THE BEST BABY

Hello Friends and Family!

I apologize for my cyber absence. I have been in a sleepless and blissful fog for the past 3 weeks. I really thought that updating my blog,making phones calls, catching up on my books was going to be easy breezy! I was wrong! The anxiety that I had prior to the birth of my son, my mental and physical state after the birth; the never ending epidural drip high........I just couldn't. I had the attention span of a fly. Even my emails and posts were cheap! I resorted to one line postings, texting pictures, looking at pictures in magazines..... I was done. Still am but....I'm getting better.

And the story begins.....

Thursday 12:00am February 6, 2009 I walk through the doors of Cedar Sinai to be induced. Low and behold as soon as I set foot in the hallways of the Maternity

wing, I start to get strong contractions. I stopped dead in my tracks and told my husband and mother, "I'm going into active labor". They were serious. I signed in and was quickly ushered into the pre-labor room. I changed into my comfy pink pajamas, although they insisted that I put on that dry up dry up hospital gown. Hey! I have to draw the line somewhere at least for the first 24hours! So after two hours of supervision, my natural labor contractions subsided and I consequently had to be induced as scheduled. The hooked up the ivy, and I had

the slow drip of liquids and pitocin. No time flat I felt like some one was

trying to rip my guts out every 5 minutes or so .......for hours and hours and hours. I really had to go to a special place in my head. I tried to recall all of the mantras and chants that I learned from prenatal yoga. It actually really helped. Then I used the the Cat cow position (on all fours, arching my back) helped take the pressure off of my back. It was very apparent that I was having back labor....and it was painful. But I stayed strong and called upon my inner warrior! .....with a few heavy moans and "oh, gods" in between. As soon as my contractions progressed, I was moved into the labor room. It was a really cozy room. It was spacious with bathroom, lazy Boy pull out, etc.

Ahmed and my mom accompanied me and we were patiently waiting for this new life to present himself, but little did we

know he would have us waiting until the next da

y! As time passed, contractions got s

tronger and I was slowly loosing my strength to battle the pain. The only light at the end of my tunnel during my labor was of course our beautiful baby, but I was allowed to indulged on Italian ice! And after 24hrs of no food I was very excited about that. I thought it was 2 days of ice chips for me! Anyways after 17 hour I asked the nurse about my Epidural option. In my birth plan I requested that I have an walking epidural. Which is basically half the dose, you can walk and feel the pressure of labor. The anesthesiologist explained that I would still feel pain. I thought about it for a brief moment...... and I said "Can I get Epidural,Epidural?" At that point....who the heck w

ants to walk? I didn't know that It was going to be that long, so I decided being confined to my

bed from here on is not too bad?! The epidural was on order, and they came in and apparentl

y injected a long needle (I didn't look and neither did Mommy) in my back and

15 minutes later my legs were tingly and I felt nothing! I actually took a nap and got a little bit

of rest, until it wore off and I felt a contraction. The beauty of the Epidural drip, I had complete control of how much I needed. When I felt pain, I just pressed that button. The technology was so slick, sometimes I didn't hear the little beep which sounds off when its administered. At one point I asked the Doctor "Is it bad if I pressed the button four times?" FYI. You're only supposed to press it 2x's every 20-30mins. Needless to say I was feeling "nice".

Fast Foward:

We are all delirious and tired!

They break my water. Literally, Dr Walden

punctured my

sac (which was not comfortable) and let it flow. Nothing like I expected. I really thought it was going to be like a waterfall. It wasn't. It was just a slow flow of warm water

coming from my woohoo! Weird.........

So,I am dilated about 8 cm. but I am feeling a lot of back labor and pressure on my coccyx bon

e. So much to the point I feel like I am going to poo in the bed. I start to panic, because in my mind I have to poo, this has nothing to do with the baby or pressure! Ahmed, my mom, the nurses....are trying their best to reassure me that it is the Baby not my urge to take a crap. I started to plead and tell them seriously..."Look! I am going take a crap in this bed." like a tired child fighting sleep.....I said "It's 11:30pm, Dr.Walden has a scheduled C-section at Midnite, she has no time for me, she has no time for meeeeee." At 11:45pm Dr. Walden walks in with a smile and says you are fine, itsjust the baby. I swore there was some kind of conspiracy against me. LOL. Anyways I still had 2 more cm to dilate! So, what can I do? I requested that I get something a little bit stronger to take the edge off. I slept a little more and mid afternoon February 7, 2009 it was showtime! I was so numb from the epidural I wasn't sure if I could even push the baby. I couldn't even feel the pressure on my back. Yikes! So its showtime. Its a calm room. My doctor is awesome, the nurse was cool, mom was on deck and Ahmed was my anchor.........Dr.Walden just instructed me to pull on my legs and bear down. No tension in my legs. Just use my arms to pull down and contract. No PROBLEM! I can't feel a thing, but I know my body and I know what to do. Problem? Dr. says this is a bigger baby than we thought.... I was like cool. I feel great lets just try. She seemed to be a little pessimistic. I felt like, I didn't go through all of that labor not to try for the natural push. So we tried... I pushed. Ahmed stayed North and the Dr, nurse and mom held my feet and watched down south and their faces!!!!! OMG! It looked like they were looking at an alien! It was funny actually, but I could see their concern on their faces. Apparently, the babies head was not positioned correctly. He was facing backwards and his head wasn't centered. I pushed and I was squishing his poor little head into a cone and they could see his head of hair and everything! Dr. Walden reached inside if my cervix as if I were a hand puppet, and basically said that there was a lot more head to come out and I

may run the risk of the baby getting stuck and taking a turn for the worse. He was just too big. I pleaded and told them to let me try to change the position of the baby and push laying on my side. So we did, and the Dr. actually had a little optimism, he moved a little and she was happy to see that I might be proving her wrong. We then tried again......and we were back to pessimism! She implored me to think about a C-section for my safety and the safety of the baby. She left the room, Me and Ahmed talked, we tried.......and we decided for the baby we

have to have the C-section.

FASTFORWARD:

A fast transition from a tranquil birthing room to the Operating R

oom. A stark white cold room with bright lights. A staff of doctors and nurses looking down at me in blue scrubs. I am laying on my back, desperate to get up and breathe. The pressure of my belly is compressing all of my organs and diaphragm.....I feel like I am suffocating! I'm laying down, shaking uncontrollably. I look up at oneof the anesthesiologist. I say " Help me , I can't breathe." He says "Raquel, If you can talk, you can breathe". I grab another doctor "Please, Help me. Just help me up so I can breathe" He said, "Raquel,would you like me to give you something to take the edge off?" I was so frustrated. I was freezing and shaking from all of the medicine. I was groping for anything to get up! At one point Dr. Walden kept on repeating "Raquel, that's my butt, Raquel that's my butt, you re grabbing my butt! Finally I see Ahmed. "Baby, Help me up" I can't breathe!" He is looking at me trying to support and calm me down. Meanwhile, he sees Dr.Walden cutting me open and moving my insides out of the way to pull the baby out! I am panting trying to grasp for air, then I hear a baby cry!

Saturday, February 7, 2009 4:13pm My world stops!

It literally felt like everybody left the room. The team and Ahmed had to attend to the baby and

make sure he was OK. He ingested maconium and had to make sure he was breathing. The other team took care of me. At this point I am confused..... and d

elirious and just want to get up, breathe and see my baby. (in that order) They stitch me up

and I hold on long enough to see the baby. It felt like forever! The whole dream plan of delivering my baby and having him lay on my chest and watch his first bath, watch the cord cutting.....didn't happen, but I was very happy that Ahmed was with him every step of his way. I had no worries. I knew that baby Best was going to be safe and in good hands.

Ahmed said it took 10 mins tops, but it

felt like forever. I could tell Ahmed was very overwhelmed and full of joy, worried about our son and worried about me.....he walked over to me with so much love

and emotion...... and

blurted out "we have a beautiful son." They brought him over to my face. I kissed his face and said "Hello my son, I love you", and fell out.

Cut to: Recovery Room, 4 day Hospital stay, NI CU, visitors, breast pumps, eating food!, paperwork, and finally packing and driving .......

Marley Ellington Horsford Best ~ 02/07/09 9lbs 6.9oz. 23 inches to our Nest!

I love you all. Thank you for the continuous outpour of love and support! I will keep the pictures coming. :)

xoxox

Mommy is here... and we are so thankful! The past couple of days has been extremely exhausting for me. Ahmed and my Mom have been so amazing.....they have no idea. I am trying to get as much rest as I can, especially when the baby is resting! ( he is already getting me in practice) When he is active, I try to take walks and practice my yoga stretches to relieve the pressure in my back. Tommorow is supposed to be the big day. The anticipation is killing me! :)

Thank you to all new mommies who have been giving me amazing tips. And my girls (& my boys) who have extended their time and love to me. You are all Goddesses!

My bag is packed. The babies bag is packed. The baby car seat is installed. The nursery is set up.... and we just finished our Birthing Plan (which is a list of things we would prefer to be administered or not during our labor/birthing experience in the hospital). I don't know what is going to happen in the next couple of days, but just pray and send good vibes for a quick and easy delivery.:) We are so excited for the Birthday to come, when it does.....I will also do my best to have Ahmed contact you all on the delivery news.