The Birth: Continued

No More Water!

I remember becoming so excited and nervous!  We went up to L&D and were admitted right away.  They made me comfortable and hooked me up to the monitors.  The nurse left for a while and then came back to start me on Pitocin  (drug to induce labor).  She first looked at the monitor and said that I was already have contractions 2-5 minutes apart.  So the more intense contractions that I thought were Braxton Hicks, really were labor contractions!  She then started me on a very slow dose of Pitocin.  My Dr. came in at noon to break my water.  That was a weird experience.  Very strange feeling for sure!  Everything looked great and soon after my contractions became SO painful!  I remember they were so close together that when one ended I only felt like I had a minute break before another began.  I was already 3 centimeters dilated when I was admitted, so I was able to get the epidural whenever I felt like I needed it.  I really wanted to feel what the labor contractions were like first, but like I said, after she broke my water, they came hard and fast.  


My Face Is Numb!


So I decided to get the epidural about an hour after having my water break.  They gave me some pain medicine in my IV while I waited for the anesthesiologist to come up.  I immediately started to feel better and was actually feeling kind of drunk!  I remember getting super goofy and everyone was laughing at me..  When the anesthesiologist came up, she had me sit up and arch my back, I swear I almost fell over because I was so out of it!  I have scoliosis, so after they gave me the epidural, only my left side went numb.  She felt my spine and figured out where it curves and kept adjusting the catheter.  Still nothing on the right side.  So she upped my dose and I felt my right side go a little numb.  Shortly after that, my left leg became so numb I couldn't even move it.  It fell off the bed a couple times and I had to have Kevin lift it back up for me.  Then my left cheek and eye went a little numb... that was strange.  I asked the Dr if that was normal and she said no... but they didn't seem too concerned.  It was actually kind of funny!  My left eye was only half way open, no matter how hard I tried to open it!  Even though my right side was not fully numb, it was still tolerable.  Until a couple hours later the epidural started to stop working.  My contractions came back in full force!  The anesthesiologist came back up and adjusted it again.  This time it worked a little better on my right side and again, my left leg was dead weight!

2 HOURS??

Many times when a woman is induced, she is in labor for many, many hours.  Mostly because her body really wasn't ready for labor.  Lucky for me, my body was more than ready!  I was only in labor for 6 hours when I was dilated at a 10!  This was great news!  I remember feeling a lot of pressure/pain by my tailbone and feeling like the only thing that would relieve it was to push.  My Dr came in and said I was ready to push... And so the REAL work began...  When the epidural works the way it is supposed to, you don't feel any pain and some women don't even know they are having a contraction.  Since mine only took on the left side and partly on the right, I felt every contraction still, but only around my tailbone on the right side.  They call this "butt labor"!  haha  Since this hurt so bad and pushing relieved the pain, I was intent on pushing during every contraction.  However, the nurse told me that I was going to be pushing for a while and I needed to rest during some of the contractions in order to build my strength back up.  I remember after an hour of pushing, the nurse told me that I still wasn't close.  He was making his way down, but slowly...  The nurses had a shift change and my new nurse was AMAZING!  She was such a good couch and I'm sure if I had her to begin with, I wouldn't have been pushing for 2 hours!  Of course, my other couch, Kevin, was the best ever.  :-)  I couldn't have done it without him.  He was by my side for every contraction holding my neck up and motivating me by talking in my ear. 

Finally, after 2 hours, the Dr came in and it was time for delivery!!  Somewhere between starting to push and when my Dr came in, my epidural started to wear off again... Not sure if I was just out of medicine or something moved, but I started to feel even more... It was only a few pushes after my Dr came in and it started to hurt REALLY bad!  I remember saying "it hurts really bad right now" over and over and the Dr and nurse kept saying "you're almost there"!  The next thing I know, the nurse said for me to look down and THERE HE WAS!  He was screaming and his eyes were wide open!  He immediately started to pee on the Dr!  They put him on my chest and wrapped him up and right away put him to my breast to feed.  He did great!  I can't even explain the feeling.  Seeing him for the first time was amazing.  After a while they took him over to get weighed, measured, and cleaned up while the Dr stitched me up... 3rd degree tear... pretty nasty.  Since my epidural had completely worn off on the right side and was slightly worn off on the left, I felt every stitch... and it took her 30 minutes!!  Then I hear them say he was 9 lbs 3 oz and 22 in long!  I couldn't believe it!  No wonder I had to work so hard getting him out!  haha  But he was perfect and completely healthy!!

That's it in a nutshell!  I'm not even going to get into the recovery... let's just say, I couldn't walk for 2 weeks... And was still having trouble sitting and walking after a month... I hope my next baby is a small (normal sized) little girl!!  :-)