Now, I just had to make it twenty more weeks through blazing heat and the in's and out's of an almost one year old. I continued running about 15 miles a week. Here I am just after completing the Sunset Stampede 5K, 7 months preggers and in 33 minutes 40 seconds!
Around 9 months it started to hurt, so I went for hikes,
danced,
hung out with Josiah
and waited, and waited... I was ready around 36 weeks. I stopped going to bars and letting Jaime drink as much as he wanted. This time I was ready! Why was it taking so long?
After too much spicy food, expensive raspberry tea and one false trip into the hospital, nothing appeared to be working and my doctor scheduled an eviction date for little Ollie. He would be born August 21st. However, on the morning of the 19th I didn't feel good and was refusing to go back to the hospital after getting kicked out one time already. So, I cleaned my whole house and mopped the floors. Eventually, as I was holding onto the side of the counter I began thinking, "Oh my god, I have to get out of here!" I dropped Josiah off at my neighbors house and told her I would probably be right back. I went into my doctors office and was 6 centimeters dilated. She said, "How did you get here?" and I said, "I drove." She informed me that she was writing up orders to send me into the hospital and I needed to call someone to come pick me up. Okay. I was off to have baby boy number two!
I wanted my water to break on it's own so when I got checked into the hospital I literally started running laps. I passed other pregnant women waddling around the hall again and again. One grandpa stared at me amazed. I heard him whisper to his wife, "This girl, she's a runner. But she's slowing down with every lap. I think the baby will be here soon." The anesthesiologist came in for a pre-interview. I told him I felt ok and kinda thought it would be cool to experience natural childbirth. He said he had seen me in the hall and thought if anyone could do it, I could do it. Then he left. I went out for more laps.
Then things started to get ugly. I couldn't run anymore and I felt an unfathomable amount of pain. Oh the pain! It was like nothing anyone could have prepared me for. I had the epidural at 2 centimeters with Josiah so I really had no idea. I went to another place. I started to think, "I have to get out of this hospital!" If only I could get away from the hospital the pain would go away. Talk about fight or flight! I beeped the nurse and told her I needed the man with the drugs back immediately. She called him. No luck, He would be in a C-section for the next 20-30 minutes. I sat there as quietly as I could. I refused to be one of those screaming fools I had seen on TV and remarked, "Is it really that bad? Come on!"
In that 20-30 minutes I learned a lot about myself. One, that I hated to be in pain. Two, that I wasn't nearly as tough as I thought. Third, it really WAS that bad, and fourth, probably most importantly, that I would never, ever, send away the epidural should I decide to do this again (not likely!). Finally he showed up and thankfully didn't say anything about my failed attempt at natural childbirth and gave me what I needed. Here I am blissfully happy, around 10 centimeters and getting ready to push.
After just 10 minutes of pushing, Little Oliver Grey made his way into this world, 8lbs and 7ozs.
My doctor, Dr. Harrington, who also delivered Josiah said to me after Oliver's birth, "It is a shame you're done having babies, because you are really good at it. You make my job easy." Here she is with him,
