So Not A Big Deal (And Way Too Much Information)

So now that some time has passed, I've had some time to remember things about labor, delivery, and recovery. I realized that I initially gave off the impression that everything went PERFECTLY, which it ALMOST did. But just in case you are thinking, "wow, that sounds easy!" or worse, "I hate her!" I will share some of the less pleasant details.

- I had my membranes stripped (this means the doctor separated the amniotic sac from where it attaches to my uterus, which can speed up the process of it breaking on its own). This hurt. A LOT.

- I needed an IV of Penicillin because of the Group B strep. It took the nurse 3 different spots to put the needle in. Not because of her incompetence (she has been doing this for 10 years) or because of my veins (she told me my veins were "great"), it just wasn't working out. Spot #1 hurt badly and is still horribly bruised. The fluid was gathering in a bubble under my skin on spot #2, so that area also hurt pretty badly. For spot #3 a different nurse went to the other hand. I can still see the "puncture wound" more than a week later. This hole in the inside of my arm hurt worse than any other part of labor. I wanted to rip it out so badly, but it apparently needed to stay in until 24 hours after delivery in case they needed to give more meds or take more blood. They actually did need to take blood later that night, but apparently didn't want to use this existing line, so they drew it from yet a fourth spot. Grrr.

-The reason they needed to draw blood later that night was because after having unbearable contractions long after labor and delivery were over, I passed a blood clot that was about half the size of my placenta (or a quarter the size of Lilah). The resident said, "wow that was like having a twin!" Yea, everyone pretty much freaked out after that. But luckily it was the only large clot I passed.

-After delivery my epidural took close to 3 hours to wear off of just my right leg. This dead leg kept me bed-bound, much to my dismay. Shimmy had gone to the nursery to accompany Lilah during her assessment, so I was left by myself. I was trying to will that leg back to life like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill. [Side note- Worst movie ever. I am still incredibly disturbed to my very core thinking about certain scenes from that movie. Quentin Tarantino is a sick, sick bastard of a person.] The nurses would not even help me to the bathroom until they were satisfied that my leg would work again, and there was no faking it on my part. They tried to get me to go in a bed pan, which obviously was not going to happen. So they just left me there with my dead leg, in lots of pain and discomfort, sobbing and waiting for Shimmy to return. He eventually did return with Lilah, which was a big deal because she had apparently been discharged from L&D and admitted to the Mother/Baby unit and it was literally a breech of security to bring her back through those double doors (complete BS). I made sure the nurse was gone and plotted my escape. "Get me on the toilet!" I weeped. So Shimmy pretty much picked me up and put me on the toilet. After I was finished, my leg actually started to regain feeling, which was good since everyone was saying how unusual that was and how they needed to get anestigiology back in there.

HOWEVER, these things were so not a big deal. All in all, my experience this time around was wonderful. Just thought I'd share the not so wonderful parts too. Sorry about the too much information!