The Story of Alex - Part Two

Just before midnight on July 4, 2008, I started the hard labor process.

I had already exhausted one shift of nurse's and was on my second. The first nurse was wonderful. She was probably in her late 40s early 50s. She was a great coach. She and Craig helped me through a couple of pushes, but the baby still wasn't budging much.

I pushed and pushed in every concievable position (and even a couple of really inconcievable ones) for the next 4 hours. About 3:30AM on July 5th I was exhausted emotionally and physically. I had been awake since 6:30AM the previous morning (cruising toward 24 hours awake), I hadn't had anything to eat in almost the same amount of time, and I'd been pushing for 4 hours. I just wanted to be done!

Craig was wonderful through the whole thing. He held my hand, my leg, my foot. He did whatever he was told. I think there was only one point when I yelled a him because he was hurting me. They finally called the on-call doctor at my OB/GYN group to come in and deliver me. We were almost to the finish line but it felt like labor was never going to end. I was exhausted and the nurse said she was going to leave and be back in a few minutes. She gave us 30 minutes to rest and recharge. It was wonderful. I actually took a power nap in that short amount of time.

The nurses came back had me push several more times and we made a little progress but the baby reached a point and just wouldn't budge any further. The doctor came in and checked me and said that we needed to start considering a C-Section. I just about lost it. I made it this far... the baby is coming out the old-fashioned way. They gave me the option of trying a few contractions with the vacuum extractor or going directly to a C-Section. If the end result was a C-Section either way, might as well try the vacuum thingy, right? I was getting a little scared because it was taking so long and even though I was numb from the middle of my back down, I could feel how exhausted my body was and I was really uncomfortable.

The vaccuum extractor was attached to the baby's head (OWWWW for me), a blur of activity and faces began rushing around the delivery room. It was kind of like an out of body experience. The doctor told me we would have three pushes with the vaccuum extractor attached, and then it was C-section time. I could see all these people hovering around me, but it was almost like I wasn't a part of the action. Really, I was the main attraction, but it was just a strange, surreal experience. I gave the first push all I had. I pushed so hard I saw stars.

Nothing.

Now I was getting mad. The child had missed its deadline and now my uterus was trying to serve the kid an eviction notice and he/she wouldn't come out.

The next contraction I gave it even more than I thought I had. I pushed with every ounce of my being. I summoned strength I never knew existed. After nearly 24 hours of labor, and nearly 6 hours of pushing...

Alexander Thomas Hofer was born at 5:45AM on July 5th 2005. 7lbs, 11 oz. With a big red bruise on his head because he was so stubborn.

So Happy Third Birthday to ALEX! He is still stubborn! He is still cute! And I love him a little bit more every day!