Lucas is now a week old and the labor and delivery are but a distant memory. What I do remember though is that I was cranky on Wednesday after seeing one of the doctors in the OB/GYN group I go to and thought she was a bit rough there. I was spotting soon after and crankier as hell.
Then the bloody show began and at this time, around midnight, I decided to knit myself a hat. I figured, "If I'm going to go into labor, I might as well do something productive at the same time." I was hoping that maybe, just maybe, it would distract me from the discomfort.
So all night I knit and frogged and knit again, till at some point I woke Leo up and said, "I think I'm in labor now."
To which he promptly said, "really?" and rolled over to continue sleeping.
At around 7:30 we went to the birthing center where they put us in triage to observe how far along I was (I was only 2 cm dilated, 50% effaced) and after three hours, they sent us home with orders that if the contractions were 5 minutes apart or if it felt as if "God hated you," it was time to either call them or come over.
Back at home, we had the in-laws building a room in the garage that could become either Matt's room when he decides to stay some nights, or my massage room, should I decide to do some sessions closer to home besides my office. It's a bit difficult to carry on a conversation while going through a contraction, but somehow I managed, till about 6 pm.
From then on, it progressed to full on labor till about midnight when I couldn't stand the pain anymore and wondered how other women could last till the end. I'm not one of those women - and so the epidural was requested, done, and I was one happy camper. Every time a contraction came along, all I felt was the urge to pee.
By 4:30 am, they decided to pop the bag of waters and when they did, the baby's heart rate dipped so low they then decided after a few minutes of discussing with one another what to do, that either a) I was going to the delivery room to deliver the baby, whether or not he had descended and whether I was only dilated 7 cm, or b) should the baby's heart rate continue to dip low, it would be the OR for me and oh, by the way, here's the form to sign in case you do end up with surgery and an infusion...
At 5:17 am, Lucas was born and when the oxytocin kicked in, all the pain and the fear was a distant memory. If you were to ask Leo what he saw in the OR as soon as he was ushered in, he would most likely say, "It was brutal." He walked in just as the doctor was pulling Lucas out...
Anyway, to make a long story short, Lucas was born healthy and beautiful and one week later, my "labor hat" is done. I tried working on it in the postpartum room where I roomed in with Lucas but with all the nurses coming in and out, giving you this and that, taking this test and that test, it was difficult to get anything done.
One thing that I always kept hearing though was that they wished they knew how to knit, or that they had the time do so. One women, Cece, actually admitted that she only knew how to make things on the Knifty Knitter. Girl, I've been there..
So now one week later, the hat is completed and it is dang heavy - being knit from 1-1/3 skeins of Brown Sheep bulky wool/mohair blend in blue. The picture shows it in its pre-blocked stage, but so far, I think I got myself a rasta hat!
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