the table and throw up medicine (that I had been given so I wouldn't have nausea). They set me all up and then put a tent around my head so I couldn't see, and then TJ was allowed in to be with me. I could feel a significant amount of pressure as they worked on me, so I was terrified that I would feel a knife cutting me. The doctor assured me that this wasn't the case, and that they had already started working. The procedure was very short, and then there it was... my baby's first cry. I couldn't see him, but I heard him, and that was enough to melt away the awful past two days. I instantly said to myself, none of that matters now.

I was pretty messed up after the procedure so they took me to a recovery room where they worked on me. I don't really remember any of it except that I kept trying to talk but couldn't get words out. Once I was a little better, the nurses brought Blake over to meet me. I couldn't hold him, but I got to kiss him and tried to breastfeed for the first time. And by breastfeed I mean, I laid there while the nurses got Blake to latch. If only it were that easy all the time... but more on that later.

We got to our hospital room at 1:30 AM Wednesday. I don't really recall the details of that first night with Blake except that I didn't get to hold him until the next day. But he was well worth the wait. He's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

Anyway, to summarize a long story... nothing about my labor and delivery went according to what I would have hoped, but none of that matters now. All I know is that I now am the mother of the most beautiful and healthy boy in the entire world (other mothers, it's okay if you disagree). And out of all the things I asked God for during my pregnancy, that was the most important one. So thank you, God, for this miracle of life. May our family bring you glory!