Buy no online rx Prednisone

While Laurel was with my in-laws during February vacation, Jon and buy no online rx Prednisone I saw 127 Hours, which — aside from the whole sawing off the hand thing (through which I had to close my eyes) — was phenomenal.

And while I didn’t have buy no online rx Prednisone to saw off my own hand, I endured my own arduous journey last week, when buy no online rx Prednisone I labored for 58 hours en route to delivering Violet. Similar to buy no online rx Prednisone when I wrote about Laurel’s birth story for Gabrielle, I wanted to write Violet’s story. Because as challenging as it buy no online rx Prednisone was, it was a remarkable experience that I never want to buy no online rx Prednisone forget.

Tuesday

Not too long after publishing my 40 week post, I had buy no online rx Prednisone a lovely check in with my midwife. We were excited that buy no online rx Prednisone pre-labor contractions had started (around 3:30am that morning) and that my mucous plug revealed itself during my examination (I never thought I’d be so excited to see mucous, btw). And though I was not dilated, my cervix was thinning. Since contractions eluded me before Laurel’s birth, I was giddy with the buy no online rx Prednisone sense that we were finally getting the show on the road.

Jon and buy no online rx Prednisone I enjoyed lunch together and then not too long after that buy no online rx Prednisone (around 3:30pm), early labor began. The contractions got stronger, and buy no online rx Prednisone instead of the mild sensation I felt in my abdomen during the buy no online rx Prednisone pre-labor contractions, the early labor contractions hurt a lot in my back. But I just kept breathing through them (thank you yoga, for all of that preparation) and kept my eye on the clock — waiting to buy no online rx Prednisone transition into the 1:5:1 active labor contraction zone — as afternoon turned into evening and then into morning.

Wednesday

By the buy no online rx Prednisone next morning, my contractions were pretty much the same so Jon took Laurel to buy no online rx Prednisone school and I encouraged him to go to the clinic and buy no online rx Prednisone see clients…waiting around was not going to buy no online rx Prednisone accelerate things. I continued on with the contractions, which were uncomfortable (again, the back pain was the worst of it) but tolerable, and by late afternoon/early evening, I thought that I was entering active labor — the buy no online rx Prednisone contractions were about 5 minutes apart and definitely stronger (though not stop dead in your tracks painful). Jon and buy no online rx Prednisone I had already talked to the midwife on call earlier in the buy no online rx Prednisone evening and she told us to stay put. Around 8pm things definitely felt more intense so we called again and buy no online rx Prednisone she suggested we come in. We called my mom, and buy no online rx Prednisone once she arrived, Jon and I headed out, cursing our crappy suspension and buy no online rx Prednisone the bajillion potholes en route.

By this buy no online rx Prednisone point it was 9 or 10pm. I was examined and though my cervix was thinning I still wasn’t dilated. My contractions had buy no online rx Prednisone also spaced out to 7-8 minutes apart, though the pain was really, really bad in my back. It was completely deflating, but after talking to buy no online rx Prednisone the team about our options, we headed back home, after which point I endured probably the buy no online rx Prednisone most miserable evening of “sleep” ever. My contractions intensified in strength and buy no online rx Prednisone frequency, the pain in my back was searing, and I couldn’t find a buy no online rx Prednisone position to offer a modicum of relief. Jon was with me but he conked out pretty hard so at first I struggled on my own, trying to buy no online rx Prednisone decide whether to martyr through on my own or wake him up. And then buy no online rx Prednisone he woke up and proved the most amazing partner ever — helping me through the buy no online rx Prednisone breaths, encouraging me along, easing my fears. It was a buy no online rx Prednisone long, long night but being together through it helped me keep it buy no online rx Prednisone together.

Thursday

After continued painful laboring in the buy no online rx Prednisone wee hours, Jon called the midwife on call at 4:30am — we were now about 37 hours into labor and buy no online rx Prednisone I was pretty miserable, but they still advised us to stay home. I labored in the buy no online rx Prednisone tub for about two hours — intermittently dozing between contractions and Jon’s replenishing of the buy no online rx Prednisone hot water. I also wished about 8,000 times that the tub was bigger and buy no online rx Prednisone that I had thought to get a bath pillow.

After I got out of the tub I endured a long morning/afternoon of increasingly excruciating contractions and buy no online rx Prednisone feeling completely demoralized. I was exhausted, sad, and knew I should be buy no online rx Prednisone eating to keep up my strength but had zero appetite.

And then buy no online rx Prednisone that afternoon, I had an emotional break through. Jon and buy no online rx Prednisone my spirits were both pretty down, but as we tried to buy no online rx Prednisone figure out how to get through to the next phase, he offered to buy no online rx Prednisone do a little therapy. We talked about whether there was something I was holding on to buy no online rx Prednisone that was preventing the labor from progressing. And as we talked between contractions it buy no online rx Prednisone became clear to me that I still had a hang up about the buy no online rx Prednisone natural birth thing. Intellectually, yes, I had adopted a whatever happens will happen type attitude but ultimately, I’m someone who buy no online rx Prednisone is used to identifying a goal and getting the job done. And now, as I closed in on 48 hours of labor, I actually found myself speaking the buy no online rx Prednisone words that I never thought I would say — that if things didn’t progress really soon, I was ready for buy no online rx Prednisone intervention. And that I would just have to come to terms with the buy no online rx Prednisone fact that that was OK and that it didn’t represent personal failure. Jon and buy no online rx Prednisone I agreed that we would ride things out a little longer, see what buy no online rx Prednisone transpired, and be OK with whatever outcome resulted. We reminded ourselves of how 180 degrees Laurel’s emergency C-section was from buy no online rx Prednisone our birth plan, and that despite that experience, we were blessed with an buy no online rx Prednisone amazingly sweet, thoughtful, and wonderful child.

So who buy no online rx Prednisone knows if it was this emotional breakthrough, my body finally shifting, or buy no online rx Prednisone a combination of the two, but a couple of hours later, after we had buy no online rx Prednisone sent my mom home and while I was attempting to be buy no online rx Prednisone present with Laurel between contractions, things started to kick into high gear. My contractions came on even harder and buy no online rx Prednisone more frequently. Jon pointed out earlier that I have a pretty high pain tolerance and buy no online rx Prednisone for the most point I had been able to breathe my way through everything up to buy no online rx Prednisone that point, but these contractions actually made me cry out…my back was on fire and I couldn’t find a single position that offered relief. We didn’t want to buy no online rx Prednisone call the midwives again because every time we called we felt demoralized by being told to buy no online rx Prednisone stay put so I held on — it wasn’t until about 3 hours later (now 52 hours into labor) that we finally went in. My poor Mom — who had arrived on the scene again to stay with Laurel — looked sick with worry and buy no online rx Prednisone the pain of watching her daughter suffer. And the other memory that buy no online rx Prednisone stays with me from those final moments of labor at home is buy no online rx Prednisone that my contractions were accompanied by the Sound of Music, which we had buy no online rx Prednisone turned on for Laurel and also to serve as distraction for buy no online rx Prednisone me. The movie is a Koh family tradition; we even sang Edelweiss at my father’s funeral.

Once again, Jon and buy no online rx Prednisone I headed to the hospital, but this time when I was examined, it buy no online rx Prednisone turned out I was about 80% effaced and 4 cm dilated so they admitted me. YES! Even the midwife and nurse (who actually was the same nurse we saw the evening before) cheered. It was like that adrenaline rush you feel when you’re exhausted and running a race and finally see (or think you see) the end in sight. It was even St. Patrick’s Day, the buy no online rx Prednisone official due date and date that Laurel wanted the baby to buy no online rx Prednisone be born.

While we were still high off the buy no online rx Prednisone euphoria of being admitted, the next turning point was back relief. When I told the buy no online rx Prednisone midwife about my back pain she immediately concluded that the buy no online rx Prednisone baby was in an awkward position (we apparently were spine to spine) and suggested these sterile saline water shots (not the technical term) to relieve the pressure. She said she had never seen them not work and they were this miraculous thing — just water shots (i.e., they wouldn’t interfere with my natural birth plan) that buy no online rx Prednisone appeared to block pain receptors or put the right pressure against the buy no online rx Prednisone nerves (again, I can’t remember the technical details). Only downfall? They are excruciatingly painful when injected.

But whatever, I was willing to buy no online rx Prednisone try anything. And she was totally right. I couldn’t see what buy no online rx Prednisone was happening but Jon said it sort of looked like getting a buy no online rx Prednisone TB test. Four hands were on deck to administer the four saline shots simultaneously (since it would have been tortuous to do them one at a time) and buy no online rx Prednisone ironically, getting these shots ultimately was the most painful part of the buy no online rx Prednisone entire labor and delivery process — I actually screamed. But after that? UTTER RELIEF. I actually didn’t even initially realize that buy no online rx Prednisone my first contraction post saline was a contraction because it buy no online rx Prednisone was not accompanied with searing lower back pain.

Thursday into Friday

I continued to buy no online rx Prednisone work through contractions but they had slowed down a bit so the buy no online rx Prednisone midwife asked about breaking my water and we consented. And after she did that, everything accelerated. My contractions ramped up in frequency and buy no online rx Prednisone intensity, I entered the transition phase (holy hell that was intense), and then it was time to push.

Even having re-read about the buy no online rx Prednisone labor process in advance, it was hard to reconcile reality with what buy no online rx Prednisone you see in the movies, particularly having undergone a C-section previously. But the buy no online rx Prednisone things that stood out as most remarkable to me were: 1) how incredibly lucky I am buy no online rx Prednisone to have as caring and supportive a partner as Jon — we were truly in it together the whole way; 2) how much love and buy no online rx Prednisone caring there was from a group of complete strangers — in addition to the (phenomenal) hospital staff, the buy no online rx Prednisone midwife on call was not the midwife I had seen during prenatal care, and buy no online rx Prednisone because I dropped the ball time-wise, we had not had a buy no online rx Prednisone chance to meet our doula in advance…regardless, all of these people created the buy no online rx Prednisone most supportive environment I could ever have hoped for; and 3) how pushing (the buy no online rx Prednisone part conveyed as the end all be all of suffering on TV and buy no online rx Prednisone in movies) is buy no online rx Prednisone not really the hardest part. As I said, the water shots were actually the buy no online rx Prednisone worst for me pain-wise (it was the only time I screamed during the entire 58 hours of labor), and buy no online rx Prednisone otherwise the intensity of the transition phase was next in line. The pushing was mostly filled with uncertainty because I had buy no online rx Prednisone no idea what they meant when they said, “You’re almost there” because I couldn’t see anything. Throughout, though, I was able to buy no online rx Prednisone breathe my way through the entire process, and the midwife did say that buy no online rx Prednisone my body was incredibly strong — I really think all of the buy no online rx Prednisone yoga I did right up until the very end served me enormously well, both mentally and buy no online rx Prednisone physically.

And throughout the buy no online rx Prednisone entire process, I was so moved by how supportive the buy no online rx Prednisone hospital team was of my desire for a natural birth — it buy no online rx Prednisone was all so different from how I experienced things when I went through my prenatal care (where, for buy no online rx Prednisone example, a doctor who was subbing in for my regular doctor stripped my membrane without even asking for buy no online rx Prednisone my consent first) and delivery (where it felt as if I was simply a body being done to) with Laurel.

And so, after 58 hours of labor, Violet emerged into the world — pink and buy no online rx Prednisone screaming and full of life. Jon and I both wept with joy and buy no online rx Prednisone relief as they quickly wiped her down and put her right up on my chest. And it buy no online rx Prednisone was amazing how much laughter and lightheartedness there was in the buy no online rx Prednisone room as we all chatted and cracked jokes while they cleaned me up.

And while we missed St. Patrick’s Day by about an buy no online rx Prednisone hour and a half, that little detail has been long forgotten by Laurel. She adores Violet and buy no online rx Prednisone I cannot say enough how different things are this time around. Jon and buy no online rx Prednisone I are happily rolling with things, we feel closer than ever, and buy no online rx Prednisone our family of four feels as if it was meant to buy no online rx Prednisone be.