Simonsays6 Part II: A great way to spend Christmas

Krisi had been laboring for a few days now, but the true blue labor kicked in on Christmas Eve.

She had been in touch with me throughout the day, and I sent her to the hospital around 5 pm

We had the Lake/Cady Family Christmas Exchange to attend.

So I came up to the hospital around 10.

Krisi had just received Nubain and was pretty astounded at the amount of pain these contractions could cause.

As soon as her nurse came in, we requested the epidural and worked on getting her more comfortable.

It took a couple of tries to get the epidural in, but soon we had a much more comfortable Krisi.

We had been told Dr. Judis was going to come in (who was on for Dr. Bishop).

I wasn't inclined to go home and have to come back, so I just stayed the night.

We were only able to get a couple of hours of sleep that night.

Kim Palmer was her nurse through out the night.

We thought sure she would be her delivery nurse too,

but Alex wasn't quite ready yet.

Krisi labored well on her own...contracting regularly the entire time and never needing any Pitocin to help her along. The nurse's shift changed and Diana Tolles became Krisi's nurse.

I needed to go home and unwrap Christmas presents with the kids.

I left Diana with strict instructions not to let Krisi deliver without me there.

The kids had a great Christmas Morning and were very appreciative of their gifts.

We felt the Christmas spirit in our home and enjoyed our time together.

I showered and dressed and headed back up to the hospital.

Krisi was completely dilated, but they were allowing her to "labor down" (which just allows the baby to move down the birth canal naturally as opposed to pushing).

Krisi began feeling pressure and the pushing began.

Dr. Beck was now the doctor on and she did such a fabulous job working with Krisi and supporting her during her pushes.

For three hours, Dr. Beck, David Podboy (medical student), Diana, Sean and I cheerleaded Krisi through pushing.

Krisi was a great "pusher", but after three hours Dr. Beck announced that Krisi's pelvis was too narrow to allow Alex's head to come through.

We needed to go for a C-section.

Sean and Diana Tolles with Krisi before rolling her back for her c-section

Lucky for me, since I am an employee on our floor, I was allowed to go back with her as well.

We never anticipated how difficult Krisi's c-section would be.

She was on the operating table for three hours.

Between having a difficult time reaching her uterus, struggling to get Alex out, Krisi's bleeding not stopping, and questioning if they had damaged parts leading to her Uterus or Bladder...the surgery just continued on and on. Krisi could feel a great deal of the pressure associated with this and struggled with laying there that long. Sean was such a great support to her. He said and did everything she needed. He is such a great guy!