Labor Day
Continuing from my last post...
We got to the hospital, and I was told that my water had not broken. What?!?! We were told because I wasn't having contractions that I would have to go home. I refused to leave as I KNEW my water had broken. Sure enough, the nurse looked at the pee pad I had been laying on and saw that I was leaking blood and fluids alright. And just like that, I was admitted to the hospital.
As my contractions were nowhere to be found, and I was only 2 cm dilated, I was told that I could either walk around the hospital to start the contractions, or I could be hooked up into Pitocin to kickstart my labor. I opted for the drugs given that walking around had done absolutely nothing for me at home. I was hooked into the IV and HTB and I sat around for the afternoon. Contractions did not start for me until the early evening, and WHOA - I had NEVER experienced pain like that before! I asked for the epidural and was told that I couldn't have it until one of the 5 bags I was hooked into on my IV pole was more than halfway gone. The bag still had a LOT of fluid left! They upped the dosage to get me the epidural faster, and HOLY SMOKES did that kick my contractions up into high gear!! HTB did what he could to help - rubbing my back, reading to me, letting me swear up and down and cry each time I could feel one coming. He would watch the monitors so he would know when one was coming, so I ended up having to sit there with my eyes closed - it was hard enough knowing one was about to start every time I felt the flutter in my stomach! I didn't want to know any sooner than that by watching his face!
After what felt like hours, but in reality was probably about 30 minutes, the man with the pain reliever came into the room. You could tell how much pain I was in because I am deathly afraid of needles, but I kept thinking he couldn't get the medicine in me fast enough. Afterwards, I laid back down and continued to moan in pain, waiting for it to kick in. My right side went completely numb, but I had full function on the left side of my body. But when does the pain go away? The nurse said the epidural works with gravity, so they moved me to lay on my side to let the medicine go to the other side of my body. Nope. Still a lot of pain. She called pain man back again, and he came back and upped my dosage. Now I really couldn't feel the right side of my lower body! Whoa! Strange feeling. But I can still feel the pain and I could still feel my whole left side.
At this point the nurses changed shifts, and I got set up with the best nurse I have ever had. She took one look at me and said she would have to call the pain man back and I would need a second epidural as the first wasn't taking as it should have. She said most likely the baby dropped after the epidural was given and messed with where it was going. Sure sure...just get this pain to go away please!! Here was the pain man again and he quickly got the second one in. INSTANT RELIEF!!! I laid down and talked to HTB and my new favorite nurse and they both looked at each other laughing. Turns out I had 2 huge contractions and was laying there like nothing happened. YIPPIEE! I CAN DO THIS!! I was told to get some sleep as I would need the energy for when labor was to begin.
Sleep? Yeah right! When I would start to nod off, my blood pressure cuff would go off waking me up, or nurses would have to take my vitals, or the fear would make my head spin...sleep? Yeah ok...HTB slept a bit though. Around midnight the nurse came in and told me that I was fully dilated and it was time to start pushing. WHAT?!? NO I'M NOT READY! I didn't sleep! I need food! Screw these ice chips! How about I go home and come back in a week?! I'M NOT READY!! The nurse agreed and I calmed down. Wait. Why was she agreeing with me?? She said she didn't think that I would be able to push given how much of the epidural was running through my body. After a few "move your legs" directions, she confirmed that I was going to be unable to push so they were going to have to turn my epidural off. I had visions of the epidural running out and me being able to feel the joy of labor. NOOOOO! Somehow I talked my way to a happy medium - they would lower the dosage but would leave it on at the lowest setting just in case I push for so long the epidural leaves my body. She said I had one hour and then we would start pushing. I still couldn't sleep! THIS WAS HAPPENING! THIS WAS REAL!
That hour passed by in a blink of an eye. Not cool. The nurse came in, put on her hard face and said it was time to push. The fear, the drugs, and the attempting to push (but really just making faces because she was right - I had too much of the epidural in me so nothing was happening) was making me feel sick. I started to go into gags and began throwing up all those ice chips. The heaving made my daughter start moving into the birth canal. The nurses were estimating that I was going to be pushing for about 4 hours so they called my doctor to tell him pushing was starting, but not to rush down as this would be a while. Meanwhile, I was begging my nurses just to let me throw my baby up - can't I just keep throwing up and let her come out that way? The answer I received was a resounding no. Time to push!
After pushing, and throwing up, for a couple of hours (felt like a couple of minutes to me) she began to crown, and the nurses all went into a panic. Where was the doctor!? This was unexpected! They thought I had another 2 hours of pushing to go. Who knew that after a couple of hours of getting nowhere with the pushing that my throwing up would help! Thankfully, the doctor got there not too long after, as she was starting to show some distress from sitting in the canal for so long. My feet went in stirrups, and back to pushing we go. My doctor told me that I was too tight, so I was going to tear. He said I could tear naturally or I could be cut. I freaked out over being cut and told him that I would just tear naturally. The fear of that caused me to go back into heaving. The puke bucket was put in front of me, and the more I heaved, the more I felt her moving down and out. I made myself gag a few times to get the heaves really going, and before I knew it I heard a loud POP as though a champagne cork was being released, and I felt the best pressure release of my life. Later on HTB told me that the doctor had to quickly react as he wasn't expecting her to come flying out like that! That's my girl! I was so proud (and so out of it) that I gleefully looked at all of the nurses and declared happily "I KNEW I COULD THROW HER UP OUT OF ME!" They just laughed.
Welcome to the world daughter of mine! It was four in the morning, one month ago today and I haven't slept since.
We got to the hospital, and I was told that my water had not broken. What?!?! We were told because I wasn't having contractions that I would have to go home. I refused to leave as I KNEW my water had broken. Sure enough, the nurse looked at the pee pad I had been laying on and saw that I was leaking blood and fluids alright. And just like that, I was admitted to the hospital.
As my contractions were nowhere to be found, and I was only 2 cm dilated, I was told that I could either walk around the hospital to start the contractions, or I could be hooked up into Pitocin to kickstart my labor. I opted for the drugs given that walking around had done absolutely nothing for me at home. I was hooked into the IV and HTB and I sat around for the afternoon. Contractions did not start for me until the early evening, and WHOA - I had NEVER experienced pain like that before! I asked for the epidural and was told that I couldn't have it until one of the 5 bags I was hooked into on my IV pole was more than halfway gone. The bag still had a LOT of fluid left! They upped the dosage to get me the epidural faster, and HOLY SMOKES did that kick my contractions up into high gear!! HTB did what he could to help - rubbing my back, reading to me, letting me swear up and down and cry each time I could feel one coming. He would watch the monitors so he would know when one was coming, so I ended up having to sit there with my eyes closed - it was hard enough knowing one was about to start every time I felt the flutter in my stomach! I didn't want to know any sooner than that by watching his face!
After what felt like hours, but in reality was probably about 30 minutes, the man with the pain reliever came into the room. You could tell how much pain I was in because I am deathly afraid of needles, but I kept thinking he couldn't get the medicine in me fast enough. Afterwards, I laid back down and continued to moan in pain, waiting for it to kick in. My right side went completely numb, but I had full function on the left side of my body. But when does the pain go away? The nurse said the epidural works with gravity, so they moved me to lay on my side to let the medicine go to the other side of my body. Nope. Still a lot of pain. She called pain man back again, and he came back and upped my dosage. Now I really couldn't feel the right side of my lower body! Whoa! Strange feeling. But I can still feel the pain and I could still feel my whole left side.
At this point the nurses changed shifts, and I got set up with the best nurse I have ever had. She took one look at me and said she would have to call the pain man back and I would need a second epidural as the first wasn't taking as it should have. She said most likely the baby dropped after the epidural was given and messed with where it was going. Sure sure...just get this pain to go away please!! Here was the pain man again and he quickly got the second one in. INSTANT RELIEF!!! I laid down and talked to HTB and my new favorite nurse and they both looked at each other laughing. Turns out I had 2 huge contractions and was laying there like nothing happened. YIPPIEE! I CAN DO THIS!! I was told to get some sleep as I would need the energy for when labor was to begin.
Sleep? Yeah right! When I would start to nod off, my blood pressure cuff would go off waking me up, or nurses would have to take my vitals, or the fear would make my head spin...sleep? Yeah ok...HTB slept a bit though. Around midnight the nurse came in and told me that I was fully dilated and it was time to start pushing. WHAT?!? NO I'M NOT READY! I didn't sleep! I need food! Screw these ice chips! How about I go home and come back in a week?! I'M NOT READY!! The nurse agreed and I calmed down. Wait. Why was she agreeing with me?? She said she didn't think that I would be able to push given how much of the epidural was running through my body. After a few "move your legs" directions, she confirmed that I was going to be unable to push so they were going to have to turn my epidural off. I had visions of the epidural running out and me being able to feel the joy of labor. NOOOOO! Somehow I talked my way to a happy medium - they would lower the dosage but would leave it on at the lowest setting just in case I push for so long the epidural leaves my body. She said I had one hour and then we would start pushing. I still couldn't sleep! THIS WAS HAPPENING! THIS WAS REAL!
That hour passed by in a blink of an eye. Not cool. The nurse came in, put on her hard face and said it was time to push. The fear, the drugs, and the attempting to push (but really just making faces because she was right - I had too much of the epidural in me so nothing was happening) was making me feel sick. I started to go into gags and began throwing up all those ice chips. The heaving made my daughter start moving into the birth canal. The nurses were estimating that I was going to be pushing for about 4 hours so they called my doctor to tell him pushing was starting, but not to rush down as this would be a while. Meanwhile, I was begging my nurses just to let me throw my baby up - can't I just keep throwing up and let her come out that way? The answer I received was a resounding no. Time to push!
After pushing, and throwing up, for a couple of hours (felt like a couple of minutes to me) she began to crown, and the nurses all went into a panic. Where was the doctor!? This was unexpected! They thought I had another 2 hours of pushing to go. Who knew that after a couple of hours of getting nowhere with the pushing that my throwing up would help! Thankfully, the doctor got there not too long after, as she was starting to show some distress from sitting in the canal for so long. My feet went in stirrups, and back to pushing we go. My doctor told me that I was too tight, so I was going to tear. He said I could tear naturally or I could be cut. I freaked out over being cut and told him that I would just tear naturally. The fear of that caused me to go back into heaving. The puke bucket was put in front of me, and the more I heaved, the more I felt her moving down and out. I made myself gag a few times to get the heaves really going, and before I knew it I heard a loud POP as though a champagne cork was being released, and I felt the best pressure release of my life. Later on HTB told me that the doctor had to quickly react as he wasn't expecting her to come flying out like that! That's my girl! I was so proud (and so out of it) that I gleefully looked at all of the nurses and declared happily "I KNEW I COULD THROW HER UP OUT OF ME!" They just laughed.
Welcome to the world daughter of mine! It was four in the morning, one month ago today and I haven't slept since.
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