I'm not sure that the blog is the right medium for recording slightly personal information about my body and birthing a baby, but many people keep asking about it. So if you are interested in hearing about about cervixes and epidurals, please, read on. If not, this is probably where you want to stop.
After going seven days overdue, Greg and I drove to the hospital early Thursday morning for our scheduled induction. I called ahead to see if I had to fast, and the nurse said I absolutely should not fast. I was thrilled. Aside from the pain, the worst part of labor is the fasting. I was determined to eat breakfast, and have this child before lunch, so that I didn't miss a single meal. So Greg and I grabbed a delicious bagel sandwich on our way to the hospital and pulled in right at 7.
After questions, questions and more questions, my doctor finally came in and was ready to get things going. He checked me and confirmed that I was dilated to a 4. I was thrilled. It felt good to know that all the false labor I had been having was contributing to something. It was nice to know also that I was pretty much halfway there. He then proceeded to break my water. I warned him that in the past, I have been known to have a LOT of amniotic fluid. I don't think he really believed me because afterwards he compared me to a gushing river as the nurse scrambled to accommodate. I tried to warn them.
After that the nurse said that she would be back soon to start the Pitocin. Pitocin doesn't scare me. I've had Pitocin with all of my kids. But what does scare me is IV's. I have difficult veins and getting stuck several times is no picnic for me. And of course this was no exception. I had two incredibly (incredibly) painful attempts at starting it in my right arm before backup was called to start it in my left arm. Needless to say, my right arm looks like it has jest been through a war. The good thing though was that I had my husband's complete support as he napped on the sofa next to the hospital bed. To his credit, I told him if he needed to nap, better do it before the contractions start.
About 9:00 the nurse came back and started pitocin through the IV. The contractions started to become more regular, but still weren't all that painful. Our nurse, Denise, came in every half hour to up the pitocin dose until the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart. About 10:15 I called the nurse in to ask for an epidural. The contractions were not unbearable but were more than uncomfortable, but I really did not want to miss my window.
Well my nurse took one look at me and smirked. She was laughing at me. She told me that she thought I looked to happy to be ready for a epidural. If I didn't think she was such a great nurse, I might have been offended. So she said when she came back in a half hour to up the pitocin, she would order the epidural. Well as it turned out, I really progressed in the next half hour because the contractions went from uncomfortable to unbearable. I ordered the epidural and spent the time waiting breathing through each contraction. Greg was a great support (now fully awake). Once the anesthesiologist came in, I am embarrassed to say I was snippy. I stopped answering his questions and asked him just to hurry.
Once the epidural was in (around 11:30) I waited for the relief. But complete relief never came. There was one area of my pelvis that wasn't numb, so I still had to breathe through each contraction. But even with it not completely blocking the pain, it made the unbearable pain more manageable, so I was grateful for that. About noon the doctor came back to check me and said I was dilated to an 8 and that in a half hour I would start to push. We were shocked!
So true to his word, the doctor came back and said that I was indeed dilated to a 10 and was ready to push. I pushed through 3 contractions and out baby came. He had the cord wrapped around his neck, so he looked a but purply, but within a minute was screaming. Everyone commented on how big he was and after they weighed him, it was confirmed that I had just birthed a 8 pound 15 ounce baby. I was so happy. Greg was so proud. There are few moments in life that compare to the feeling of a baby that is just minutes old that was just inside you, that you are meeting for the first time. I was emotional.
And in case you were wondering, I delivered just in time for lunch.
We are so happy to have this little man in our family. The boys have just doted on him and he has been pretty good natured. Each day gets better and better and Davis even blessed us with a 5 hour stretch of sleep last night. Hopefully this is a trend that will continue!
