The first picture you see on the slide show below is of my arm. The significance of this is probably a little confusing so I’ll attempt to explain.
After arriving at the hospital, they attempted to start an I.V.. 4 hours later and 24 tries by 6 different people we were still without an I.V.. I should have taken this as an omen for how the remainder of this birth was going to go, gotten up and left, or at least taken an epidural. Eventually two very competitive people who forgot that I was alive started fighting for who could get it in first and we lost all track of how many sticks they each attempted. For the record a nurse beat out a very sure of himself anesthesiologist. She even slid back on her roll away chair put her hands in the air and did a victory dance. The anesthesiologist shook her hand and I laid there wondering what the heck had just happened.
The induction started and 24 hours later with a prolapsed cord (cord came out before the baby, and cut off her life line), my little Hallie was pulled from me with a vacuum. Her eyes are blackened her head is bruised, all the vessels in the whites of her eyes are broken, and well I’m a little traumatized wishing I’d taken that epidural, but it was all worth it. I may fill in the middle in a couple of days, but for now I’m off to cuddle with my little one.