Harrison's Birth Story (the long version)

Let's just say birth day did not go as planned.  Doctor decided to induce on Thursday, January 19th with Baby's due date occuring the Sunday prior to this.  I was ready to see my little man!  So Brad and I go to the hospital Thursday morning at 5:00 am (after me only being able to sleep about an hour and a half).  I get registered at the emergency room for my induction and then head up to the labor and delivery floor.  I do paperwork, blood work, change into the fashionable hospital gown that never quite closes in the back, and get settled into the room which I will be confined in for the next couple of days.  At 7:00 am they start the Pitocin IV drip.  I am then confined to the bed and must use a bed pan if I have any bathrooming needs.  The Pitocin was started at a slow rate and then increased slowly so that I could have the contractions to open up my cervix.  When my cervix was checked upon arrival, I was told it was "maybe a 1" so I knew we had a long way to go.  Now several of the events I know what happened but I cannot remember what time everything happened.  During the day, as they would increase the Pitocin and I would have more frequent and intense contractions, the monitors showed that the baby's heartrate would drop at times with the contractions.  When this would happen, the doctor decided to stop the Pitocin for 30 minutes, then restart it at the lowest rate.  Throughout the time I was on the Pitocin, the doctor did this a few times which slowed down the labor process.  Around 6:30 pm, nurses came into my room, put an oxygen mask on me and started rolling me from side to side.  They said the baby's heartrate had dipped too low and they had to work with me to get it back up. They were able to get his rate back to normal but during this time, the nurse decided to check my cervix to see if I had made any progress.  She said I was around a 2 and then I felt a popping sensation and a flow of fluid.  I told the nurse that either my water broke or I was urinating and couldn't stop.  Either way, I wanted a bedpan.  Sure enough, my water had broke and I filled two bedpans with the fluid!  The doctor came in and put monitors in me that could monitor the baby better.  I still wasn't more dialated than a 2 at that point.  I was able to get my epidural around 2:30 am Friday morning.  I was very nervous about getting it but the ones who gave were very nice and talked me through the whole process before and during.  I was really grateful to have it when the contractions got worse.  They would show up on the monitors and I wouldn't feel a thing.  I was able to rest a little during this time too.  Doctor came in around 8:00 Friday morning and checked me again.  I don't remember how far along I was at that time but he told me he expected me to progress a centimeter an hour.  He planned to check me again at 9:30.  Between 8 and 9:30, they had to stop and restart the Pitocin again due to Harrison's heart rate dropping.  I did not make much progress during that time period.  He said he would check me again around lunchtime.  He said I should be ready to push around 1:00 pm.  When he came around noon, I was only a 7.  He told me that he recommended a c-section at this time but would give me another hour if I wanted it.  I didn't want to put the baby through any more of the problems with the Pitocin so I was ready to go ahead with the c-section.  They prepped me and it seemed like an eternity later, we went downstairs for the c-section.  I'm not sure really what happened, except that they gave me a medication that they said could cause nervousness and make me jittery, but I started shaking and was extremely irritible.  I didn't want to talk to anyone while I waited to go into surgery.  I just wanted it done.  When I got into the surgery room, several people inside kept trying to talk to me at once, asking me all sorts of questions and giving me instructions that seemed so difficult to follow.  For some reason, my lower back was in extreme pain.  I kept asking to sit up for just a minute because I hurt so badly.  They kept telling me I couldn't because of the epidural.  The anethesist started using a small tool that zapped me to see if the epidural was working.  I kept feeling pain around my belly and he tried increasing the dosage and then would zap me again.  No matter how high he increased the dose, I still had feeling around my belly.  The doctor started to work on me and I had to tell him I could feel what he was doing.  They then decided to "put me under" and made Brad leave the room.  I felt so terrible about this.  Originally, I had planned a vaginal delivery and both Mom and Brad would be there to see my son born.  Then a c-section had to be done so only Brad could be there with me.  Now he has to leave and I'll be knocked out and no one will get to see him born.  I really hate that we had to miss that experience. Regardless, Harrison Jude Kebodeaux was born at 2:42 pm on Friday, January 20th at 6lbs 9.4 oz and 20 inches long.  Brad told me that after he was born and was all checked out by the doctors, they let him walk up with Harrison in his little bassinet/warmer thingee (no idea what it's called) up to the nursery.  He said they cleaned him up and opened the nursery window for a long time to let him, my parents and Brad's mom and her husband see him.  Brad took video and pictures while he was in there because he felt sorry for me that I didn't get to see him.  I woke up in the recovery area around 5:00.  They brought me back to my room and we had to wait until nearly 6:00 pm before they brought him to us.  And of course, he was (and still is!) perfect.  With a full head of dark hair and beautiful dark eyes.  Even though things did not go as originally planned, I would do it all again to ensure this little boy would come into my life happy and healthy.  It's just a bonus that he's so cute!  Happy Birth Day, Harrison!